Looking for Good Road Trip Acivities for a One Year Old

We do long drives (12 hours in 1 day to upstate NY) all the time with our 3 young children (6 months to 5 years). The best thing for us is to have a long stop every 3-4 hours. Most of our stops are under 10 minutes - long enough to use the bathroom, change a diaper, fill up with gas and grab food to eat while driving. However, we use the AAA triptik to find the rest areas and plan for a 30-60 minute stop. We bring a soccer ball, head to the grassy area and make the kids run around and play for 30-45 minutes. We get them really tired, then get back into the car and (hopefully!) they all fall asleep for awhile. :-)

You might want to try rigging up the portable DVD player so it hangs in her view. I wouldn't let her hold it because she's so young (at least, I wouldn't want my kiddos to hold it at that age - they would've dropped/broken it).

Hit up the dollar store for a bunch of small new toys. Or put away some toys at home so they are "new" for the trip. Small board books are good and easy for little hands. A small magna doodle is good. So is a stuffed animal/doll with buttons, snaps, laces, etc. Some soft fabric books have lots of buttons, snaps, laces, etc to keep hands busy (my kids all loved My Quiet Book). Use plastic links to 'leash' toys like stuffed animals to her carseat so they don't fall to the floor.

Use the songs and the DVD player.
You are probably going to be stopping a whole lot.
If your chld is walking, when you stop be sure to let her get out and walk around.
Board books for her to look at are good.
Make sure that you have a mirror set up so that you can see her clearly at all times.
Good luck.
I myself would never attempt this with a 14 month old.

Well, I don't know if this puts a kink in your plans, but I recently took a road trip with my two year old, and left at 8pm. We did his bedtime routine, got him in his pj's, and then left. He slept all the way through until I arrived at my halfway point (3am). We checked into the hotel and then slept until 8am. I was a little short on sleep, but he did great. We went to a Playland McDonald's for breakfast and I did my best to wear him out before leaving for the rest of the trip. Lots of sing-along CD's helped, and a box of toys. It really wasn't bad at all!

Hi J.,

If i were you I be sure to start out the trip at night, she will sleep most of the way. It has worked for us in the past. Definately movies, traveling aqua doodle, its always fun to use imaginatio as well. Have fun and I hope that I could help!

D. Arnold-Hadley