Ideas of Good Car Toys for Nighttime Driving?

Both my sons love their Glo-Worms, and they also both really like the light-up keychains that you just press. Plus, they are really, really cheap from just about any stores.

This is a great questions, I can't wait to see what others post because we do car trips often with our kids. I'm afraid I won't be much help but just wanted to share with you. We don't usually bring much of anything to entertain our kids. At night expecially we hope that they will sleep, look out the window and learn by what they see ;-). We did a little experiment with our kids this summer - we took a three week car trip with no TV, video games etc. Everyone thought we were crazy, and I don't suggest this for everyone ;-). We gave them each a journal and they drew pictures of what they saw, played hang-man or licence plate hunt, looked at the map and learned how to read it and helped us decide where to go. We had free time to take off the route trips - if my son liked the name of a town we would stop in it ;-). When we stopped places along the way - particularly welcome centers they picked out a few brochures of local places they would like to visit and cut them out to glue in their journals (my older child did have a light clip for his journal but didn't really use it at night). My DD couldn't write much yet, so she drew pictures of bridges, buildings, waterfalls or rainbows she saw and glued in little pictures, shells, stones she collected along the way. We really wanted a non-electronic trip and you know what - they were fine! They did things we did as kids when there were no electronics in the car, they TALKED to us - YEAH! And they have wonderful journals as keepsakes forever. My older Sister was so "upset" with us - how could we do this to our kids - she even went out and brought them a TV/DVD player for the car!! LOL We left it in the back with the luggage, but it was nice to have at the hotel so they could go in their room and watch something and we could watch what we wanted on the hotel TV ;-). She really thought we were mean, but I disagree - her kids can't even go out to dinner with their family without a video game in hand. I think that is sad, my kids are little and I will miss them when they are teens and don't want to be with us, so I want to talk with them - car trips are great for this because they can't run off to do something else ha, ha. I really think it taught our children - who BTW had just turned 7 and 5 at the time, that they don't need to be entertained all the time, sometimes is OK to just be and enjoy where you are and who you are with. Hope you have a great trip and get some good ideas to entertain your child!

wouldn't she sleep for most of the trip? we drove to florida (about 18 hours) over the summer, and we drove through the night specifically so my son (2 1/2 at the time) would sleep. he did great - we even had probs with the dvd player and couldn't use it at all the way down. on the way back it almost seemed overkill to have the dvd player going. we talked, told stories, sang songs, played our own version of "i spy"...he did a lot better than i feared, and i bet your daughter will too. good luck and have fun!

PS - also thought of an ipod with her favorite music or books on it.

Good Morning B., I know you said books are out. Have you thought about the VTech books with the pen? Touch the page and it reads the story to you.

There are also CD's with kids songs and stories you could pop in. My daughter in law just told me that Digi video games have lights.
Hope this helps a little. It's been a while since I drove at night with little ones. Ours usually slept most of the way.

God Bless you with a Wonderful very Merry Christmas

K. Nana of 5
PS Our gr kids like to play "I spy" and Corbin and I count semi's on the way to school everyday. Be creative, tell stories from your childhood. Sing silly songs. Just enjoy the being together time.

Fisher price also does a nice light desk that is fun. There are also the portable Light Brights and you could get the long tubes instead of the little pegs. I'd also recommend books on tape/CD...it's just like reading to them so eventually she'll get lulled to sleep and EVERYONE can enjoy a good story! ;)

But overall, my vote is to let them sleep at night or go with the DVDs until their proper bedtime and then let them sleep in the car. You are less likely to disrupt their normal sleep pattern that way.

If you are taking out during the day, look up restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King or Chick-Fil-A that might have a play place...you can eat, let them play and take their food to eat in the car without losing any time off your schedule. Or look for other play places...it's harder to stop at parks and stuff when it's cold but just to let them get out, run around, and burn off some energy is a really GOOD thing.

We travel a lot with our kids on holidays and go on fishing and camping trips. We use all of their normal toys due to a product we found. It clips to your car interior light and lets the kids have the light on the back without distracting the driver. It also lets the kids eat their food in the back with the light on when it is dark outside.(you can buy it online at www.lightshield.com.au) May just be exactly what you are looking for.

We have a flashlight that you pull apart an dit's like a lantern. My kids love it as the lantern, or they use it as a flashlight and hang it from the hook in the van to see.

Glow sticks. They are cheap, (88cents each at Walmart)they don't need batteries, and it is amazing how kids love something so simple. If you get white or yellow they are bright enough to look at books.

Good Luck. Being a military we had made 16 to 31 hour trips twice a years for the last 16 years with three kids so I know how interesting it can be.

How about stories on CD that she can listen to?

I bought my kids the mobile Crayola glow station. I can't wait for them to use them. I mainly bought them for use at bedtime. After we tuck them in, they like to look at a book or draw for a little bit before they doze off and they'll be able to see what they are drawing without using pen lights.
You can order them on Toy's R Us online.