Traveling with 1 1/2 y.o. Twins!

I have identical twin boys who are almost 8. What I would do is bring c.d.'s like baby einstein to sooth them, or played jazz music, which always put them to sleep. we didn't have a t.v. in the car at the time, but if you do, I truly believe the baby einstien tapes are one of the best investments you could make.
K.

We just did a trip with our almost 3 yr old and 1 yr old twins end of May. We drove from the NW burbs to Dallas, TX. Now we did the trip on the way down mostly overnight. We left our home around 2pm (Nap time)and the drove to Springfield, IL and stopped there for dinner at my husbands father's house and for the kids to run themselves ragged. Then got everyne in their PJ's and drove the rest of the night to Dallas. For this part we just had some small books, books on tape, everyones favorite blankie/animal.

Coming back from Dallas we broke the trip up into 2 8 hour days of driving. We brought a magna doodle (big for our oldest & little for the twins), pop ons (they stack together), a few new toys they had never seen. Oh, the fridge toys...it's the alaphbet and you put the letters in the holder and it tells the letter and sound we used this along with the animal one (By leap frog) and it was a huge hit!

We did use our DVD player for a few shows but not as much as I thought we would.

Plan to stop about every 2-3 hours so they can get out and move around....3 hours was our breaking point. The biggest thing is if you can plan as much driving as you can in their nap/bed times.......you'll get more driving time in!

Good luck & have a great trip!

Jen

I have 2 children (13 mos. apart) 2 and 1 soon to be 3 and 2 and a great tool is to buy them each and crayon box and put crayons and colored pencils in each and they each have their own notebook and they can scribble for hours. Works everytime I have to drive them to chicago it keeps them busy the whole way there.

We just drove to New York (14 hours) with my 1 1/2 year old. I was really worried, but it went just fine. As people noted, we took plenty of run-around breaks. We ate NO fast food (I think the combination of fast food and sitting in the car is awful), so it took extra time to sit down for meals - but was worth it.
People had suggested driving through the night & I think that really depends on the child - I tried that with my son for a shorter trip and it was a disaster - he was awake the whole time and so cranky the next day!
I think new, neat, toys are the best. We did not have a dvd player and the time just flew by. I sat in the back with my son to chat with him and read with him - but your girls will probably chat with each other! In addition to the good suggestions you have, I would try lacing beads. They can be a choking hazard - but I got them for my son b/c I'd be right there watching him.

We just took a 16 hr trip and made sure we had the lap desks that are pillow like under so that they are comfortable and so that the kids had something to color on. Those Color Wonder markers are great because they don't mess up or stain your car when they get dropped or left to melt in a window like a crayon. New toys/books they never saw are exciting when going gets tough. If you have a dvd we had to watch Elmo in Grouchland tons of times but they were enjoying! I know this sounds kind of gross but if they are potty training or new to holding it BRING THE POTTY CHAIR FOR EMERGENCIES!!!! Trust me it beats most of the gas station toilets, use those to empty it! I did this for our yearly drive to S. Carolina until they were over 3! Leave real early or late so that they can sleep most/ or at least some of the trip. Hope some of this helps. Good Luck!

I too would recommend driving all night. We did this and it worked great as friends said it would. You know their temperment so if they need breaks (if you just can't drive at night) then plan accordingly. Maybe you can look up McDonalds playlands on the way and take a stop to let them play. Also, I found that a bag of dollar store toys help. Sometimes they have the cutest things there and are cheap. They'll love playing with something new in the car. If you know someone or have a DVD player then you can take that along. That was great for our vacation trip. Have fun!

I have 18 month old boy twins. The longest we travel is 5 hours with them. We don't work around their schedule or anything. We also don't stop, we just go. I have to say they are very good in the car. I do have snacks and their drinks. They will sleep at some point, but they talk to each other for the most part. What they say....I have no clue though. For me, I prepared for the worse and it really isn't that bad. Good luck.

Hi R.,
First off, if you do not have trays for the kids get tays for their car seats to they can lay items down on them. Have plenty of paper, coloring books [pages torn out]and crayons. If your girls have not used caryons yet, get them aquainted with them before the trip. Buy the big thick crayons because they are good for small hands to use and to thick for the girls to beak them into small pieces [choking hazard]and cannot be broken in half. Take plenty of their favorite toys. Keep them in a box[out of site if possible] so the toys can be changed at each stop. Have CD's or cassettes of music your twins like to listen to. You can also obtained more music at you local library along with reading books. Take plenty of their favorite reading books. Every so often my husband or I would sit in back with the kids so we could read books to them and keep them company. Have plenty of healthy snacks and drinks for your chidren. Plan to stop every so often to let the twins run around. Look on the map and find parks at towns along the way. When my children were small we stopped every 21/2 hours to let the kids run for about 15-20 minutes and to also use the rest room. It does take more time to get to your destination, but you and your husband's nerves will be intact. Most kids are hungry after running around so, either give the girls their snack at the park before leaving [prevents food spills in the vehicle]or in the vehicle [to cut down on time]. Once back on the road play some music and the girls may fall asleep. My kids always did. Now I must tell you not everything works with each child. You may have one child just find with a long trip while the other may hate being in a car seat for even an hour. Some of this will be trial and error. When you stop for meals, it is best to let the kids run around for about 15-20 minutes before going into a place to eat. What I found the best and cheaper way to go was to pack coolers with food for our meals and just ate at parks. Of course,rainy/cold weather parks can be out of the question. That's when we would stop at McDonald's to use their playland or a mall to walk around in. Today, my 16 yr. old daughter and 12 yr. old son are use to long trips and spend their time reading books, listening to music, draw and color(even at their age, play cards and small board games and more. Good Luck on your trip.

Rope and Duct Tape! Just Kidding!

Having a bag of "new" toys that you can whip out every now and then when boredom sets in would be good, plus music cds, calming music plus fun songs as well.

If you can do DVDs, they'll save your life. I have a portable DVD player if you need one.

Good luck, better you than me, sis! Love ya!

We brought their favorite books, little magna-doodles (the string is attached so you don't have to keep turning around to pick up things off the floor) color-forms, magnetic puzzles, coloring books and crayons and flash cards with pictures on them. Mostly they just enjoyed looking around and of course the occasional DVD that we popped in. Make sure that when you stop they get to run around a little bit to break up the boredom of sitting in the car. I was soooo nervous on our first road trip with our twins and it went suprisingly well!! Good luck and have fun!!!