Gadgets to Keep Your Kids Busy in the Car

If you have young kids and have ever had to go on a road trip, no doubt you have needed things to keep them entertained. Heck, even just my daily commute from the suburbs to the city for work takes it’s toll on us all, especially when we have to commute in bad weather and it takes longer! My kids are only 5 and 2 so we don’t have to have too many expensive gadgets just yet. We only need a few things to keep them happy.

The Kid-Mobile

First a little background on our vehicle. We have a mini-van. I never ever thought I would drive a mini-van! Before kids I always drove some type of small car, and then a Jeep Grand Cherokee. But when our girls were ready to come home from the hospital, we quickly discovered that our Jeep would not do for two infant car seats. With the seats in the back, our front seats were pushed way up and we were scrunched way too close to the dash and window. It felt very unsafe.

I LOVE large SUVS, but umm..they cost too much. And as we started looking around, carrying the seats with us and trying them out, there were not many that would actually comfortably accommodate two rear-facing infant seats in the back and still let Mommy and Daddy be comfy. The issue is that with only one infant carrier, you can put that in the middle of the backseat. It usually can fit between and there is still room for the front seats to be in a comfortable position. With two infant seats, one needs to go behind the driver’s seat and one behind the passenger seat so that doesn’t leave much room.

So at that time, we settled on a 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan. A few months ago, we upgraded to the 2008 model. Our van has two DVD players and the MyGig system. The MyGig system is awesome. It includes a 20gb hard drive that you can rip your CDs to, or even load MP3s to from a USB drive. This means you can create playlists right in the car full of your kids favorite music without lugging around extra CDs or audio equipment.

But if you are like me and addicted to your iPod, there’s an input for that too! It has two DVD screens and two sets of headphones. This means that the boys in the second row can watch something different than the girls in the back. Or, one set can watch a movie while the other set plays a video game that is plugged in via the component inputs. The small front navigation screen even allows the front seat passengers to watch the movie as long as the vehicle is in park. I keep a small CD holder full of their favorite movies in the car at all times.

Mobile Gadgets

Last year for Christmas, I got my girls the LeapFrog Leapster with a couple of games. These are really, really cool! It’s like a Gameboy, but for smaller kids. All of the games are not only fun, but help them learn. They can also draw and paint. If you get one, I would suggest investing in the rechargeable battery pack because those things can eat batteries pretty quickly! They also each have a Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera. Those are really cool because they are SO tough! They can drop them, and they keep on going. But honestly, the pics are not all that great. There are some better models on the market now like the Vtech – Kidizoom Digital Camera. They can take pics of each other or scenery along the way, and review them on the 1.5-inch screen.

Good Old Paper and Pencil

Can’t forget the simple things! Bring it on a hard backed pad, or with a clipboard so their papers don’t fall all over the car, and little baggies of crayons, and they are set!

What are some of your suggestions for keeping little ones busy on the road?

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3. Time Management for the Busy Mom
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5. Tips to Keep Yourself Fueled Through the Your Busy Day