Friday 22 June 2012

HELP! - How do you entertain four children for 1,002 miles?

In three weeks' time we will be heading off on holiday.

It will, I hope, be brilliant.

But we are driving.

So that means an hour and a bit to Newcastle. Then 16 hours on a ferry.  Then nearly 12 hours on the road in Holland, Belgium and France.

I am told, by google maps, that where we are going, not far from Lyon, is 1,002 miles away from where I am sitting now.

And L gets car sick, so DVDs are not an option.


So we are going to need help...

We're thinking story tapes and CDs, but we need recommendations. L is just five and is loving having Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his ilk read to her, but S and A are 3 and a half and haven't got the attention span for "chapter books".  Their only request so far is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

M of course gets no say in this yet.  Nor does B, incidentally, although he's likely to be less tolerant of Twinkle Twinkle on a loop.

Any ideas?   Songs, stories, activities?

And if all else fails, I do at least now know the French for Soft Play Centre.

 

19 comments:

  1. Michelin do a series of I-spys which are picturial which might help 5 year old keep looking out of the window (helps prevent sickness) i-spy on the motorway, i-spy on a car journey, i-spy every vehicle on the road, i-spy on a car journey in France - I am deadly serious these people know how to do long car journies - look them up on Amazon! The drawing board that is a big like an etch asketch might keep 3 year old going for a while, I remember using one of those a lot. Songs with actions - to prevent DVT (Joke by the actions bit is at least entertaining - my hat it has 3 corners and all that on CD) for you I mainly recommend gin and for OH - ear plugs :) enjoy !

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    1. Lots of good suggestions (esp the gin...). Thank you!

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  2. We've just returned from driving to the Pyrenees and back with our two - a little older at 5 and 7. The DVD packed in, and all I can say is thank god for the iPad. I can vouch for the I-Spy books. Travelling on the motorway minimised the car sickness.

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    1. B thinks she'll be ok on the French motorways. I'm just not keen on risking it. Hmmm.

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  3. On Amazon, ordering i-spy books! Thank you so much...

    Any more suggestions welcome!

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  4. Marshmallows and toothpicks... bought me 4hours, of a 22hour car trip. Hide and seek - 20 questions was a fun 2 hours, and joke books kept them amused by telling each other jokes for hours. iPads, car - i - oki, mad libs, travel scavenger hunts, and pipe cleaner creature creating were our sanity savers.We bought several little car magnetic pieces filled car games which were good but the pieces seem to evaporate away.
    Best luck and hope you have a wonderful time.

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    1. What do you do with the marshmallows and toothpicks? Sounds fun (if sticky)!

      And how do you play in car hide and seek?!

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    2. You use marshmallows and toothpicks to construct shapes and 3D structures ( I think) and then you get to eat them! I do the drive to Burgundy most years by myself. It's only 8 hours as we live in South England. Regular stops are good for tiring them so that they will sleep. DVD player is awesome and as for audio books, our current favourites are Milly Molly Mandy, My Naughty Little Sister and the Sophie series by Dick King Smith. My 2- and 4-year-old love them as they have fairly short chapters and are quite entertaining. We also play a game of 20 questions- Guess the DVD (it's usually a Barbie DVD when LBG chooses), who-can-spot: one red car, three blue cars, two lorries, that type of thing. Odd one out is easy to adjust to younger ages. Pipe cleaners are very popular, as are magazines with the crappy toys on the front. Car dancing to loud songs. If you get really stuck, you could wrap up little gifts and give them something new every hour (we do this one plane rides).

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    3. Nostalgic "aaah" for the South of England. We used to drive to where we're going from London (B used to live there so we tend to go back). One of the biggest shocks about living in Scotland is that it takes an *extra day* to drive to France. Hence the boat...

      But I like all those ideas - Miilly Molly Mandy is a great idea and I don't know Sophie, but I love Dick King Smith so it's bound to be a winner...

      Car dancing I like too!

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  5. Years ago I bought a box set of Roald Dahl "talking" books and these have given us hours of happy travellers - even the younger children seem to listen. Some of his stories are great for the younger ones - The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me etc. As they grow up we are graduating to the first Harry Potter stories so we have lots to look forward to.

    I can also recommend Mr Roberelli, fantastic fun children's songs with great tunes and lyrics even adults can enjoy.

    We drive to France - 12 hours door to door. Picnic stops help. It's not always easy, but driving on French motorways is much less stressful than the UK - we often wonder where everyone else is!

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    1. Off to investigate Mr Roberelli....

      My little ones don't like Roald Dahl though - it's weird but they don't. We have the Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, Esio Trot and Fantastic Mr Fox already and they're just not keen. Hmm. Will have to knock that out of them soon, anyway!

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    2. But grr. Amazon only has him on MP3 download...

      Does the Juno shop still stock?!

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  6. yes, can buy all three cds in JUNO shop...The first is still my favourite though.

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    1. Brilliant. Will download one, and see if we like and then send you a cheque...!

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  7. you can also listen on the Mr R site - and watch a video that goes with The Romans, a Mr Roberelli classic...

    http://www.mrroberelli.co.nz/page/35/

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  8. Blimey. Good luck. I'm bracing myself for Renfrewshire to Cornwall and back - our longest road trip to date with a 3 year old, a 10 year old and a 12 year old.
    I think talking books will be our friends and I've signed up to audible.co.uk so I can download books onto my tablet and play thing through the car speakers.
    Otherwise, lots of breaks and trying to find better places to stop than service stations even if it is just an Ikea.

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    1. At least ours are all much of an age so we don't have to find stuff to entertain a 12 year old and a 3 year old... that I don't envy you!

      Good luck to you too!

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  9. Arghhh I had written a long answer, I think I have lost it. I'll try and come back tomorrow!
    Me & The Boys

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I know. I'm sorry. I hate these word recognition, are you a robot, guff things too, but having just got rid of a large number of ungrammatical and poorly spelt adverts for all sorts of things I don't want, and especially don't want on my blog, I'm hoping that this will mean that only lovely people, of the actually a person variety, will comment.

So please do. Comments are great...