When I was a child, and with my own daughter, we played a number of
"road games."  One involved accumulating totals of license plates from
various states.  When one saw a license plate from a state one simply
claimed it by so announcing.  Periodically, trivial prizes were awarded
by an adult.  Another game was "zip," which involved sighting white
horses.  Upon seeing one, a child said "zip."  First child to a
previously decided total won a trivial prize.  Kept kids eyes peeled.
More educational games are also possible, too of course.  Lots of ways
to keep 'em busy and reasonably quiet.  But breaks and exercise are
essential.

David McNeely

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 8:59 AM, MacAndrew Jack wrote:

> Hi volks,
> I have been taking my two sons on the 22 hour each way trip to
> northern Idaho for the past four summers since my 6 year old was 3.
> One thing that helped, especially on the younger side of things, was
> to never expect more than 3 hours of travelling at a time.  Rest areas
> and some run around time for 45 minutes-plus gets the little restless
> bodies discharged and ready for the next round.  When travelling
> without an adult passenger, I got one of those long grabber things to
> pick up precious dropped items, hand napkins, etc, while driving (!)
> to the back seat of the vanagon without having to stop every time they
> needed something.
> Singing, counting things of different colors, etc., all help to keep
> them involved and pass the long hours with some fun. And a DVD player
> on the rear table, with some sticky shelf stuff underneath, helps too,
> though I was very reluctant to put on a movie when, for instance,
> driving through Yellowstone, though the kids didn't quite share my
> hesitation, of course.
> -macjack