If you have one or more kids, you would know that sometimes long car trips (or even short ones!) can be a challenge in terms of keeping your little ones entertained. When mine were babies, I had a stash of soft toys and rattles, but as they started to get older, they needed something entertained them for more than 5 seconds! Here's what I came up with...

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I decided to pack books in the car instead of toys, as I figured it would keep my kids entertained for longer. When I first came up with this idea, my children were around 8 months and 2.5 years old, and it is still working well nearly 18 months on.

I bought a tall basket for around $4 at the dollar store, which fit perfectly between the 2 car seats. It is actually really wedged in there so there is no chance it could move if we were to stop suddenly. I filled the basket with a few of the touch-and-feel board books and pop-up books that could withstand a bit of wear and tear.

I also put in a packet of Dr Seuss letter cards and a mini magna-doodle for a bit of creative drawing. At this age I find the magna-doodle works better than crayons & paper as my son would often drop the crayons or find the notebook tricky to balance on his knees.

I try to swap the choices around every month so there is a variety and they don't get bored with the same books. My son will often select a favourite story to take with him ('The Very Cranky Bear' is his current fave - such a cute story!). Here's what the basket is filled with at the moment, some pop-ups, board books and longer picture books:

I have found this to be such a great solution for keeping the children entertained in the car. Even on long trips to the family beach-house (a 1.5 hour drive), we just take a new selection of books and they are happy [pretty much] the whole way. Audio books are another fantastic solution for keeping the kids entertained, and relatively happy! 

How do you keep your kids entertained in the car on long trips? Do they like to read in the car too?