Ideas for entertaining my 21 month old in the car!!

[SBot]

Any ideas please to help keep our 21 month old happier in the car. We have tried giving her books but they end up on the floor and out of out reach. She isn't interested in tv so a DVD player would be no good. Thinking of having CDs but does that mean our car journeys will now be spent listening to nursery rhymes?!?!?

All ideas gratefully received.

Thanks

[KateW]

Our daughter is 16 months and nursery rhyme CD's have been a huge hit since we went on hols last summer when she was 9 months old. I think putting up with songs that she loves is a small price to pay for having a happy girl in the car!

[crystal7]

I recommend the cbeebies CD (double!). Terrible but kept our daughter happy on long car journeys. Can't get the songs out of your head though!

[Adam]

We love all of

Monkey music

Tin pan Annie

Classic Disney soundtrack (Mary Poppins, Jungle Book etc)

CDs

Tin pan anie is the most blary/kiddy - but not too irritating, and of course our 3-year old'sfavourite!

Also thinking about trying story CDs we have at home (Tiddler, Night Pirates, Little Red Train) on next car journey. 5 hours to Devon, yikes....

[Pickle]

sedatives? ;-)

[oimissus]

we don't have a CD player in our luddite-vehicle and I so wish we had, listening to nursery rhymes would be infinitely preferable to having to listen to Miss Oi whinge and wail her way through the traffic as we slog back through central London to home.

anyone got any tapes??

[bluesuperted]

Oimissus - if you have a tape player you can buy one of those cheap attachments and plug in an iPhone, iPod, other MP3 player, even a portable CD player.

We have a CD player and a tape player and if I had to give one up, I'd definitely save the tape player with adapter, it's brilliant!

Here's one with good reviews on Amazon but I think any would be fine:

Sony Car cassette adaptor http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B00007EDLW

[bumpy]

Audio books, especially if read by David Tennant. :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hairy-Maclary-Story-Collection-Friends/dp/014132905X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332155915&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Also intersperse the kiddy songs with 'normal' music Yes tends to have to be pop songs or high energy but beats listening to nursery rhymes the whole time. Current favourites of our 2 year old include...

I like to Move it by Will.i.am

Candy Man by Sammy Davis Jnr

It's Tricky - Run DMC

Jolene - Dolly Parton

Move it & Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard

Yellow Submarine - The Beatles

Electric Avenue & Gimme Hope Joanna - Eddy Grant

Mamma Mia - Abba

We Will Rock You - Queen

I Love To Boogie - T-Rex

Your Song - Elton John

Candyman - Christina Aguilera

[oimissus]

bluesperted - yeah, we've had one of these, possible this very one - and it was rubbish, had to turn the sound up full whack on the iPod to get any kind of volume at all (inaudible on the motorway) and the sound quality was dire, so I'm feeling kinda sceptical! I know the bulk of the reviews for this one are good, but there are some recent bad ones which puts me off. Thanks for the tip though.

Hey ho. One day we will acquire a car for the 21st century. Which is when this one was bought, new, would you believe. Cheap as chips, though, I guess when I bought it I wasn't contemplating this scenario!

[bluesuperted]

Oh dear! Ours is really good, have to fiddle to adjust volume to optimum loudness/quality but even listened to the whole of Stephen Fry's Chronicles on one journey (sleeping baby!). I think ours was actually a really cheap version, so maybe you were unlucky or maybe it's your system that doesn't like them... Our car is only just 21st century but I think the stereo is decent.

[oimissus]

yes, could be the stereo. Trouble is, the speakers are only at the front so for Miss Oi to hear it in the back it does need to be quite loud. I really thought I'd be able to find some tapes in charity shops etc, but I guess they have been obsolete for ages now. Irritatingly, she quite often (though not always) really objects to us singing Old MacDonald or whatever, which just makes it all that bit more painful . . . toddlers, eh, tricky little tinkers ;)

[SBot]

Thanks everyone. Will invest in some nursery rhyme CDs.

Off to Huddersfield on Saturday so will see how we get on. Moving the car seat to the middle is another idea I have been given,

Thanks again xxx

[Knomester]

We have some CDs too, but also some with French and Spanish songs to break things up a bit and in fact the singing voices are much nicer on those! We also do a LOT of singing... If all else fails, usually a rousing rendition of Old MacDonald by Mum and Dad works a treat (to cries of 'more' from the back every time we pause for breath).

We also have a separate bag of toys / things gathered from around the house which we only use for car journeys and when we're go out to eat. There's a mini book about rules for wives (!), an old wallet with lots of old cards, a wind up torch, silicone fairy cake cases, a robot, 3D glasses - you get the idea. These tend to keep Baby Knomester occupied for quite a while.

We also try to plan journeys around usual nap times if we can, so we often driave up north to visit family leaving at around 12 noon with a 'car picnic' lunch (goes everywhere but keeps him occupied for a fair whilst) and then sometimes (not always) he'll eventually nod off for an hour or more (always less than he'd sleep at home, but some is better than none!).

I often resort to turning round and playing peepo with Bob the doll or random things I can rustle up in the front of the car. Quite tricky because i get dreadfully car sick!