Yes, I'm a little late this week. We just got back from a 2 day roadtrip to find a place to live in our soon to be home state of Maryland. Good times were had by all...

and we are exhausted.

So, this week's topic:

How do you keep your kids entertained during boring times? This includes long car trips, long restaurant waits... maybe you have a secret to keep them from acting up in church? (when I go to mass with my inlaws, the E and I spend the entire service running around in the back... with all the other little kids!)

This roadtrip we managed pretty well for the first 3 legs. Today was tough, so I busted out all my secret weapons - play-doh, blowing bubbles in the car, and finally the Bird Man hopped in the back with her to watch Baby Signing Time on my laptop...

What do you do?

When my kids were little and we went on road trips it was audio books that they could listen to and follow along. As they got older the electronics got more advanced. It was Gameboys, then portable DVD players, now it's iPods. We would also play road games... like having to find all the letters of the alphabet on road signs, or "I Spy." I guess I was lucky, both of my kids are sleepers... they would fall asleep within 15-20 minutes and stay asleep for hours.

For long car trips thank goodness our older kids are readers, for the little guys we have the portable DVD player. Our kids are also all into music, so that helps too (It's also pretty funny watching the 6 year old rock out to System of a Down).

Waiting for Doctors appts and the like, we read books, play with cars, etc. I'm also one of those obnoxious mothers who lets the 2 yr old run. I think it's expecting too much for the little guy to sit still for so long. As long as I can see him and he isn't bothering anyone I let him go.

At home? I usually answer calls of "I'm BORED" with chores. Cause I'm the meanest mom EVER. Needless to say, we don't have a lot of boredom there.

Road Trips-DVDs, MP3 players, books, pillows, electronic games, white boards and markers, and food...lots of food. We were very surprised to discover our children travel very well. We have taken a number of very long road trips with no casualities.

Restaurant Waits-We worked very hard to avoid this. We would go to dinner a bit earlier (with all the old people) to avoid the rush. If our food was taking a while I always had crackers, crayons, and paper. Some places will even bring the kid's meals first if you ask.

Church-The best way for kids to learn to sit in church is to go to church regularly and teach them ways they can participate. Both my girls were always good about being in church. My oldest slept most of the time (even as a toddler) and the youngest liked to watch all the action. I always had quiet snacks and quiet toys that were only for church in the special church bag. And we always sit towards the front so they can see what's going on and feel a part of it. Now my son was a bit more active than the girls and did not like to sit still but we never took him out to let him run around. We struggled through and he learned to sit still in a few months. It was tough but worth it in the long run. This is something that is so important, not just for church. I was able to take my children to plays and classical concerts at a young age because I knew they could sit quietly.

Well, let me just say first of all that two things I would never do in the car are play-doh and bubbles. But that's just me.

It changes as kids' ages change, but we have certainly had our share of boredom busters. My kids travel back and forth from CA to AZ (10 hour car ride) to visit their dad about every 6 weeks, for one. Then there's always been 3 hours of church each week, ETC.

I have a "Mom's Bag of Tricks". I only use it during these times. It's all about the snacks, for sure. And we have etch-a-sketches, those electronic 20 questions games, sudokus galore, mazes, etc. But I also stock up on books on tape when we're going to be on the road, and lots of kid-friendly singing tapes/cd's. We sing a lot! And we play games like the license plate game, the alphabet game (finding each letter--in order--on road signs/store fronts, etc.) We play "I'm thinking of..." The bigger kids also have Gameboys/Nintendo DS's that they can use for part of the time, and for emergencies, I have a mini DVD player in the bag.

In church, I have interactive books, with flaps, things to feel (scratchy, furry, smooth, etc), crayons and paper, a "Quiet book", a little 5 x 7 photo book with pictures of family members and animals. (my baby is 19 months). And treats.

Hope this helps!

My boys are 6 and 3 - when we're going on long road trips (mind you, our longest was 5 hours and we actually did take a portable DVD player with us on that one), we mostly just talk and sing and listen to music or we play games trying to find certain trucks and cars. I also bought them a car bingo game that they can play together.

If it's restaurants, I bring crayons and paper. Or I'll keep a couple of menus at the table and let them pretend they're my waiter - they love to serve me - too bad that won't last much longer.

Well...L is ALMOST 1...so it's pretty easy so far. In church, we pop out her cloth books. She has some really cool interactive ones...with pockets and velcro and zippers and such. Really neat. She plays with those things for a while. Plus, she's gotten into the habit of throwing stuff...so cloth is VERY good in a Catholic Church that ECHOES.

We also carry baby snacks...so if she gets too out of hand, we give her those puff treats. You know...if she gets fussy.

She's just starting to learn the whole walking thing - she hasn't gotten it down yet tho. So, I imagine it's going to be even harder to get her to sit still!

But, for right now, she loves loves loves exploring things with her fingers..like any cool textures and neat stuff in the books. That and miniature stuffies that she can hold easily in her hands (2-3 inches big)

Oh yeh...posting that just reminded me...

I think I'm going to start carrying around this little thing I got from oompa toys (oompa.com)...its almost like a cloth polly pockets...except it has mice in an apple. But its cloth and the pieces are a little bigger (yet it'll smush up tiny to put in bags) so she wont swallow it. But, that PLUS the books PLUS the food...

And maybe some stuff to draw with ....well maybe in a few months for drawing... Right now she wants to eat the pens.

Anyone have any good ideas for a 1yr old (12 mos)??

Toy cell phones. My boys loved 'em. Or little toy animals or cars. But for some reason, the cell phones were the most popular. The ones that make noise, but not LOUD....

I will bring about a magic board(the self erasing one) for the kids to play with if we are going on long car rights - or we do songs and " can you spot this in the window" games