My friend and I will be making a 5 hour journey by car, and her 2 year old child will be accompanying us. For his own safety he will have to remain strapped in his child seat while travelling, so how can we keep him from getting bored and fretful? We will of course make regular stops to give him, and us, breaks, but all the children's car games that I know of are too old for him. Any suggestions for keeping him happy and occupied?

This may or may not help, but when I took my children to Canada a few summers ago, (12 hour drive) we left at 3 am so that they would sleep most of the way.

Another suggestion is a tape of silly songs, or singalongs so that you can sing along with the child; using hand motions and things like that.

Hope it helps

We got a DVD player and they watched movies on an 8 hour lay-over at an airport.

If you’re looking for good car games for kids or travel activities for kids, you should check out the new educational DVD from Banyan (the folks who produced Baby Story, Birth Day, Trading Spaces, Wedding Story, etc.). It’s called “Are We There Yet” and it’s got a Muppet-type host named Miles the Goose (kind of like Big Bird from Sesame Street) that leads children through all kinds of kids travel games, activities and educational segments designed to play in the car. It also features sing-a-longs with Rebecca Frezza and the Big Truck Band. It’s sure to keep kids entertained on road trips for hours. Because it includes short segments and songs, the DVD is good for short car trips as well as longer trips in the car. If you don’t have a DVD player in your car, your child can learn the games at home and play them on the road! You can find out more about the DVD on http://www.milesthegoose.com.