Ways to entertain your kids in the car

I have two kids, a 3-year old and an 11-month old (who just started walking), and I'm always looking for ways to entertain them. They both are full of energy and love to be kept active. When we are riding in the car, rather than "plug them in" to a DVD player or something, I do simple things to help entertain them and I thought I would share:

1) My daughter LOVES trains and so we are always on the lookout for trains. Doesn't matter what kind, it can be a Metro train or Amtrak or whatever. But I always take a few moments to stop at train tracks or wait a moment to see if a train will go by so she can see it, etc. My son loves to watch anything and everything.

2) Another thing we look for are buses. She calls out when she spots a bus, tells me the color (eg red, orange, blue, etc) and whether it is a big bus or not. She particularly likes school buses and can't wait to start going to school and be able to ride a school bus soon. :)


3) Another thing we do is I got a children's song CD and we play it in the car. My daughter loves to sing and have me sing along with her. Her favorite songs (surprise, surprise) are Wheels on the Bus and ABCs. My son loves to listen to my daughter sing - in fact whenever he is a little fussy, she starts singing the ABCs and it calms him right down.

I'm sure many moms (and dads) do similar things, but I just wanted to share some of the things I do to entertain my kids in the car.