Our last and greatest road trip sanity tip for
traveling with kids is a bucket pulley system. This idea was the brainchild of my hubby.
Car Pulley System for Traveling with Kids
We went on our trip when I was nearly 8 months pregnant I was unable, unlike previous trips, to turn around and hand things to the kids during the long days in the car. We needed a way to hand them new toys, snacks, art supplies, etc.
Why don’t we create a pulley system?
It was brilliant!
We tied a rope between the handles on the ceiling of our van. I knew those handles are good for something! Then I tied a bucket to the rope ends and we’d shimmy the bucket on the rope back to the kids whenever they needed something and would shimmy it back to me when the bucket was not in use.
Sorry guys, we cheated in these photos. The originals I took on the actual trip and they were incredibly out of focus… hope you don’t mind our re-creation of the bucket system, from the comfort of our driveway.
We are glad to be home!
This is a neat idea. Can you send me more detailed instruction’s? How do you pull it back to yourself & where is the other end tied to & how do you get the bucket to you if it’s on the opposite side of the car from where your at & back to the child? Can you send pics. To better show the explanation please? Thank You!!!
This is sooooo unsafe!!
I used to have a clip on giraffe on my daughter’s infant seat the Doctor said not to do that as even something semi soft could cause injury at high speeds if we were in a crash.
Now imagine a bucket filled with sharp or hard objects :S Also the rope is probably the most dangerous part a child could hang them selves with it by accident, so even with with a cloth bag instead of a bucket it’s still a terrible idea.
The site administrator should remove this idea. It’s a liability and accident waiting to happen.
I agree. While this system would be convenient, it is very unsafe. A credit card on the dashboard can cut your neck open in a rear-end collision. Imagine what a metal bucket to the face could do. http://www.rdasia.com/hidden-dangers-in-your-car
I need this!! We have an Explorer that has 3 rows. I am always having a hard time getting the stuff the back.
I have wanted to do that… could you email me the details of how your husband put that together?
Thank you! We are going on a trip in a couple of weeks!
I have SO ENVISIONED THIS VERY thing a million times on my car trips. I have become quite good and aiming pretzyls to the back row and bags of chips and toys, etc. I have one tip for you.
NEVER try to pitch from the front of the van to the back of the van a Sippy cup.
Painful when you miss.:)
(cough, this never happened, cough).
I’m the second oldest (I’m 13) of 8 kids, and we are taking a vacation and the car trip will be around 8 hours. ( and thats before all the stops 🙂 I’m getting ideas to entertain kids and teens…. ages 4 months, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Me 13, and 14. This is brilliant!!
This is great! I’m going to try this with our 4 and 3 year old on our road trip from Winnipeg to Vancouver! They will love it (and so will I)!
Thanks for the great ideas.
Love this! Pinned it.
Bummed that I can’t get the pics to load, but this idea is GENIUS! I get motion sickness if I look back so I’m using this. Thank you, thank you!
This is so incredibly awesome!!!!! We’ll be making the trip from Colorado to Michigan in July… with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 10 month old. THANK YOU!!!