car seat attachments or other ideas to make car seat more fun?

I have one twin riding in the far back of my mini van and the other in the middle (I have an older son who also sits in the middle). It's been great until the last two days, where the one in the back all of a sudden wants to sit in the middle. Rather than devising a switch-off schedule (I think they are a bit young to understand this) I am thinking about trying to make the car seat in the back more attractive for my daughter. Any ideas for attachments that would serve this purpose? Or other ideas about solving this problem would be appriciated too! Laura

 

I'd let your older son sit in the back, that way both children can see him and he can help entertain them. Although, if they are both forward facing I'm not sure that would help...

 

I only have the twins so I don't have a 3rd child. Can the oldest sit in the back and the twins sit in the same row? My two keep each other very entertained in the car. I keep a box of used board books in between their carseats. I bought them for a 12 hour car ride at a used book store. Two of each book so they don't constantly fight. The boys are also still rear facing so they live in their own little world in the back seat.

How about a book on CD to listen to in the car or children's music. I'm sure there is something out there that would appeal to all of your kids. Mine love listening to CDs in the car.

What about stickers to get them in their seats. Mine went through a very stubborn phase about sitting in their carseats. So I started bribing them. If they sit down they to pick out a sticker. Once they sit down they get to hold the sticker sheet while I buckle them in. Then I peel off their sticker. I have sticker books for them to place the sticker in the book. One per kid. I did this for almost a month straight. Now I only pull out the stickers when I can tell they aren't going to sit down very fast.

You can buy soft carseat trays. I bought two for our long car ride. They definitely helped. It allowed them to color and do sticker books.

 

In the van, we have the oldest in the back and the twins in the middle too. When they were rear facing, he would do puppet shows for them. Now he just talks to them. In the car, they all ride in the same row, which the babies love, and he entertains them by making their lovies dance/fall asleep/etc.

 

My oldest is also in the back and the girls are in the middle. The girls entertain each other and he's never complained, as long as we have "big boy music" for him to listen to (for the last few months this has meant any Wiggles CD out there ).