I meant to post this before traveling, but now that we’ve gotten through our road trip, I can give a more fair assessment of road trip ideas! We took a family trip to Florida last week! Woohoo! After having an eventful, to say the least, April, having this trip to look forward to was so nice. We traveled to the 30A area of FL and it was wonderful! (I have a couple posts coming all about where to eat, stay, etc). I asked on instagram for some help with ideas of how to keep our boys entertained during the drive, and I received SO many good ideas. You guys are a wealth of good mama information! I wanted to share a list of ways to keep kids entertained during a long road trip here so that you all could see them. Summer is the season for extra time in the car, whether you’re traveling to the beach or to visit family. I hope these ideas are as helpful to you as they have been to me!
I also started a Pinterest board with road trip ideas. That is where you can find lots of free printables and other fun ideas.
Water Wow Books | LEGO Set | Travel Bingo | Reusable Sticker Books | Container for Snacks | Road Trip I Spy Printable | Color Wonder | Jumbo Storage Bags | Lacing Kit | Peter Rabbit | Lullaby CD | Slugs & Bugs | The Star | Road Signs I Spy Printable
32 Ways to Keep Kids Happy on a Long Road Trip
- Leave EARLY in the morning, so that the children are still sleepy. Have a simple breakfast in the car, or a smoothie in a go cup.
- If you leave early, keep the kids in their pajamas until the first rest stop, then change into real clothes.
- Listen to Slugs & Bugs.
- Check out audiobooks from the library. Davis liked The Magic Treehouse series.
- Pack lunches and stop at a rest stop for the kids to run around and have a picnic outside.
- Buy books from Goodwill, and give the books to them throughout the trip. Spending less money, but the books are still “new” to the kids.
- Buy cheap lacing kits. They can often be found in the Target dollar spot.
- Bring a container like this one with lots of compartments. Fill it with a variety of snacks.
- Car bingo games. The Target dollar spot has Road Trip Bingo right now. (Davis loved this). You can also buy a full road trip bingo game.
- If your kids are still in the potty-training stage or have accidents at times, take a potty with you in the car. You can line it with a diaper or a bag if you aren’t able to dump it after. Sounds gross, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.
- Give the kids one new thing each hour.
- Put together a “grab bag” with items from the Dollar Store. Let them pick one thing each after a 30 minute-hour stretch.
- Wrap up a present for them to open each hour.
- State bags. Make a bag for each child to have as you drive through each state. These can include books they haven’t read, a snack, a small activity, etc. Use the jumbo storage bags.
- Order a portable DVD player from Amazon.
- Buy a new movie. The new Peter Rabbit was suggested by a few moms. I bought The Star. It’s a Christmas movie, but Davis would have Christmas year-round if he could.
- Print out a map and draw the route on it. Show the kids how far you’ve traveled as you drive. Place a sticker or draw a star on each state as you pass through.
- Print some I Spy sheets from Pinterest like this one or this one.
- Melissa & Doug water wow books.
- Melissa & Doug reusable sticker books.
- Lap desk for the kids to have a hard surface to color and have snacks on.
- Spend the first hour reading, then switch to audio books, then use DVDs last so they’ll feel more like a treat.
- Color Wonder coloring books and markers.
- Coloring pages with crayons or colored pencils. These could be themed around your trip.
- Cookie sheet with magnets.
- Cookie sheet/sheet pan to do Legos on.
- Listen to kids’ podcasts, such as:
- Story Pirates
- But Why
- Saturday Morning Theatre
- Story Time
- Brains On!
- Stories Podcast
- Books that go along with a CD.
- Disney Pandora/Apple music playlists (we love the Trolls and Moana songs, plus some older ones like Lion King and Jungle Book)
- Leapfrog pen with books downloaded
- State coloring pages to show them the states you’re driving through.
- Have a white noise app on your phone, or buy a CD with some lullabies to help your babies and toddlers fall asleep. I actually just ordered this one.
Todd was vacation-ready in my sun hat 🙂
On the way down to Florida, we did the state bags, pictured below. I included library books, activities such as Target road trip bingo, and a snack in each one. I also included things like magnets, toy cars, coloring books from the Target dollar section with Color Wonder markers, $1 light-up bracelets, and shark window stickers, also from the dollar spot. I bought the extra large zipper plastic bags and I labeled them with the boys’ names.
I packed our lunch in a cooler, and we stopped at a rest area for a picnic. This allowed the boys to run around a bit and get some fresh air.
We used the car dvd player for Davis to watch a couple of shows, and the iPad for Ridge once things got crazy. Ridge is still rear-facing so he can’t see our car tv screen.
I checked the library book for lots of “new” books for the boys to read, including one all about Florida. Davis really liked that one, and it got him more excited about the trip.
We stopped in Auburn for the night on the way down to visit my cousins and their families. Breaking up the trip in that way was great for the boys, and such a treat to spend time family we rarely see!
Truth be told, the way back was kind of rough. We left Florida at 2:30 am. The boys fell asleep by 4:00 am and slept until 5:45 am. Then there was a whole lot of fussing and tears, and occasional bits of sleep by Ridge the rest of the way home. We stopped once to let them run around and once for gas and bathrooms, but packed our food and snacks so that we didn’t have to stop for meals. The boys watched had more movie time on the way back than they did on the way down. Thankfully we missed bad traffic by driving so early. And the most important part is that we made it home safely!
All such great ideas! Saving!