So I mentioned a little while back that we’re driving from Louisiana to Utah in a few weeks. This is brand new territory for me. I came later in my parents’ lives, way after their cross-country road trip days, so we never really did road trips growing up. When my husband and I were newlyweds, we didn’t really have a reliable enough car for much road-tripping, and then, up until this summer, we’ve always been able to find reasonable airfare within 4-5 hours of us.
Until now.
I’ve been checking airfare since the beginning of the year, but the same flights we took last year would cost us 3-4 times as much this summer. Throw in a car rental and we could seriously take a fully-loaded tropical vacation.
So. We’re driving. And I’ve been trying to figure out how we can keep everybody occupied and happy for 27 hours each way in the car (that doesn’t involve 27 hours of fighting or 27 hours of crying or 27 hours of video games, although, to be completely honest, 27 hours of video games sounds better than 27 hours of fighting.)
So I’ve put together a binder of simple activities to keep my kids at least semi-aware of their surroundings.
None of them are exactly earth-shattering (although one of my favorite and last memories of my mom is a rather epic round of the license plate game that took months before we finally tracked down Hawaii), but I’ve put them all in one place and used cute fonts. So, you know, the essentials. This is the map I used (it can either be just a reference–I’m having my kids color each state we visit); be sure to check out the whole site–it’s full of ADORABLE printables and activities. Everything else can be found here in this pdf:
Kid’s Road Trip Survival Guide from Our Best Bites
You’re going to need …
- 1 3-Ring Binder per child
- Sheet protectors
- Pencil Pouch
- Various drawing/writing tools (I used pens, washable markers, and colored pencils)
- Scissors
- Glue Sticks
- Postcard stamps (optional—if you want to send postcards to friends or yourself)
- Money for postcards
- Pencil sharpener for colored pencils
- Paper, cardstock, and/or lined paper
- Stickers for the road trip scavenger hunt
- Map of the United States
- Kid’s Road Trip Survival Guide from Our Best Bites
Find a sturdy pencil pouch that has three holes and will fit into a 3-ring binder:
Fill it with a glue stick or two, scissors, postcard stamps, money for postcards, markers (I was able to raid my kids’ school supplies, used and unused),
colored pencils,
pens,
and stickers for the scavenger hunt.
Place the filled pencil bag at the front of the binder.
Place the scavenger hunt, license plate game, map, postcard passport, art gallery, and vacation journal pages in sheet protectors (I put the scavenger hunt on the front and the license plate game on the back of one sheet protector, then put the map opposite the license plate game so my kids could see where different states are on the map.)
After the postcard passport, put several pieces of cardstock so kids can glue the postcards onto it. The Art Gallery goes next, followed by several sheets of plain white paper, then the vacation journal followed by lined paper.
I’ve gotten some awesome tips on road trips so far, but now that I’ve shared these binders, I’m basically begging for your very best tips to keep all of us sane! We’re going to need them!
Questions & Reviews
Benadryl!
I just drove from Denver to Ohio with my 6- and 4-year-olds and I thought I would share a couple things that really kept them busy. They both liked making necklaces from beads and it kept them busy for quite a while. I just got some of that stretchy string and beads and put them in a container and they strung the beads while we drove. I also read about taking cookie sheets, which are magnetic, so I took them and it worked really well. They fit in the pocket on the back of the front seats and were great for coloring on and I put magnets on the backs of puzzles and on the bottom of game pieces so they could do puzzles in the car or play games. And, finally, I borrowed books on CD from the library and let them listen through headphones while we drove. I was surprised by how painless it was – when I was a kid we drove from Florida to Ohio at least once a year and I don’t remember ever having ANYTHING to do in the car besides look out the window, so this was a huge improvement. Also… snacks. Lots of snacks. We had cheese, yogurt tubes, grapes, and drinks in a small cooler in the backseat, as well as granola bars some candy (in case of emergencies) in the glove box.
Good luck on your road trip – it probably won’t be as bad as you think!!!
I drove from DFW to Yuma, AZ one year with all three of my boys (5,4 and 2 at the time)by myself. We bought a portable dvd player and used a portable speaker that they held back with them. I loaded up on stuff at the dollar store. Cookie sheets and magnet letters and shapes, small pads of paper, coloring books, stickers, colored pencils (won’t melt, less likely to color anything in the car), those little cling pads that you lift up and then write again, small army men, little dinasours. The cookie sheets at the dollar store aren’t as big as regular ones, so that worked great for the magnets and a play base for the small figures. We used solo cups as snack cups, they fit in their cup holders (no plastic bags flying everywhere), my oldest helped distribute. I’d give him a bag of crackers or pretzels, and he’d give them to his brothers. We stuck to water in the car, I hate stickiness! I had everything in bags up front with me in the passenger seat, one bag for food, one for toys, etc. I would just feel around for the right thing and hand it back. Every once in a while when we stopped for gas I’d get them some gummy bears or something. They are boys, so of course peeing on the side of the road is entertainment! The movies helped too, driving through Texas is just about the most boring thing you can do! I made sure they could run around at some point in the day (park or rest stop). It wasn’t as bad as I had expected it to be!
250 miles, 1000 miles, and 1200 miles to visit family – our kids spent a LOT of time sitting in a van growing up!
My goal was always to get them to entertain themselves. To that end I kept a box of “car-only” toys under the seat: auto bingo, several magnetic games (all enclosed – no pieces to lose), wikki-sticks, pipe-cleaners. AAA stores and Cracker Barrels are good sources for these old fashioned types of games.
We also brought a good supply of audio stories like “Jungle Jam” and “Adventures in Odyssey”, plus music that both kids and parents would enjoy.
Each child (we only have two) was allowed one toy bag: a knapsack filled with their own choices of what to bring.
A good run at rest stops every couple of hours, plus an enforced nap/quiet time in the afternoon, and the promise of a hotel with a swimming pool in the evening kept us all sane.
One more word of advice: if the kids are quietly occupied, or even contentedly day-dreaming, don’t interrupt by asking them how they’re doing. You’ll just mess with their groove and make them irritated.
I forgot to mention that a grid page in a plastic sheet holder and an erasable marker will allow for games like dot-to-dot, battleship, and hang-man.
Audio Books!
Perfect post for me as we are traveling across the nation in a couple of weeks (31 hour drive with 2 kids and dog). This will be the longest we’ve ever gone so I’m looking for as many activities as possible. I love the folders. It will help reduce the clutter in the car which drives me nuts more than anyone else.
We have 7 children and drove from Washington state to Utah every summer. Our kids loved The cooperation store. I would have fun things in the store like treats, sun glasses, coloring books, etc. that were tagged with a price in cooperationdollars (or cents). Every hour that each one had good behavior, they earned like 25 cents, and I wrote out a check to them. I just used checks from a closed account. They were all good travelers, and our trips are happy memories.
I have a 2 1/2 yr and we frequent road trips to TX and beyond! We live in Baton rouge and we feel your pain!! One thing my daughter loves is bubbles. In the summer toys section at target (by the bubbles) I got her some of those mini no spill bubble blowers she can do all herself. Bc we know that’s imperative to a two year old. The bubbles are so small that I have noticed no mess. But to be honest. Even if it made a little mess I would be totally fine with it. I can clean a window after all- better than I can deal with screaming for 27 hours – my five yr old loves these as well. You’ll be so glad!! We also love to laminate dry erase activity pages and get those cute crayola dry erase crayons.
Hi Kate –
We’ve gone all over with my two kids – one summer we traveled over 2,000 miles so needless to say my kids are pretty good road trippers! Funny enough, I’m actually launching a packing checklist next week with a whole section just on getting ready for a road trip with your kids. If you are interested in having me send it to you, just shoot me an email at [email protected] and I’d be happy to get that to you!
tonya
We take lots of road trips and have played the license plate game with our kids (now 21 and 24 yo) every summer for the past 18 years! Lol! I photocopy a USA/Canada map that does not have the states labeled so that the kids had to correctly locate the state then fill it in with labels or by coloring. My husband and I find ourselves still watching for license plates!