Tips to Keep Your Kids Entertained During Long Road Trips

It’s March Break and you and the kids are off for a fun, family road trip vacation. The first thing that you want to consider is how to keep your children engaged during the trip and prevent them from becoming bored in the backseat.

Nothing derails a family excursion more than the youngsters whining in the car because there is nothing to do, so a well-stocked activity bag can mute the usual, “Are we there yet?”

Here are some ideas and tips to keep the kids happy and let you enjoy the trip in peace without the traditional meltdowns.

Electronic gadgets:

  • In today’s age of technology, parents have a lot more aids that help them to prevent kid boredom on car trips. Audio books are a great way to pass the time. You can listen to kid-geared favorite books together, likeHarry Potter, or the kids can listen on individual portable audio players with headphones. You’ll find a good selection at your local library.
  • Tablets, laptops, and smartphones are a godsend for little ones. You can download educational games, music and movies before taking off for the great adventure. These will sure to please and your children will be entertained and occupied. Many cars come equipped with Wi-Fi, so your life just got a whole lot easier for traveling.
  • A portable DVD player is a parent’s sanity-saver on a long trip. Most cars today come equipped with them but if your car doesn’t have one in it, it’s easy enough to rent a portable player online.
  • Educational “talking” toys can be a wonderful entertainment for kids, but not if it’s screaming at everyone in the car for the whole trip. Select toys that are informative and entertaining, but doesn’t make annoying sounds in the confined space of a car.

Creative outlets:

  • A white board and dry-erase pens lets your children get creative in the car by drawing, playing games like, tic-tac-toe and hangman, or writing silly notes to each other. The beauty of the white board is that it can be wiped all away and start over.
  • You can buy sets of magnetized letters, numbers, and shapes that come with a magnetized playing surface. These allow the kids a great channel for enjoying plenty of fun magnets to manipulate.
  • Toddlers just love stickers and activity books because these items allow kids an outlet to express their creativity. Stickers and activity books are great for parents too because the little one can engage to their hearts content, without leaving pen marks on the upholstery.
  • Crayons or markers are best suited for younger children in the 3 and up group. A bonus for trips in the car is that Colour Wonder markers will only leave marks on special paper, not the leather or fabric upholstery.
  • A trip notebook is a great idea for your children to capture memories of the family road. Provide the kids with stickers that they can use to draw and use in the notebook to remind them of their great family adventure. This activity is especially rewarding because the kids can show them off to their teacher and friends at school when they return.
  • Silly Putty can be a car trip helper because kids think it’s cool to stretch and squish. Since its more elastic than Play-Doh, it’s less likely to end up stuck permanently between the seats, but you also want to prevent it from being thrown around in the car as ballistic objects!

Going on a road trip with the family can be a wonderful time to spend together as you travel along toward an exciting a destination. With a few tricks up your sleeve to keep the kids happy and occupied, they will be more open to other on-road adventures and you will have your sanity remain intact during the journey.