Between family vacations and family an eight-hour drive away, we have covered a lot of miles on the road with our son over the years. Whether we are visiting family, traveling for the holidays, or taking our own adventure, we have become used to long periods of time in the car together. Now we are adding our baby girl to the mix, so we get to start all over with newborn road trips. I’ve had many people ask about how our son handles the long drives, so I thought I would put this list together for all of you. Here are the following essentials I always have packed for a road trip with kids!
Table of Contents
1. CAR TRAY
Our son’s car tray is a road trip essential and he LOVES using it. It is used for eating, doing homework, playing, watching a DVD, etc. The trays with sides are awesome to keep projects from spilling. I love when they fold up for storage in the car under the passenger seat. The pockets on the side keep things organized during the drive. There are many options for car trays, but an old cafeteria tray will work too! Don’t forget a tray on your next road trip with kids.
2. HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
Keeping your child busy is essential for road trip success. This section could go on and on, but I will pick a few of our son’s favorites. These ideas also double for grab-and-go entertainment in a restaurant, event, etc where your kids need something to keep them busy. Basic coloring books fall under this category, but here are a few of our son’s more engaging favorites.
- MAGNETIC PLAY TINS & BOOKS – love these because the magnets keep the pieces together – SUPER helpful when you are in the front seat and can’t reach around easy!
- MAGNETIC STORY SETS – his favorite was “Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site“ – ideal with stories they know and love so they can recreate stories with characters they love.
- WIKI STICKS – as a teacher I loved these for making letters, math projects, finding sight words in big books, etc. I had kind of forgotten about them until we went to Nick’s in Laguna Beach and they gave them to our son with the kids menu. Our son was so engaged through the whole meal and now they are an easy tool for distraction! They never dry out and can stick to papers, tins, trays, etc. I love this travel kit! Easy to grab and throw in the car. Perfect for a road trip with kids.
- TAKE APART ERASERS – my son loves these! They can fall apart and be messy, but he is so engaged with them. I actually take apart each animal and put it in a plastic easter egg. I usually have a set or two in 1/2 an egg crate ready to explore. You can get food, animals, sea life, etc. They are like mini-puzzles and keep him so engaged. I actually started using them on planes but they are great in the car too. Just annoying if they start falling on the ground, but if a piece falls, we tell our son to move on until the next stop!
- MAGNETIC WOOLY WILLY – Ha! My son loves this thing. Easy to throw in and super engaging for kids!
- TRAVEL ART SET – My son loves this set! Paper, markers, colored pencils, and more all fit inside this easy-to-grab (and slide between seats) case!
- LACING ACTIVITIES – My son loved beads on a pipe cleaner, but lacing cards work too! Pipe cleaners hold the beads better to cut back on large spills of beads all over the car! Put the beads in a cup that will fit in the car seat cup holder and let little fingers create while working on their fine motor skills! Lacing is a win-win.
- WATER WOW BOOKS – These are so awesome because all you need is water! So easy to clean up and so simple for the car. They have engaging topics for all interests!
- STICKER STORY – This was a fun “go-to” activity in my Kindergarten class. Create a story from stickers. Kids can label, write a sentence or make a book with papers, markers & stickers. Always fun to see what they come up with! Just start with some high-interest stickers for your child!
Leading up to a trip, the $1 bins at Target and Michaels are always fun to check too. They tend to have thematic activities that correspond to seasons, hobbies, etc. so you can grab things that may match your trip!
3. GAMES
Games are great in the car on road trips with kids because they keep everyone happy, laughing, and engaged with each other. Our son’s favorite game – 2 TRUTHS & A LIE – has led to so many fun stories and conversations. Some of his other favorites are:
- ROAD TRIP BINGO – My husband makes fun of me when I break this one out! I love it! Takes me back to riding cross country in the station wagon as a kid. Everyone needs this BINGO in their road trip entertainment arsenal.
- MAD LIBS – Our son LOVES Mad Libs! Mad Libs are so easy and entertaining in the car. I especially love them now that our son is learning parts of speech. We used to say things like “something you do” for verbs, etc. Now he can play them with friends too!
- I SPY TRAVEL – Our son loves I SPY and is the easiest game in the car. These cards are great, but you really don’t need any cards to play!
- HIGHLIGHTS MAGAZINE – Highlights has tons of engaging subscriptions in their magazines! My son’s favorite is the sticker matching pages in Puzzle Buzz. I love that Highlights targets specific age groups and you can adjust your subscription as your child gets older. These are also great for road trips because you can toss the magazine once your child has worked through it!
- MAGNETIC GAMES – Just like the magnetic activities above, magnets are great in the car to reduce drops! our son loves matching games and the classic Tic-Tac-Toe. These are also so easy to store in the pocket behind the driver and passenger seats.
- WENDY’S KIDS MEAL TOYS – Just another thing I want to note here. We have always loved the toys that come in Wendy’s kid’s meal. They are usually games or activities for the car that require thinking, exploring, etc. vs a random keychain your child will never play with again. Just something to think about when you are deciding where to stop for food!
4. MINI TOYS
This seems like a given, but it is important to bring a few of your child’s favorite little toys along. Try to think about toys that inspire creativity. For our son, it has been small superhero action figures, Disney Pixar die-cast cars, and small lego sets. If you are doing screens on your drive, try to think about small toys you may have that correlate to the movie they may be watching on the drive. My son LOVES playing cars as he watches Cars. He loves to play shark legos as he watches Discovery Channel shark shows. It can be fun to surprise your child with a few of these along the drive too!
5. PODCASTS
We have had a lot of fun listening to entertaining Podcasts with our son on the road. He loved the comedy THIS PODCAST HAS FLEAS during a road trip a few years ago. It is great when you can find one that you all enjoy listening to. Currently, he is super into WHAT IF WORLD. If your children need to calm down, BE CALM ON AHWAY ISLAND is a great pick. Pick out a new, engaging podcast to try on a road trip with kids!
Amazon is running an awesome special just in time for summer and holiday road trips! They are offering a FREE 3-month trial of Audible and Amazon unlimited music through my affiliate link! This will give you unlimited access to thousands of podcasts, audiobooks, and songs without ads.
6. READ-ALONG AUDIO BOOKS
Read-along books are great for road trips with kids, but they are useful to have in the car all of the time. They can tuck in the pocket in front of your child. Disney makes cheap read-along books with CDs that go with almost every movie. Through the distance learning COVID brought all of us, we were introduced to the app Epic with tons of audiobooks to listen to. We found we had several in our library which we were able to pair together for a listening center in the car! The scholastic book orders your child’s school probably sends home are a great, cheap way to grow your book & CD collection too.
7. OPTIONAL – *SCREENS*
Uggggg, OK I am saying it. Screens. Like we have not had enough. But let’s be real and honest and we know they help in times like the car. However, I will say a few things here. When we do our big National Park trips, we DO NOT bring the iPad. I can write a novel on how I think iPad changes my son, but I will spare you. I am not going to preach here, because my son has PLENTY of screen time, but it is important to think about the role the screen will play on your trip.
For our son, knowing the iPad is in the car almost makes him obsess over it the entire trip. So for us, it is not ideal. However, we will sometimes bring his Nintendo Switch or our travel DVD player. Depending on where you are going, you may not have cell service, so a pad may not work. In addition, unless you have unlimited data, the charges can start adding up if you let your kids go wild on the pad.
Our car does not have a built-in DVD player, but a friend recommended this one and we have loved it! It is great because we can bring into hotels for our son’s breathing treatment time. Each trip, we pick a few favorite Disney movies and some corresponding toys. I love watching him enjoy movies he wouldn’t give the time of day during regular day-to-day life. Especially when they are movies he LOVED as a toddler (uhmmmm Cars, yes please!).
8. SNACKS
This kind of goes along with water in the way that you don’t want whining, “I’m hungry” as soon as you get on the road. We don’t do snacks that create a huge mess during road trips with kids (if possible). Our son love string cheese, yogurt pouches, BBQ chips, crackers, and cashews. Again, please remember our son has CF and has a need for a high-fat, high-calorie diet that is probably different than what your child needs. It is great to have a variety of snacks (for you too!) as road trip snacking tends to be heavy. When you pack your snacks, think about items that will avoid crazy spills and are easy to pass behind you. If you want to try something new and not think too much about it, these boxes are a fun way to make your road trip snack game strong!
9. WATER
This seems like a silly item to include, but it is so important. I have mentioned our need for water because our son takes over 40 pills a day as part of his fight against Cystic Fibrosis, but water is important for every child! The last thing you want to hear is whiny, “I’m thirsty” when you are on a road trip with kids! We love stainless water bottles that keep the water icy cold without condensation dripping all over our son’s car seat.
In addition, water creates no sticky spills or messes. Brightly colored, large water bottles allow your child to find their bottle in the backseat without asking for unnecessary help. Water is the only beverage (outside of our son’s high-calorie milk – CF-related need) that we have going on during road trips. No chugging sugar bomb drink, spilling sticky juice all over the backseat, and no unwrapping and poking straws while twisting my back around to reach!!
10. CLEAN UP
Not the most exciting part, but a VERY necessary part of a road trip with kid travel! Our son gets carsick, so Kids Dramamine and barf bags are a must. So simple to have with you and they can make all the difference in your day. I won’t get into how many times we have been taking the car seat apart in a gas station parking lot to clean out the mess. These barf bags have saved SO many days.
Another thing that saves the day? Wipes! As mothers, we know this. Always make sure you have plenty within arms reach on your road trip!
Also, we always have our potty from back in the potty training days. This thing has saved us several times when bathrooms were closed, totally disgusting, or just unavailable. You can always pull over and set your child up on the side of the road with this thing. This was especially helpful during the beginning of COVID closures. This potty was essential for potty training and years later is still useful in time-sensitive situations. When on a road trip with kids, make sure you have a backup plan for all things potty!
The last thing I want to note about road trips with kids is to PLAN YOUR STOPS! Check out what you can do on your route. Nothing is worse than the tensions boiling and uncomfortable kids driving. There are so many quirky stops where you can let your kids run, stretch their legs, and burn off a little energy. Planning for these moments will help make the drive better for EVERYONE in the car! Don’t let a road trip with kids hold you back from your next adventure! Anything else you would add to my list?
