Easy Road Trip Activity Ideas For Kids & Toddlers

Planning a road trip with kids? Well, in that case, be prepared to lose your sanity as you encounter the questions ‘ Are we there yet?’ or ‘How long is it going to take us to reach there?’, that keep barging in from the rear seat.

A little preparation before the trip would definitely save your sanity and help make your trip memorable and pleasurable for all.

It is actually tasking to travel with the bored and unhappy back seat passengers.

Bargaining your kids to wait little longer for food, dealing with their crying and fighting, looking at the rearview mirror, all this distracts you from driving smoothly and might result in some mishappening.

Here are a few easy road trip activity ideas for kids & toddlers that helped me immensely throughout the long-haul car ride with my kids:

Let The Kids Pack Their Own Bags: I always allow them to carry small picnic bags of their own and fill them with whatever toys they want. Usually girls prefer to carry their favorite dolls and its accessories and boys fill it with their superhero toys, small car etc. Place it near their car seat to have easy access.
Keep Lots Of Activity Books: Whenever we plan a road trip with kids, I make sure to stuff the bags with lots of activity books. You can chose from a lot of travel activity books available in the market offering a wide range of activities such as puzzles, quiz, games etc. It will definitely help keep your toddler busy for hours.
Consider Buying Your Kids Their Own Inexpensive Cameras: My kids are more than happy clicking pictures on way. They even enjoy clicking pictures of each other in the car and spend a lot of time fidgeting with its settings. It also creates their interest in photography which can later on be developed as favorite pastime or hobby.
Travelling Gifts: One of the most effective ways to keep your kids happy and curious throughout the journey is keeping small inexpensive gifts to be given every hour in the car. These gifts may include I spy books, small toys, chocolates, stickers, small craft materials etc.
Let Your Kids Become A Navigator: For my 8 year old, I hand her the road map and printed directions and tell her to become our navigator. It helps in keeping her alert and active throughout the trip and at the same time boosts her confidence.
Load Your Tab With Lots Of Games: Carrying a tab or I pad fully loaded with your kids’ favorite games is an excellent idea to keep them busy throughout the trip. It works well with my kids. Set the time limit for each kid so that they do not fight for their turn eg. Fifteen minutes for each one. In the mean time others can help him or indulge in some other activity.
Make A Travel Treat box: It is a good idea to treat kids when they travelled. Prepare separate treat boxes for each kid with their names written on it. Fill it with their favorite snacks and candies. Make them clear that it will not be refilled during the trip and they can finish as fast as they can or take their own time.
Rubik’s Cube: My eight year old daughter loves to solve Rubik’s cube and it keeps her super busy for hours. It is easy to carry and an inexpensive way of keeping your kids engrossed. I always keep it while travelling.
Carry A Mini Whiteboard For Your Toddler: My four year old loves writing on whiteboard. So I always carry a small whiteboard for her along with erasable markers of different colors. She enjoys making and erasing drawings. It can also be used to play games.

Try making use of these simple and easy ideas to make travelling an interesting and pleasant experience for your kids.

Don’t forget to have your child safety seat inspected by a certified technicians like Roadworthy Certificate Glen Waverley. Apart from keeping the kids happy, they will allow you to pay more attention on driving making your journey much safer.

“family” image from Shutterstock

71 Comments

- - mom486197 said
  - 21 Dec 2023
    7:48 pm
I love the travelling gift idea. I would never have thought of this but I bet it works wonders.

- - dannsbuild said
  - 16 Sep 2015
    3:54 pm
Cool! I need this! Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this!

- - Melanie said
  - 14 Sep 2015
    11:51 pm
Some excellent ideas here. Thanks!

- - mom105503 said
  - 02 Mar 2015
    12:45 am
Some great ideas that I will add to my travel list, I love the idea of letting the older children become navigator, my daughter would love that.

- - Moonberry said
  - 23 Feb 2015
    1:31 pm
We also do a lot of research prior to going on our road trips… If today I told my husband on his next day off we are going on a road trip, then I would start researching where we can go, what we will see, what towns we will pass, what roads we need to take, etc…

I will then make up little activities for the children so they can keep busy while on the trip… It is all a learning experience, and it is a way for them to learn about the entire road trip! Not just when we get there. Some activities could be: a Check list of all the towns we will go by/through. They need to tick the towns as they see them… We could also have activities like Scandinavian hunts, where the kids have to find something in each town (on our stops)! We print out maps of the town we wish to see the most, and ask the kids to be our GPS… Once we get to the destination town, we ask one of the children to find the street/road we are on… Then we ask that child that we need to find ‘such & such st/rd/ave’ and for them to tell us when to turn.! We already know how to get to the place we are heading to, but it is giving the children some mapping skills. They love it! We also have word searches that include town names, sight seeing spots, etc.

We have so much fun the entire trip – the kids rarely get bored. We build memories from the moment we leave our house, rather than a boring – no communicating road trip, and then the kids are too bored or frustrated once we arrive at the main destination point!

- - GeoEllie said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    9:15 pm
For us the key is technology unfortunately, they don’t usually get to use mum or dads phones anyway, so I don’t mind if they while away the hours that way as it minimises the stress for them

- - mom94125 said
  - 08 Jan 2015
    9:02 pm
these are a lot of idea’s that i haven’t considered.
- mom94125 replied
  
  18 Oct 2015 , 6:32 pm
  cheers nicole for posting your ideas here
- - june11 said
  - 09 Dec 2014
    10:05 pm
It depends on the age of the child. I can remember travelling through country areas where the original farm houses were built close to the road. A lot of them have gradually crumbled and fallen down. Foundations were pretty basic and sometimes not on solid or suitable surfaces. When we wanted to amuse ourselves we use to try be the first to spot one and decide whether it should belong to Mum or Dad. Other times we would watch out for sheep, cattle or even horses. White horses were good luck. In some areas we would spot different birds. The colours of some of them were very distinctive. We spotted wild budgies like those that are kept as pets. It was wonderful to see them flying amongst the trees in their natural habitat.

- - mish06 said
  - 20 Nov 2014
    12:58 pm
Thanks for sharing. Some great suggestions. My children love getting travel gifts

- - sarny84 said
  - 04 Nov 2014
    2:00 pm
This is so helpful. We’re going away soon and was worried about what I could do with them. Thanks again

- - mom60497 said
  - 28 Oct 2014
    6:13 am
Some good suggestions. Also stop often for the kids to get out and run around for a bit.

- - mom73211 said
  - 30 Sep 2014
    12:43 pm
Some interesting ideas here, we’re about to embark on a 7 hour drive interstate and although the kids will have their tablets, reading books, trains, colouring pencils & books to keep them occupied I have never thought of giving them a camera each. As they sit on either side of the car the pictures should be interesting, thanks for the idea!

- - shortaez said
  - 17 Sep 2014
    2:13 pm
Thank you for sharing a good read

- - mom93821 said
  - 15 Sep 2014
    8:06 am
Thanks for the great travelling tips; will add to the list. The more tips the better when travelling with kids. One of our favourite activities is singing songs; the time whizzes by and the kids are exhausted and snooze after the exertion of singing!

- - buggeritliz said
  - 11 Sep 2014
    10:12 am
I give the kids their own camera to take pictures on the way. They are never to young to learn how to use a basic camera with film. A throw away camera is great for this. My kids talked about what they would photograph in the car.

- - kazh said
  - 27 Aug 2014
    11:45 pm
Really great tips here. Thanks

- - ginoula5 said
  - 13 Aug 2014
    1:01 pm
Great tips, love the idea of making a travel treat box.

- - amyabby4 said
  - 10 Jul 2014
    5:56 pm
Very interesting, You can take a lot of significant pictures during this journey .

- - 191joannes said
  - 27 Jun 2014
    9:22 pm
some very good tips to use next time we travel

- - mom61907 said
  - 27 Jun 2014
    12:49 am
great ideas, variety is the key.