In today’s post: 35 hacks for road trips with kids! How to prepare, how to stay organized, and how to keep kids occupied, plus the best snack ideas and ways to encourage good behavior in the car.
Best Road Trip Ideas for Kids
Once again, it’s road trip season. Honestly, I used to think people who packed up a bunch of kids and drove for fifteen hours to a faraway destination were completely, certifiably insane. There are times when fifteen minutes in the car with kids who won’t stop bugging each other is almost more than I can handle. However, I’ve realized that with the right preparation, family road trips can be rather less miserable than expected – maybe even fun.
All sorts of smart people have posted their favorite tips for road trips with kids online, and I’ve sorted through to find the best ones (and thrown in a few of my own). From preparing the car and organizing your supplies to packing snacks and prepping activities, this post has you covered. You’ll find links to plenty of ideas to make your road trip with kids a little less horrible and a lot more fun.
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Road trip with kids: Prep + Get Organized
Car Kit
Make sure you're prepared for your road trip adventures with a car kit, like this one from Simply Kierste. It's easy to put together and keep in the back of your car for any messes or mishaps that may occur.
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Pop Up Trash Can
If you're traveling with kids, there's a pretty high chance that someone will end up carsick, and that can be an absolutely disaster. Stash a mini pop up trash can along with some large ziplock bags somewhere easy to reach in the car. If someone does end up throwing up you'll be so glad to have these!
See it on Amazon
Seat Back Organizers
It’s hard enough fitting all your luggage in the car for a road trip, so when you add in things for kids to do (coloring books, iPads, toys, etc.) the stuff can get overwhelming. This is where seat back organizers can really come in handy!
See it on Amazon
Travel Pillows
Pillows are a MUST when it comes to road trips, but full size pillows take up a lot of room and you may end up hearing "his pillow is touching me!" over and over during the trip. Instead, create multiple travel pillows from one standard pillow complete with their own carrying cases – a great place to stash kindles as well!
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Shower Caddy
Use a suction shower caddy on the window to keep snacks and small games within easy reach for kids! Idea + 10 more hacks from The Krazy Coupon Lady.
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Road trip with kids: How to keep kids occupied
This is the most important part, right? I’m totally ok with kids using electronics on road trips, but mine do tend to turn into monsters if they stay plugged in for 20 hours straight, so I try to make sure they take breaks from video games and movies. Here are some great non-electronic activities for road trips with kids:
Audio Books
Audio books can be a life saver on a long road trip! They help relax everyone and calm people down. Plus it can be really fun to listen to a book together.
Find our Fave Audiobooks for Kids
Road Trip Games
I’ve collected 15 games to play in the car that are actually pretty fun! A few of them require a piece of paper and a pencil or pen, but other than that these games don’t take any advance prep, meaning it's easy to start one when kids are getting restless.
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Road Trip Countdown
Help kids keep track of where you are on the trip and countdown how much further you have to go with this road trip countdown from The Dating Divas:
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Road Trip Goodie Bags
Another way to count down the hours is by prepping road trip goodie bags. Fill bags with small toys, crayons, games and more, then let kids open one every hour or every hundred miles.
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Road Trip Kit Ideas
Portable Lego Kit
Make a portable lego kit, like this one from Momma Papa Bubba so kids can bring their favorite toys along in the car without making a mess.
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Word Building Travel Kit
We love this mini word building travel kit from I Heart Crafty Things. It can help keep kids entertained and learning at the same time.
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I Spy Bottles
An alphabet I Spy bottle is a great way to keep younger kids occupied in the car. Fill it with a few types of letters and include a printable checklist so kids can mark off the letters they find – entertainment in a bottle! Idea and printables from The Best Ideas for Kids.
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Road Trip Survival Caddy
Our Five Ring Circus shows you how to put together a survival kit for each child in an inexpensive shower caddy. Her post shows all the items she included.
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Portable Activity Kit
Momma Papa Bubba shows you how to put together a portable activity kit that organizes printables, toys, and more all in a binder full of plastic pouches. Put art supplies in one, and beads and pipe cleaners in another, etc!
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Take Along Tic Tac Toe
It's easy to put together this cute portable tic-tac-toe game. Get the details at Momma Papa Bubba.
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Road Trip Printables
Road Trip Bingo
Road trip bingo makes it much more fun to sit and look out the window for a while! Get these free printables from That's What Che Said.
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I Spy Coloring Page
This adorable coloring page from Paper Trail Design encourages kids to color in items they see out the window.
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Free Printable Games
Here's a whole set of road trip printables, available for free from About a Mom. This set includes a word scramble, maze, journal page and more.
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Alphabet Coloring Pages
Download and print these letters of the alphabet coloring pages from Laly Mom – kids can use them to draw pictures of things they see during the drive!
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Road Trip Story Starters
These road trip story starters are a great way to get the entire family talking and interacting during a road trip. One person reads the starter, than each person adds one sentence to the story. Get the printables from Somewhat Simple.
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License Plate Coloring Map
Grab this updated take on the license plate game at Happiness is Homemade. Kids can color in the states when they see a car with that license plate!
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Scavenger Hunt
This printable road trip scavenger hunt is a nice way to keep older kids and teens off their phones for a while! Only the first person to see an item gets to cross it off their list. From Meander & Coast.
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Travel Games Binder
You can fill a whole binder with these printable travel games available for purchase from Living Well Mom. The bundle includes multiple I Spy games, scavenger hunts, bingo pages, and more.
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Best Activity Toys for Road Trips
Washable Window Markers
These markers are made for windows! Kids can decorate their car windows throughout the drive, then the pictures wash right off.
See them on Amazon
Water Wow Books
These little books from Melissa & Doug are the perfect road trip activity for toddlers – kids "color" in the pages with pens that hold a bit of water, meaning there is no mess and no chance of them coloring on themselves or a carseat. And when the pages dry the colors fade so kids can color them in again!
Find them on Amazon
Paint By Sticker Books
Paint by sticker books are so much fun! Kids fill shapes with stickers to create beautiful "paintings." These books are perfect for road trips because there's no mess!
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Wikki Stix
Wikki Stix are small flexible sticks that can be shaped, twisted, and combined to bring 3D masterpieces to life. They are perfect for travel because they are small, can be played with over and over, and make no mess at all.
Find it on Amazon
Travel Toys
Mama Megan Allysa shares a fantastic list of over 40 different travel toys that work well for road trips. These are tried and true sanity savers!
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Car Travel Tray
This travel tray fits over your child's lap and keeps everything organized and close at hand! It can hold a tablet, snacks and a drink as well as providing a flat surface for kids to color on or read books.
See it on Amazon.
Road Trip Snack ideas
Fanny Pack Snack Hack
Let kids pack their own fanny pack full of snacks for the car trip, then remind them these are the only snacks that will be available for the trip. Kids learn to manage when they want to eat and you save money! This hack works great on any sort of family vacation, especially at places like Disneyland.
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Snacks on a String
Snacks on a string like this one from And This is How The Story Goes can be a fun way to keep small food items like pretzels and cereal handy. However, I recommend stringing the snacks on a string the child can hold and not placing it around their neck during a drive.
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Snacklebox
Kids are sure to love these tackle boxes turned mega snack packs, from Inner Child Crochet. Each child can be in charge of their own snacks so you don't have to rummage through the snack bin every fifteen minutes.
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Mess Free Snacks
This post from Practical Perfection lists 52 different mess free road trip snacks for road trips, plus some great tips for keeping snacks tidy and organized in the car.
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Ways to promote good behavior
If there’s anything out there that will convince my kids not to poke each other while we’re on a road trip, I’m willing to give it a try!
Road Trip Clips
Use these road trip clips to promote good behavior. If your clip is up, you know you're doing well, but if it gets taken down…let's just say you might not be getting a treat at the next rest stop. See how to make them at Just a Little Creativity.
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Car Bucks
Or try rewarding good behavior in the car with printable car bucks from The Dating Divas. Click through and scroll to bottom of post to get the free download.
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Marcie says
Your kids can use homage carbucks to buy extra goodie bags and some sweets as well.❤️❤️❤️thank you
Heather says
I’m impressed with this thorough list of things to do in the car. We do a lot of traveling also. Thanks!!
Victoria says
These are awesome tips thank you !
Margot says
We always did the license game map – but without the names. My young adult kids recently discussed how easy geography was for them and how amazed they were that their classmates didn’t know where some places were. We also always packed a cooler, a picnic basket and a frisbee and/or balls and stopped at rest stops allowing the kids about 1/2 hour of time to expend energy. My kids grew up loving road trips!
Tracey Jones says
Great blog! I was searching some good stuff regarding road trip with my naughty toddlers and to handle them. Wondering what things should get in the bags while having a road trip. Well Thanks much for sharing this amazing at least for me <3
Leilani Gamboa says
Thanks for these ideas! I love all and planning to do it too