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
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:
Road Trip Kit Ideas
Road Trip Printables
Best Activity Toys for Road Trips
Road Trip Snack ideas
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!
Jessica says
I’m driving fifteen hrs with my 4 kiddos (9,8,6&3) for spring break, while my hubby stays behind to work. I already raided dollar tree for flashcards, coloring books & crayons, snack containers, school work sheets (the fun ones), drink containers,puzzle/activity books, mechanical pencils (no sharpening needed) and so on and so forth! 🙂 I’m glad I found this post! Gives me a ton more ideas to keep them happy and me sane!
autumn says
Good luck on your drive – you’re brave!
Taunya Butler says
These ideas are all so cool!! I sure wish this info had been around when my kids were little. But now I can share them with my grandchildren for when they travel to come see us!! Great Ideas shared – Thank you so much!!
kathy says
Wish you were planning a certain road trip for Spring break. Great ideas.
Lara says
We drove from Michigan to Florida last year with my then 7 yr old and 3 yr old. We borrowed the book traveling I-75 from the library, it gives you places to look that you normally wouldn’t see on the freeway. It also gave us adults go arounds and tips for where the police hide to where you might find backups. It was wonderful. We left at 3am so the kids slept at least until Kentucky, they got dressed we ate breakfast in the car. I had packed sandwiches for lunch and we ate them in Georgia at a roadside park, so the kids could get out and run.
As kid my parents to long week to two week long road trips in the summer, so I had ideas to keep my kids busy that didn’t involve movies the entire trip. My kids were wonderful, leading us to want to do it again.
Julie @ Creekside LEarning says
What a great round-up! And, as I am about to drive 1200 miles in my mini van with my 3 kids, I TRULY, TRULY appreciate this post. Thank you for including our travel maps.