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.
R
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!
GracE hill says
Nice thinking
grace says
Love, love, love this post! Thank you for obviously putting so much effort and time into posting! I will definitely utilize so much of these ideas! Thank you!!
grace
Kira says
This is such a fun article! Thanks for all the tips! We will definitely try some of these out on our next road trip! Some sound so fun, I might even want sit in the back and try them myself!!
Joy rikli says
Fantastic post! We are driving from St. Louis to Orlando this summer with an extended family that includes 4 boys under age 5. I especially love the idea of the cookie sheet/lap desk! Thanks for the ideas!
Leanne says
We drive 1000 miles (one way) every summer to see my family. These are great ideas! We have used books on tapes, my kids (and my husband) like Hank the Cowdog, The Great Brain (a really good one for boys!), and Little House on the Prairie.
autumn says
We LOVE the Great Brain! I read them all as a kid and my older boys have been through the whole series. Little House is great too – I can’t believe kids don’t read it much anymore. Our city library only has one copy of the actual series – they have a whole bunch of shorter books based on the series instead. So lame! I’ve never seen Hank the Cowdog – I’ll have to check it out!
Rachel says
I second the suggestion to try Hank the Cowdog books (or audio books)! The Great Brain series is definitely one of our favorites as well. Most of the Beverly Cleary books (Ramona, Henry) are also available on audio book. A funny set for the younger kids is Mercy Watson. If you like the Little House on the Prairie books, you’d love the Ralph Moody series. It begins with the book Little Britches and there’s about 8 books in the series. They’re based on the life of the author and are a bit more action-packed than the Laura Ingalls series. They’re geared more toward boys but definitely keep the attention of girls and adults as well. Amazon has most of the audio books in that set, although they seem pricey. Our library does not have them. We’ve been reading the actual books together as a family in the evenings. Highly recommend!