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!
margie says
Im going on a road trip on saturday at 5 am with my 9 yr old and 16 yr old the 16 yr old will probaly be listening to music but she gets bored of that sometimes so this was really helpful!
KB says
Buyer beware for anyone reading this post – I tried to order the Heaving Helper after seeing it here. They took my money, but it’s been 20 days and no product, so I think I’ve been scammed 🙁 Trying to see if I can get my money back from PayPal. The company has not responded to my emails and the phone number on their website is invalid.
autumn says
KB – that’s terrible! Thanks for posting this – please come back and let us know if it gets resolved. I’ll put a note in the post so others see your comment.
KB says
Finally got resolution from PayPal and got my money back. I suppose I need to figure out some other car sickness solution for my kids! There were a ton of great ideas in this post, thank you for collecting them all 🙂
Rachael Clark says
What about a heavy duty leak free garbage bag, surely even a full sized bag will take up less space and cost less than pretty much every other solution you can find.
Katlynn Lane says
I LOVE THE IDEA OF THE CHEAP COOKIE SHEETS, BUT THE ONLY THING IS, IF YOU WERE IN AN ACCIDENT, THOSE ARE NOT SOFT OR PLIABLE AT ALL AND COULD SEVERELY INJURE A CHILD IF HE/SHE HAD ONE IN THEIR LAP DURING IMPACT AT A HIGH SPEED ON THE HIGHWAY. JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. A PIECE STURDY PIECE OF CARDBOARD OR FOAMBOARD MIGHT BE SAFER.
autumn says
I’d never thought of that, Katlynn! Thanks for mentioning it.
Kiely says
We go up north with the 9 youngest kids every year(family of twelve countin myself and honey ages 25 23 21 18 17 15 13 11 7 and 5) these are great ideas for them all
Sarah says
Love this Pin. There are a ton of great ideas. The first road trip I planned to WDW last year with my girls I had my box of things for them to go. One thing that was enjoyed by all was a DVD of family photos from past trips. I’m going to make another one for this trip too. Enjoy your travels.