It’s not kids’ nature to stay calm for a long time, especially on a road trip. Being in a limited space for several hours can make them bored and cranky.
Who wouldn’t be? Even us adults can’t stay still for several hours. How much more kids with blazing energy. When that happens, it’ll be difficult for us to divide our concentration between entertaining the kids and paying attention to road safety.
if you don’t want your kids to start asking “are we there yet?”, distraction is the key. Hence, road trip activities and games for kids are a must.
Read more: 10 Tips for Roadtripping with Children
Here is the list of road trip activities for kids:
1. Coloring activity
It’s an activity that can occupy kids’ minds for a long time as they love coloring. So prepare some of the coloring books for kids to do during the road trip. Other than that, we can also print and laminate coloring worksheets. That way, kids can color the pictures using markers, then erase and recolor them.
2. Drawing
Another kids’ favorite activity is drawing. Prepare some drawing books for the road trip where kids can fill it with any drawing that comes up in their minds.
However, kids can also do the activity on a drawing board in which they can erase the drawing they’ve done and create another. Using this media will save the number of papers that kids use when they draw on drawing books.
3. Doing activity books
There are many kinds of attractive activity books available today, such as stickers book, logical thinking book, connecting the dots book or word search book and crossword book (for older kids), and many more.
Those books will make kids busy during the road trip. However, for young kids, choose the ones they’ve already done. Otherwise, you’ll have to read them the instructions, which is not really possible when you are driving. You can also print and laminate activity worksheets. So, like coloring worksheets, they can redo the activity.
I have made activity worksheets for kids, feel free to check it out.
4. Doing busy books
This activity is suitable for toddlers. The books are usually made from soft materials and designed for toddlers’ use. So when they do the busy books during the road trip, they’re not only entertained but also safe.
5. Reading books
It’s an activity which kids can do anywhere. So bring your kids’ favorite books during the road trip. The reading can also be in the form of an e-book which kids can read through their gadgets or audiobooks to listen to. That way, there are more stories to choose from.
6. Playing Car Games
It’s an activity in which kids can play together. Bring some card games like Mad Libs, BrainQuest cards, Travel Bingo, magnetic checkers, cards, or any game that your kids love. Lego blocks will be challenging in a moving car.
‘I Spy’ is a road trip staple. Start with “I spy with my little eye something…”, give a clue, and then the kids will guess. Another popular game is the ‘Alphabet Game’, where kids will think of objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. License plate game, scavenger hunt are also good alternative games.
7. Playing with toys
Bring kids’ favorite toys like stuffed dolls, toy cars, big pieces of puzzles, or big blocks with a few quantities, crafty things, and more. Giving them a new toy will catch their attention more than the old ones.
8. Listening to music
Create a list of your kids’ favorite music, which they can listen to during the road trip. Spotify and YouTube offer thousands of songs and playlists for kids.
9. Watching movies
It’s an activity that will occupy kids for a long time. So prepare a movie list for your kids. Ask them to choose what movies they want to watch so they’ll be eager to watch them during the road trip.
10. Playing video games
Playing video games can be an alternative activity for kids to do during the road trip. Make sure it is something they are familiar with, or else you would have to explain to them the mechanics of the game. Set a time limit for this, so they are not on it the entire road trip.
Familiar favorite mobile games are Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Super Mario Run, Smule, Road Trip Bingo, Geo Touch, Slug a Bug, Cloud Shapes, and more.
11. Mapping the trip activity
Using the map through gadgets is common in today’s world. It’s easy to use by adults and even kids. However, some kids don’t know how to read the non-gadgets map. Introduce it to them beforehand so they know how to use them.
You can copy or print and laminate it. Then, during the road trip, ask the kids to make the path of the roads or color the area we’ve passed. Teach them also about the symbols on the map. Then, let them cross the places or things which the symbols represent on the map.
12. Making notes about the road trip
Older kids can make notes about things they see along the road, things they like or don’t like, or other things they want to write. So give them a notebook or an iPad to document their journey in a vacation diary or scrapbook. They can paste the photos they took, add sightseeing brochures, or draw pictures of anything that caught their attention.
13. Taking pictures
Kids can take pictures of the sights they think interesting during the road trip. If they take pictures using an instant camera, they can get the photos instantly, which they can paste on the notebook. Those will complete the story they are making.
I hope you find any of these activities useful on your next road trip. Especially now that we can’t fly yet to some destinations, a road trip is an alternative way to explore the world while practicing social distancing.
Featured Photo by Zakaria Mohie on Unsplash
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The kids will really really enjoy these fun activities! No dull moments for them
These are some great ideas! Don’t have kids but may use them for myself 🙂
Mad libs are awesome for in the car and for waiting in long lines at amusement parks. You don’t even need to take the entire book (although they are usually small); you can just rip out a few pages and put them in a pocket. I also love the tip about the map. Kids need to be able to understand and read maps. I suggest getting one before your trip and letting them help plan.
These activities are great! I’ll give them a try with my nephew and niece!
On road trips everything is a go. Make a mess on the back seat, eat, paint, play video games, just be calm and do not scream. Hahaha
I totally love road trips! I love your article! It’s so great.
I created an interactive activity binder for my step-daughter when we went on vacation. As well as giving her an old phone we had to take her own vacation photos for us to print out and put in her binder when we got back.
Love these ideas. We go on road trips and long drives often and our son is getting to the ahe where he is very aware of how long we are in the car. I am going to try some of these out on our next long trip.
We love our roadtrips…and keeping the kiddos entertained can be mentally draining. Thanks to your list, I have more ideas and we can ‘switch it up” each trip.
These all sound great for kids to do while travelling! My kids like reading and activity books
Road trips are so fun. Taking kids on the road can be challenging and you help ease this.
Oh yes having a road trip with kids can be challenging especially if you’re traveling for hours. Thank you for these fun ideas!
Wow! Glad to find this very helpful article for parents travelling with kids . especially to us new parents that loves to travel. Kids to do on the road sorted now.
You have some great ideas! I don’t have children but back in the days my parents and I were mapping our trip activity and I found it really enjoyable.
The downside of these activities is that the parent who doesn’t drive needs to pick up everything that they drop! Which is fun for them also!
This is very helpful, my family loves to travel and my nieces and nephews get easily bored with the long drive. I will probably be going to try these tips. Thank you for sharing.
It can be exhausting going on trips with kids, if you don’t have activities planned out for them. Great article.
I dont have kids but these activities sound ggod to keep kids busy and happy during trip….
Such great ideas! I know how hard it can be for kids on road trips. It is necessary to have some trick in the sleeve when they get bored.
You are right- it is totally not natural for kids to sit still but these are brilliant ways to keep them occupied. Thank you!
Very vital information for traveller with kids. I really love it. It gonna be full of fun doing all those things. Thanks for sharing.