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Drinking games: To limit juice intake (so you don’t have to stop ten times for potty breaks) Activity Mom has a great tip: Play Letter Drinking game! “When you find the letter T you can take a sip”. This definitely limits the chugging of fluids. -
Aluminum foil animals and statues keeping little fingers busy - then have a guessing game for other family members to guess what animal it is. Photo: Image -
Junk mail “shopping”: Toy brochures, these keep kids entertained for hours. You can even let them cut out pictures (at a stop or destination) of the things they want and make a “wish list” collage with a couple of glue sticks. Photo: Image -
A good spillproof water bottle for everyone. -
Let them make friendship bracelets for everyone they know. Photo: -
Make a felt activity board - try stick figures and dress them up, a day or night scene, or a funny face, alien or animal. Photo: Image -
Back seat photographer: Let them take pictures of what you are driving by with a point-and-shoot digital camera (if you trust them with it). -
Mobile Doctor - add some bandaids and rubbing alcohol wipes. Let them play "Doctor". Photo: Fisher-Price -
“I spy” Jar - Make a jar of tiny treasures (paper clips, dice, hairbow, button, coin, ring, key, trinkets, etc.). Fill a plastic jar with rice, wheat, dried lentils, whatever, and glue the lid onto the jar. Have the kids find the items by turning the jar. Photo: Image -
Travel doodles - mess free drawing with Magnadoodle, Aquadoodle or similar. -
Books on CD to catch up on what the kids are reading at the moment. Or download some great age appropriate podcasts. Photo: ABC Shop -
Portable snack food - Boxes of raisins, cereal, trail mix, string cheese, crackers, grapes, fruit & veg slices, juice boxes. Photo: Image -
Map your journey: Create your trip map and track it with the kids. You could add a “treasure map” component by rewarding checkpoints along your trip. As you reach certain points they can get a toy/snack. This teaches them map skills while also occupying them with toys and the anticipation of the destination. We printed our map off Google maps and inserted it into a plastic sleeve. A dry erase marker wiped off nicely and it was nice to have a retort to, “are we there yet?” Photo: Image -
Cups NOT for drinking: Use plastic cups for snack service. They can be easily held by a child or stored in a cup holder when not snacking. No liquid allowed in these! Photo: Ikea -
Painter tape: The kids can play with it, you can use it to label things and it can be used to cover outlets in hotels. Painter tape is better than masking tape as it is removable without harming the surfaces it was on. -
Storage containers: Take LOTS of ziplock bags. They are great for everything! A marker to label things isn’t a bad thing to have either. Kids often want to eat “their” snack or keep track of “their” toothbrush. Photo: Ikea -
Wipes: Wipes are a road trip necessity. These are great for cleaning surfaces, sticky hands and faces. -
Cheap car entertainment: Get a bunch of cheap toys (stickers, figurines/dolls, trinkets, magnifying glass, noise makers, etc). Individually wrap them beforehand so part of the fun is unwrapping them or put them into a travel activity box or bag that can also be decorated. Photo: Image -
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Keep the sanity and peace between the back and front seats on your next family road trip with these nifty tips and tricks.
After ticking off your car safety checklist make sure you prepare a few of these snacks and activities to keep the kids fed, hydrated and busy, as well as engaged in the trip.
Need more sanity-saving inspiration? Read these 10 tips for surviving road trips with kids.
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