Tis the season for travel. Soon enough everyone will be hitting the road headed out for a fun summer adventure. Whether you’re planning on taking a road trip or flying in an airplane we’ve got the perfect, easiest ways to keep your kids busy and distracted the whole time. These tried and true tips have taken us through six-hour car rides and we never once felt like pulling our hair out -knock on wood!
First I’ll share with you the things we like to bring with us on the trip. In all realness, we do not bring all of these items on one trip – there just isn’t that much room. But we do bring a handful of things that will fit in a small bag for each girl, it’s easy and doesn’t take up a ton of space.
Here are some of the things we like to bring with us
(If you want you can click this link and find all the items on Amazon)
Sticker Learning Books: Head to the dollar store and find some sticker learning books. We specifically like the ones with stickers because they seem to make learning more fun. You can also find these on Amazon, scroll to the bottom and I have them linked.
Play Pack Grab and Go: You can find these at Target, Michael’s, and sometimes the Dollar Tree. They come with a coloring book, crayons, and stickers.
FLARP: We love this stuff and always make sure to bring a cookie sheet to use with it. Be forewarned, it gets sticky when it gets too hot so this is a supervised activity for sure.
Surprises: You can buy these at the store, or create them out of Easter eggs, but every so often (when they’ve been good) I let them open a surprise. I like to put stickers in them, or a favorite candy, sometimes you can find surprises that are under a dollar at Walmart or the Dollar Tree.
Magnets With A Cookie Sheet: Bring their favorite magnets or find some at Target Dollar Spot. This one works perfectly if you are already bringing the cookie sheet to play with your FLARP.
Water Wow Coloring: These are a wonderful gift to receive, perfect for travel, or for sitting through a quiet meeting. My girls will spend a good 5-10 minutes just playing with these water coloring books. They are also great because they don’t leave a huge mess because they are painting with water.
LeapStart 3D: When you don’t want your kids buried in the iPad for 6 hours this is a great option to have. It reads to them, teaches them to read and they learn to follow directions.
Busy Box Toys: Have you seem my posts about my busy boxes? I have this 18-month-old one and this 3-4 year old one. Sometimes I’ll take items from these and bring them with because they are simple and easy to use.
Books: We love bringing books because they are a great transition tool. You’re done with your activity, okay, it’s reading time. I usually bring 2-3 books per child.
Sketch Pad and Crayons/Colored Pencils: Play Pictionary, or just have them draw a picture of what they see outside their window. Or, have them draw whatever they want.
Paint By Sticker: I haven’t tried these with Hazel yet, but if your child loves painting or stickers I’ve heard these are super fun to work on.
Switch It Up: When are going on a long road trip I like to keep things in rotation. First we’ll read a book, then we’ll have a snack, and lastly, it’s time for an “activity”. I’ve noticed that when I keep things in rotation it helps keep them busy and keeps their minds off being stuck in the car.
Hit The Dollar Spot: Everyone knows Target has the most fun dollar spot. It’s filled with toys, coloring books, learning objects, and play food. We love finding a fun little toy to take with us on our road trips.
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Chad says
May 16, 2019 at 10:23 pmWe don’t have kids but i can’t imagine having to deal with kids on the road, this must be very challenging. Thanks a lot for the suggestions, will share.
Monidipa Dutta says
May 16, 2019 at 11:02 pmI’m also planning a trip to Italy where we are planning a long road trip from Turin to Palermo. So I guess this will help me.
Joanna says
May 17, 2019 at 3:23 pmThis is a very useful post for my friend, who has an almost 2 years old toddler who soon will start getting bored during car rides. I will make sure to share this post with her.
Crystal Carder says
May 17, 2019 at 3:26 pmYou have so many great ideas in this list! My kids have to have something to keep them busy on long road trips. I use a lot of these already, but you gave me some new ideas, thanks.
Owen G says
May 17, 2019 at 6:10 pmI bet it would be so challenging to have kids while traveling somewhere far. Thanks for the useful tips you shared
Razena says
May 17, 2019 at 7:38 pmI love these ideas especially as I often take summer road trips with my brother and his kids. The older one can keep himself occupied but the three youngest would cause a riot the second they get bored.
Lydia Smith says
May 17, 2019 at 10:37 pmAll this activities will make them busy and also fun too. Nice suggestions you gave.
Diana Dominguez says
May 17, 2019 at 10:52 pmGreat post and very comprehensive. I will keep some of these in mind for our road trip.
Nina Cochingco says
May 17, 2019 at 11:52 pmIt was such a challenge to bring them with you. And I think that you did very good at it. 😄
Stefani Tolson says
May 18, 2019 at 12:46 amThese are great ideas! It is always a good idea to be prepared when taking a road trip.
Kisha Stewart-Harris says
May 18, 2019 at 5:03 amI’ve actually done the hourly surprises with my children on a long road trip before, which went over big time with them. Next time I think I’ll try the cookie sheet magnet idea you suggested. I can see my little ones having a lot of fun with that.
Sophia says
May 18, 2019 at 12:04 pmI am def saving this blog post to refer back to in the future. Such good info!
Kaycee Enerva says
May 18, 2019 at 12:16 pmthat toy story play and go looks interesting! My son easily gets bored on trips
Linda Voltaire says
May 18, 2019 at 1:12 pmAm such a road trip lover but no kids yet. Still I can imagine that they need entertainment during the trip! Looks like there were lots of fun things here! The switch it up tips we could use … I am so easily bored!
Madhurima Maiti says
May 18, 2019 at 3:40 pmSummer vacation is on and I was just wondering how to plan a road trip with my nephews and nieces. Loved some of these ideas and I am sure they will be of great help when planning the trip.
Melissa says
May 18, 2019 at 7:09 pmWe take one large road trip each year and I am always looking for new ideas to keep them occupied! This is such a great post!
Jeannette (Jay Joy) says
May 18, 2019 at 9:09 pmI like to give my kids audio books as well that they can listen to.
Jackline A says
May 18, 2019 at 11:09 pmWe are planning a few road trips this summer and these activity ideas will come in handy. Thanks for sharing.
Danielle says
May 18, 2019 at 11:24 pmI love all of these activities for kids! I will have to keep them in mind for the next road trip that we have.
Tushar says
May 18, 2019 at 11:32 pmSummer time is here and this article couldn’t have come at a better time!
Kathy Kenny Ngo says
May 19, 2019 at 7:27 amMy kid normally just listens to music and the sleep or eat. It’s good that there are other options.
David Elliott says
May 19, 2019 at 2:24 pmThese would have been cool with my daughter and we did road trips when she was younger. My daughter actually really loved audiobooks. She had such a lot of fun with them.