10 Tips To Make Road Trips More Fun With Young Kids

We just got back from taking our crew to Florida from Michigan. On the way there, we had a 17 hour ride to visit family, but on the way home, we were further south and hit traffic and it ended up taking us a full 24 hours. That’s a lot of time stuck inside a van with kids!

Flights, plus a van/car seats rental would have cost us more than $3,000 during the spring break season, while driving cost us right around $350, and that included gas, a few meals out, and fun presents/movies for the kids to open. The decision was a no-brainer since it was such a huge savings. {To find your fuel costs based on your vehicle make/model, check out this fuel economy calculator}.

While road trips aren’t always fun as an adult, all three of my kids {ages 3, 5 and 7} said the ride south was their favorite part of our vacation. Wait…Really?! I’m all about making the car ride fun, so I suspect that’s why my kids enjoyed it so much 😉 Here’s how we managed!

10 Tips To Make Road Trips More Fun With Young Kids

PJs for the ride

Something about going into places in their pjs was something my kids LOVED and found hilarious. Plus, I’m pretty sure it encouraged them to sleep! We kept a small bag of clothes handy to change into once the weather changed dramatically, but otherwise, we mostly travelled as comfortable as possible.

Opening Gifts Every Few Hours

I’m not talking anything fancy, but unwrapping a gift every once in a while at gas/rest stops is such an easy way to please little people. I wrapped up new movies, little squishes, some bubble gum and a few mess-free coloring items, and each item went a long way keeping the kids occupied on our drive. {We especially love all the Melissa & Doug On-The-Go items! – affiliate link}

New Movies and Books

In addition to a few new purchased movies for our minivan DVD player, we also rented movies and books from the library. Favorite books included ‘search and find’ ones, which the kids could flip through while driving. Consider grabbing books based on your destination, too. We had several about ocean wildlife and we loved consulting them during our trip! Next time, I plan to check out some kid’s audiobooks too!

Gas Station Free-For-All

On the way home, we let the kids go in the gas station with us and pick out anything they wanted {within reason of course}. My kids always surprise me with their simple choices, yet they feel like they’ve won the lottery! This was always a huge hit for me as a teen on road trips, too.

Podcasts for Kids {and Adults}

Podcasts are a great way to entertain the kids and have them learn a few things, too. We all got a bit squirmy sitting in traffic, so we found some kid-friendly podcasts to listen to. My girls enjoyed the science-based podcast, Brains On {especially the episode about animal farts…}, while my favorites were NPR shows, Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts and Malcom Gladwell’s Revisionist History while driving.

Play Games

The license plate game and ‘I Spy’ {while in traffic} were two favorites during our drive. Whatever you have to do to get through! I also enjoyed teaching the kids about what each state we were driving through was known for. It’s true what they say — some of the best learning truly takes place outside the school walls.

Make Stops At Roadside Attractions

There are tons of unique and FREE attractions across America, and plenty of them close to I-75. Check out the web and plan some fun stops complete with photo ops. My favorite site is Roadside America.

Exercise at Rest Stops

Whenever we stopped at a rest stop, we let the kids RUN. We encouraged them by doing races and timing how fast they could go. This was a great way to burn energy quickly before needing to get back into car seats.

Snacks, Snacks, Snacks

Have snacks, and they will be happy. Have snacks they don’t normally get, and the kids will be extra happy!

I kept a big flat-bottomed reusable grocery bag full of pre-packaged goodies behind our center console. Usually our snacking at home is pretty controlled, but on a road trip, all bets are off. The kids caught on quickly and loved it. We had mini bags of pretzels, Pirate Booty, small cans of Pringles, cookies, beef sticks and more. We kept some plastic grocery bags in the car for trash and emptied out at each stop to keep the van somewhat clutter-free.

Drive Through The Night

This is definitely not for the faint at heart, but was soooooo worth it! First, the kids slept in their car seats and didn’t ask us 100 times what state we were in. Second, there was NO traffic. My husband napped while I drove and then I slept while he drove. It was like newborn sleep…very broken up, but we survived! We listened to podcasts in earbuds and sipped coffee and energy drinks. It was tough being tired our first day of vacation, but adrenaline got us through, and we just went to bed after putting the kids down to catch up on rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While being in the car for an extended period of time can be trying, especially while kids are young, if you make it a true adventure, the kids will enjoy it. After all, a vacation is all about spending time together, right?

Enjoy your next road trip!

What are your favorite road trip tips? Chime in and let me know!

Find more road trip tips for kids at this post.