Road Trip Hacks For Kids | Top 10 Tips

1. Bring Surprises for the Kids
2. Bring Treats and Snacks
3. Electronic Entertainment (DVD Player)
4. Games and Activities
5. Healthy Energy Drinks
6. Put a Stop to “Are We There Yet”
7. Sneakily Delay Bathroom (potty) Breaks
8. Plan on Stopping
9. RELAX!
10. Have Fun and Enjoy the Beautiful Drive

Tip 1 – Bring Surprises for the Kids

One of my favorite tricks (and something I do almost every single time) is to include surprises for the kids. These surprises can be anything from little Dollar Store trinkets purchased beforehand to fun little toys picked up at gas stations or souvenir stands along the way.

Some trips I’ve gone all out and purchased enough gifts for every kid to have 1 surprise every hour, and then I individually wrapped those gifts so it was like unwrapping a present every hour along the way. 

 

This REALLY helped keep the kids from wondering when we were going to get to our final destination. Instead, they were looking forward to the next gift.

The cons to this method – A LOT of prep-work for me. And this momma HATES prep work. Plus it made for a lot of wrapping paper on the floor of the car.  But if that doesn’t bug you, then knock yourself out! The kids will love it!

The key to making the surprises keep your kids distracted on the drive is to STAGGER the delivery. Figure out how long you have to drive and how many surprises you are working with, and then space out each surprise so they get one every X number of hours.  

Do a little math and they will get something fun regularly throughout the trip.

The moving trip (AZ to UT) I was way too busy to do any before-trip prep work, so the kids got to pick out a little toy at a stop just outside of Las Vegas. We talked about the upcoming toy for a good part of the drive, and they knew that once we hit a certain point if they were good, they’d get their reward. 

Worked like a charm!

Tip 2 – Bring Treats and Snacks on your Family Road Trip

I will admit it: I eat for fun.  And eating in the car is one of my favorite ways to pass the time.

My kids used to be the same way. We used to allow them to eat snacks throughout the entire drive. It kept them quiet and it kept them happy.

It also kept them STICKY and MESSY. Oh my goodness, the messes in the car after traveling with kids!  So now I no longer allow the kids to eat in the car.

 

I still get to eat in the car, but I don’t make messes. And if I do, I clean up after myself. (The kids are learning that life’s not fair, along with the joy of natural consequences.)

But I still bring a bunch of treats to share with the kids. I give everybody a treat every time we stop for gas. It keeps them happy and it keeps them looking forward to the next stop.  

Just don’t let the little ones con you into painfully frequent potty breaks in order to get another treat.

Tip 3 – Electronic Entertainment for Car Trip Entertainment

Electronic entertainment can come in many forms.  Our two favorites over the years have been movies and audiobooks.

Back in the day before tablets and ipads were cool, we owned a portable DVD player. On particularly long trips, we’d set it up in the car and the kids could watch movies while we listened to them upfront. Happy, quiet kids!

We don’t do movies often anymore. Partly because with 8 kids (some rear-facing) it’s really hard to find a place for everybody to see the movie at the same time. Until we get a new car with built-in DVD players, trying to set up our own that everybody can see is just a big pain in the neck.

 

However, we don’t stress about it too much because we decided we’d like the kids to learn how to self-entertain on road trips. Learning how to self-entertain and deal with boredom is healthy and a skill we want our kids to develop, so unless it’s a particularly long road trip, video games don’t tend to make our packing list.

We’re not anti-screens in the car, we just tend to limit them.

Right now we’re into audiobooks in the car. The older kids enjoy listening to the story along with me. This last week, we listened to Anne of Green Gables. We’re not quite done with it and the kids keep asking me if we can go on another drive so we can finish the book.

Other good audiobooks for traveling with kids include The Tuttle Twins series, The Magic Treehouse, and the Rush Revere series. My older kids have even enjoyed the Cinder books.  

We get all of our audiobooks on Audible, but there are other good audiobook services. Your local library probably has a service, for example. Kindle Unlimited also has audiobook options.

I am also a huge fan of a good music station. We went through a Pandora phase for a while, and now we’ve moved into a Spotify stage. I spent a good amount of time rocking out to my Happy Music playlist.  

Amazon Music is another good option, and free if you have a Prime membership.

Tip 4 – Games and Activities to Keep Kids Busy

We rarely attempt traveling with kids without a good variety of road trip games and activities.

This trip included a Magna-doodle and some Water-Wow color toys for the kids. We had 2 toys and the kiddos passed then around in 10-minute increments, which kept them entertained for a few hours.

Printable road trip games are easy to find and you can print out a copy for each of your kids!

Coloring books, activity books, the license plate game, and I spy, also make for fun family travel on the go activities.

 

At one of our rest stops, I let each kid pick out a few rocks (my kids LOVE rocks!) and they played with those in the car for a while before they got bored (this might not work for everyone though.  

Thankfully my kids are not currently in the ‘throwing’ phase: if your kids are, I suggest you skip this activity.

You can include any number of car travel games. Magnetic board games are popular, and so are sticker dress-up dolls.

We’ve had GREAT success with road trip bingo in the past! You can buy some super cute reusable bingo boards, or you can print off bingo sheets of your own.

One year, we printed off some printable bingo sheets and put them in sheet protectors and gave each kid a white-board marker and a tissue. They had a lot of fun with that.

More Fun Road Trip Games and Activities

Check out these other road trip games and activities!

Road Trip Pillow you can mark off as you go!

🚗 Dry Erase Road Trip Games to keep your kids happy in the car!

50 States Bucket List Board to keep track of where you’ve been!

 

More Printable Road Trip Activities

If you’re on the lookout for printable road trip games activities to include on your upcoming road trip with kids, I have got a few paid options in my shop you are welcome to look through.

They are not road trip specific but many of them would work. Or, I am including a list below of some popular free printables that would be fun to enjoy in the car as well.

• Christmas-themed coloring pages
• Thanksgiving-themed educational activity bundle
• Fill in the blank copywork pages (AKA Mad Libs)
• Christmas Symmetry Pages
• Multiplication worksheets and games
• Halloween activity packet
• Solar system activity bundle
• Valentine’s Day Scattergories

Tip 5 – Healthy Energy Drinks for Adult Sanity

For the AZ to UT move, it was the first time I wasn’t just the passenger. This time I was the ONLY driver! Ben was driving the Uhaul (moving, remember?) so it was me and the kids in the Tahoe ALL ALONE.

It actually wasn’t too bad. I had my snacks and my audiobook. Those kept me entertained. I also had my trusty energy drink – XS Energy Drink.

Seriously. If you guys haven’t tried the XS Energy Drink, you’re definitely missing out.

This energy drink doesn’t have all the nasty poisonous chemicals that traditional energy drinks have. Nope! This drink gives you your energy from a plethora of B vitamins.  No sugar either – it’s sweetened with good-for-you potassium.

My favorite is the Sparkling Grapefruit flavor. Talk about YUM! But there are about a dozen other flavors so you’re likely to find one you like.  

And the best part? (as if it gets any better) It comes in caffeine-free options so even the caffeine-sensitive can enjoy it! Score!

If you don’t want to buy an XS, there are plenty of other b12 shots and energy drinks on Amazon. I’ve just been buying the XS for years and years so I’m hesitant to try anything new. But by all means, go right ahead!

 

Anyways, I had 2 of these throughout last week’s drive. It kept me happy (did I mention B vitamins are natural anti-depressants?) and it kept me energized almost the entire way. We would have been forced to stop halfway through for the night if it wasn’t for these babies.

Tip 6 – Put a Stop to “Are We There Yet?”

I don’t know about you but the constant question of “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer?” makes me CRAZY!! My goodness. Come up with a new question, kids!

Are we there yet??

A child’s famous last words

And that’s just what I made them do. I told my kids those questions were not allowed and they needed to come up with new questions. If they forgot and started to ask, I’d say “Nope! That question is not allowed! Find a new question!”

What city is our next rest stop in?

A child who is thinking creativly (and not driving Mom crazy!)

This not only gave the questions some variety (and me some sanity!) but it also encouraged the kids to get creative about what they were asking me.

You’d be surprised how many different ways a kid can ask about the progression of the road trip.

Tip 7 – Sneakily Delay Bathroom Breaks

Have you ever driven with a kid who has to pee ALL THE TIME? Or have you ever driven with a kid who ASKS to pee all the time – and then doesn’t actually have to pee?

Yep. Me too.

I can’t really blame the kid – rest stops are MUCH more fun than sitting in a car seat. But we’re never going to get there if we stop to pee every 20 minutes.  So I learned to sneakily delay the potty breaks.

When a kid asks to pee and it’s been less than 2 hours since the last break, I tell them, “Okay, I’ll look for one” and then I just keep driving.

I’ll add a rest stop to our to-do list!

A mom who doesn’t want to stop every 15 minutes

Most of the time the kid gets distracted and forgets all about needing to pee for a few more hours. When they finally ask to pee again, a few hours have gone by and I’m ready to stop the car for a bit.

If they keep asking and are insistent (you can usually tell when your kid is ACTUALLY having an emergency) then I stop, even if it hasn’t been the full 2 hours. Because nobody wants to travel in wet pants.  

But I’ve driven with my kids so many times, I’ve learned to tell the difference in their tone of voice between “wanting” to pee and “NEEDING” to pee.

Tip 8 – Plan on Stopping!

Bathroom breaks aside, PLAN ON STOPPING! Your kids (and your sanity!) will thank you.

Plan on at least one (maybe more, depending on the length of your drive) pit stop where you are not just going to the bathroom. Find a park or a point of interest or something else fun.  

Let the kids get out and stretch their legs. National parks are good for this. (If you have a 4th grader, you can even get a free National Park ticket)  

We once made a 2 hours stop at the Grand Canyon as one of our traveling pit stops. It was a fun way to stretch our legs and stimulate our minds. And then, we were back on the road again.

My sister in law loves to stop at a bunch of little souvenir stands when she road trips. Those are fun always fun, especially if you’ve got a little money to burn.

I also love taking a rest stop near a big open field or a park where I can set the kids free to run around and I can sprawl out on a bench with my nursing baby and close my eyes for a bit.

Wherever you choose to stop – plan on being there for at least half an hour. This is supposed to be a break. Use it!

Tip 9 – RELAX!

This one might be a little bit harder than all the rest to implement because this one is simply mind over matter.

I know, I know. Easier said than done.

But if you can get used to training your mind and your body to just RELAX when you’re in a high-stress situation, or when you’re in a situation that’s outside of your control, you’ll be a much happier person. Trust me.

I am a little bit of a control freak. (crazy right? and I had eight kids!) It’s taken me some practice (A LOT of practice) over the years to train my mind to relax.

Sometimes (a lot of times) it still doesn’t work. But I’ve gotten better at knowing my limits and knowing how to detox and de-stress before I get out of control. (certain music, my XS energy drinks, junk food taking deep deep breaths, etc)

Learn what works for you. And don’t be afraid to utilize it!

Tip 10 – Have Some FUN on your Family Road Trip!

You are going on a drive through our beautiful earth! Whether city or country or in the middle of nowhere, you are surrounded by beauty! ENJOY IT!

Look for the beauty all around you. Choose to enjoy your surroundings. Teach your kids to do the same, and you will all be much better for it.

This time around, I handed my phone to Spencer (9) and had him take some pictures and video of the beautiful drive. He got some good footage of the canyon between St. George, UT and Cedar City, UT.  

Having Spencer man the camera not only made me a safer driver (phones while driving = bad) but it also got him and his siblings involved in the search for picture-worthy scenes.

They talked about the fun things they could see for a long time, even after we’d put away the camera!

And there you have it! My (extremely long) list of tips and hacks for surviving a road trip with kids. I hope your summer road trips are painless and FILLED with memories.