Whether you’re driving 4 hours to Grandma & Grandpa’s or heading out on a 3 week road trip with multiple destinations, there are some easy steps you can take to make sure the trip is enjoyable for both you and your kids!
Here are 9 things you can do to make drive time fun for the whole family.
Be Flexible
If you read nothing else, remember this – BE FLEXIBLE!!! No matter how well you plan and prepare for your trip, you are still going to find yourself in unexpected situations. Accept this fact ahead of time and be willing to change your plans depending on your kids’ needs. Pouring rain for the third day in a row while camping? Drive to a nearby town and find an indoor activity or book a hotel for a night. Kids exhausted after only half of the activities you had planned for the day? Go back to your hotel and let them rest. Not going to make it to where you planned to stop for the night because your 3 year old needed to stop 27 times to pee? Spend the night somewhere else. Kids want another day at the beach instead of going to the zoo? Beach it is! If you start your trip with a flexible mindset, you won’t need to feel stress when things need to change. You’ve got this!
TIP: If you’re planning to spend the night at a hotel between destinations, book your hotel online when you stop for supper. You’ll have a better idea where you will be at bedtime and if you’re eating out, there will likely be free wifi!
Plan on taking extra time and making more stops.
When my daughter was a newborn, we seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Whatever amount of time Google Maps said the trip would take, we would add half again to get a realistic arrival time. Between nursing and diaper changes, our pace was super slow. Our pace has increased a bit since then, but even without any babies on board, we still need extra time when traveling. First of all, my kids can’t eat a full meal while on the go. We always take meal times to get some fresh air and run around. Then there are all the bathroom breaks. My 4 year old daughter has to pee waaaay more often than I do. We frequently let her go on the side of the road when we’re driving in the middle of nowhere, but even these roadside stops add up. Try to find parks, fields and hiking trails along your route and make stops every few hours. Even just 5 minutes of running in a field often gives my kids enough of a stretch to go a few more hours in the car.
TIP: Pack your lunch for the day before you set out. At lunch time, find a playground along your route to eat at.
TIP: Have your recently potty trained toddlers wear a pull-up during long stretches of driving. Take them seriously when they say they have to pee to avoid any reversion, but this way if there are any accidents, you don’t have to deal with that disaster at a rest stop (been there). Alternatively you can buy a waterproof car seat liner.
Drive during the time that works best for your kids.
Have you ever buckled your little ones into the car in their jammies, assuming they will fall right asleep on the drive home only to be desperately trying to soothe their cries ten minutes later using whatever you can find in the glove box for entertainment? I sure have! My kids seem to always fall asleep in the van… unless I’m counting on it happening. We do most of our driving during the day, when we know the kids will be happy. If they fall asleep, that’s fine, if not, we have lots of activities to keep us entertained! We have friends who can stick their kids in the car at bedtime and drive 12 hours straight while their kids sleep. If this is you, take advantage of it and get some ground covered! If things don’t go as planned, remember to be flexible. Arriving a day later than planned is often better than arriving on time with everyone miserable and sleep deprived. Your optimal time of day for driving may change as your kids grow and won’t necessarily be the same as other people you know – go with whatever works best for your family!
TIP: Spend some time experimenting with what time of day is best for driving with your kids close to home on shorter drives. Keep this in mind when planning your big trips!
Bring car friendly snacks and water bottles.
Before you hand any snack to your kids in the car, think of how you’ll feel cleaning it up off the seats and floor. It’s inevitable that some spills will happen, unless you’re a “no food in the car” family, in which case you can ignore this part. I try to aim for healthy and dry snacks. This includes dried fruit, pretzels, home baked muffins, granola bars and cookies, string cheese, cheerios, dried peas, apple sauce packs (some risk involved), fruit leather, etc. I avoid things that can spill, get sticky or could easily be chocked on. I’m sure my snack repertoire will change as my kids get older, but for now this variety works great for us. We generally only drink water and this applies to car trips as well. The kids each have a water bottle with them when we drive. This helps prevent spills and if spills do happen, it’s only water!
TIP: Bring cookie sheets for your kids to play on. Put magnetic tape on the bottom of a snack container and put your kids’ snacks in this container. It will stick to their cookie sheet and anything that falls will just land on the tray.
Bring a variety of fun car activities.
For drives that are 1-2 hours long, I generally just have my kids grab a toy or book they want. For longer drives, I have a Road Trip Activity Center ready to go! My all time favorite tool for entertaining kids in the car is a cookie sheet. It works as a tray for coloring, snacking and playing and the uses of its magnetic surface are endless! You can see what we bring along in more detail in an upcoming article. Your kids don’t need to be constantly entertained, but if you have a good variety of activities for them, it makes the time fly by. Some examples of what we bring along are magnetic dolls, other magnetic activities, coloring books, plastic animals, read along books from the library, stickers, mini magna doodle boards, lace up animals, road trip Bingo, and pipe cleaner beading. We also have an old phone for each of our kids loaded up with some of their music and a few games that we sometimes use at the end of a long travel day when they’re getting restless. And don’t forget about the classic car games such as I SPY, Rhyming Words, The Alphabet Game, 20 Questions, etc.
TIP: Don’t break out the activities right away. My kids can generally last 1-2 hours in the car before they’re bored, take advantage of this time. If you start with the entertainment right away, they’ll expect it to keep coming continuously. If your kids have been doing activities for a while and you need a break from getting them something else, it’s ok to say that you’re all just going to sit and drive for a bit. Encourage them to look out their windows and point out the things you’re passing on your drive.
TIP: Every time you get out of the car, spend 2 minutes cleaning up the kids area. In 2 minutes you should be able to get everything put back away so it’s accessible for the next stretch of your drive (and so you don’t go crazy trying to clean up a back seat at the end of the day that looks like it has exploded).
Keep a change of clothes, diapers and wipes accessible.
The last thing you want to be doing is digging through luggage looking for a diaper when you get to a rest stop. Keep a small bag accessible with diapers, wipes and a change of clothes for each of your kids. Having a change that is easy to grab helps with emergencies and allows you to say ‘yes’ to spontaneous play! We’ve used our backup change of clothes for our kids so many times. In Acadia NP we stopped at a beach on the side of the road and let the kids wade in the water. Wading quickly turned into knee deep play, but their soaking wet clothes were no problem as we had a change close by!
Pack light.
The less you have with you, the less you have to organize and keep track of. Kids require more stuff in general (sand toys, life jackets, favorite stuffy, diapers, playpen, stroller, carriers, etc.), but try to cut down on your packing where you can. If you frequently bring a whole basket of toys to the beach, consider packing just a shovel and bucket. Get a couple small, collapsible umbrella strollers instead of taking the monster double stroller. Unless you’re traveling to a remote location (unlikely if you’re driving), there will be places along the way you can pick something up if you find you need it, like more sunscreen. Traveling light makes the whole trip seem easier. I mean, don’t leave something behind just for the sake of minimal packing, but think carefully about whether or not you really want to be repacking all that stuff after each stop. Do your puzzles at Christmastime, not every time you pack up your car. Less stuff on your trip means less to put away when you get home too!
TIP: If you’re going away for more than a week, find somewhere you can do laundry along the way. Many condos and hotels have this option or you can find a laundromat. If you plan to do laundry mid trip, you can cut the amount of clothes you need to bring in half.
Pack a single overnight bag for everyone to share for any 1-2 night stops.
There are times when you will only be spending one night somewhere on a road trip. You can make these stops easier for yourself by only bringing in what you need for that night. Whenever we have only 1-2 nights at our next destination, I pack one shared bag for everyone. This only adds a few extra minutes while packing up in the morning, but it makes things so much easier. Include pyjamas for everyone, clothes for the next day, toiletries, enough diapers and wipes, and bathing suits if you’re going somewhere with a pool. Walking into a hotel with one small bag instead of 4-5 big bags is awesome!
TIP: Consider bringing an extra bag or backpack specifically for this purpose so you don’t have to empty anyone’s personal suitcase to use for the night.
Do some things you wouldn’t normally do.
Hopefully you are already planning some kid friendly activities that you wouldn’t normally have done pre kids, but look past the zoos and playgrounds at other things that may make the travel easier on the kids (and you!). While exploring the Canadian Maritimes last Spring, we decided to take a couple ferries between the provinces. This was a bit of an added expense, but it cut down our drive time and gave us all a chance to stretch our legs while still traveling. Also, we got to ride on big boats, which the kids loved!
Basically it comes down to this: Plan ahead, be prepared and be ready to go with the flow when those plans need to change! Traveling with kids can be so much fun! Now, go, hit the road. Adventure is waiting.
Anything else you’ve found helpful on road trips with young kids? Leave a comment below!
