Road-Tripping With Young Kids: My Top 10 Tips

An Overview of the Tips Included in this Article:

1. Create a Bag of Fun

2. Use Cookie Sheets as Lap Trays

3. Go to the Library Before Your Trip

4. Go to the Dollar Tree to Stock Up

5. Bring Books About Your Destination

6. Pack a Cooler of Food for the Drive

7. Pack Treats

8. Use Regalo Tot Cots and Sleeping Bags

9. Pack an Umbrella Stroller

10. Use a Car Topper

My two-year old twins and four-year old daughter actually like going on road trips. We have done four long road trips with our kids. The longest being 13 hours in one day. We have the car trip set up so that there are lots of fun activities and goodies on the trip, which makes them look forward to getting in and taking long, day long drives. I am shocked how well these tips I am sharing have worked for us! We just returned from a road trip to Colorado that covered approximately 1,800 miles on the road. The kids were awesome on the car ride. They enjoyed the time in the car as a family, which was not the case the first road trip we took. That was a bit tough to be honest. However, we have figured out some things that work for our kids and here is what we do:

1. Create a Bag of Fun

I pack a bag that is full of toys and activities for the road trip. I don’t just select random toys and put them in the bag. These are items I know will entertain my kids. I don’t want toys to over run the car either so I select toys that are smaller and take up less space. I put them in ziplock bags, and after they get bored with one bag we put it away and take out another. Here are photos of some of the small toys we took on our last road trip.

Some other small toys that fit into ziplocks are Disney princess figures, Barbie dolls with clothes, action figures, army men, small dinosaurs, paper dolls, and the list could go on and on.

The key is choosing small items that can be sorted into ziplocks by category. That way they can have a variety of things to play with throughout the day of driving. All of our items fit into a 31 brand bag (the one that is often marketed as a diaper bag).

In our fun bag we also included books about the destination (both kid and adult versions), coloring books with washable markers, and a DVD flip case filled with lots of kid’s DVD’s.

There are outside pockets on our bag so I use those to hold useful items I want handy. I put in those pockets about a dozen Target/Walmart plastic bags to use as garage bags on the journey, first aid supplies, and an assortment of ziplock bags. The ziplock bags come in handy for things like unfinished food you want to save, clothes that get soiled on the drive, anything involving vomit (it can happen), and more.

I also recently found at Walmart these containers of toys that are approximately half gallon size and contain small toys. They had them on sale for $6.88 a container! The regular price for these is only $8.88.  Great price on a batch of small toys and it doesn’t take up too much space in your “fun bag”.

All the kids played with the fun toy items when we got to our destinations as well. There was no need for additional toys as there were plenty of items in the bag for all the kids!

2. Use Cookie Sheets as Lap Trays

Use basic cookie trays as lap trays. They create a great flat surface and with the lip around the edge of the tray, so toys are less likely to fall on the ground. The dollar tree sells basic small cookie sheets that are the perfect size for kids in car seats.

3. Go to the Library Before Your Trip

We like to go to the library before our road trips. We are able to check out DVDs for the kids that they haven’t seen yet and books they haven’t read yet as well. It doesn’t cost anything and you have new things to keep the kids entertained! Our vehicle has a DVD player with screens for the kids so they watch a variety of G rated kid’s movies and even some educational DVDs such as Brainy Baby and Preschool Prep videos while on our trips. If you don’t have a DVD player you can purchase personal DVD players with attached screens very cheap these days- much cheaper than IPADS or Kindles. Like this one on Amazon for $45. http://amzn.to/29ILlSM

I also like to get books on CD for my entertainment. My husband sometimes doesn’t like to listen to my books, so I found something really great for our most recent road trip. It is books on a MP3 players. I even asked if there was a limit to how many we can check out at our library and she said it is the same as books (30!). They include an extra battery and sanitized headphones (though I use my own anyway). These little book MP3 players are found among the books on CD and are called “Playaway”.

4. Go to the Dollar Tree to Stock Up

The Dollar Tree is a great place to go and get some small toys that can be added to your “fun bag”. New toys will get kids excited about the drive. Let them know they get some surprises on the drive- that being some new toys! $20 can go a long way at the dollar tree. Here are some of my Dollar Tree finds that are great for little kids- from coloring books, to board books, to little dollies, to dinosaur figures, to magnetic dolls with clothes, and so much more to keep the kids entertained.

5. Bring Books About Your Destination

For our trip to two of the National Parks located in Colorado I went on Amazon and purchased kid and adult books about our destination. They even had a Rocky Mountain coloring book. Brielle especially loved looking through the books to learn about our destinations and what we were going to possibly see on our trip. If you don’t want to purchase books, this is a good thing to find at the public library as well.

6. Pack a Cooler of Food for the Drive

Nothing is worse than having hungry kids on the drive. It makes them crabby, which will make you crabby. I don’t like my kids eating fast food all day long and we try to make our pit stops as short as possible (otherwise the travel time really drags out). Packing a cooler of food that you know your kids will like and is actually good for them is a win-win. I purchased Rubbermaid containers that are made to hold individual sandwiches. These are great in that they keep the sandwiches from getting soggy or smushed in the cooler. I also like to keep beverages in the coolor.

7. Pack Treats

My twins are two years old. Melt downs on a regular day are inevitable, so I wouldn’t think a road trip would make them cease for a day. I have found that small treats are the perfect diversion for fits while on our road trips. I don’t necessarily even acknowledge that a child is even throwing a fit, as I don’t want to reward fits. Instead I simply say “it’s treat time for everyone”. That way the child throwing the fit isn’t singled out and the fit isn’t even acknowledged. Over 90% of the time this actually works. Within one minute of distributing the treats the fit had stopped. I usually give out small suckers or bite size candy bars. The favorite among my kids are the Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. Guess what?? These are also at the Dollar Tree!

8. Use Regalo Tot Cots and Sleeping Bags

When we book a house or hotel room for our family I no longer have to worry about how many people the unit sleeps. I bring our kids’ beds with us! They love these cots and they are comfortable for them. We have used them for a number of trips now. They also work well outside of trips for nights when a child needs to sleep in your room (like being sick), but you don’t want them in your bed. Here is the Amazon link to the cots we own. They are under $25 each. http://amzn.to/29Pmwbn

9. Pack an Umbrella Stroller

We have yet to do a trip where we didn’t end up doing a lot of walking at some point. Even when we don’t have walking planned, it seems to come up. One trip we ended up doing an impromptu trip to the local zoo which was lots of walking. Another trip we decided to stop at an outlet mall, also lots of walking. The stroller has come in handy for every trip. We use a double Maclaren stroller. My sister Rachel and my Mom gave it to us as gift when I was pregnant with Brielle and we had a foster daughter as well. It has been getting lots of use for almost 5 years and it still is in like-new condition. These strollers are very well made and fold down nice and compact for a double stroller. Here is the Amazon link to our Maclaren: http://amzn.to/29ILlSM

For the hiking we did on our recent trip we decided to bring our Double Bob stroller. I think our Maclaren would have worked as well, since the paths we took were deemed wheel chair accessible.

10. Use a Car Topper

We had the dealership install bars on the top of our SUV so we could use a large car topper. We purchased our extra large Thule topper on Craigslist for a fraction of the retail price. It locks with a key too. We also own a soft sided car topper that doesn’t need a rack for use. That has been used on a variety of cars we have owned including my Saturn (way back when I was in college). I prefer the Thule as it is hard sided and locks securely.

Making the trip more enjoyable for our kids has certainly made it more enjoyable for us as parents. We have minimized the whining and crying that happened during our first long road trip with the kids. Instead our drives are filled with smiles, laughter, and fun! It makes me look forward to planning our next road trip!