On long trips, our family made it a point to stop every two hours. We all usually needed a break about then. Sometimes the stops were for meals; sometimes we just stopped at a rest stop and let the kids run around a while. In planning trips, I tried to find trails along the road for hiking and planned fun things like miniature golf. It worked well for us.
Make each child a kit with pencils, colored pencils, scissors, books, paper, activity books, stickers, etc. Use your imagination, but take into consideration age, abilities and interests of your children. (You don't want to arrive at your destination with a child with a new hairdo.)
There are many games you can play with the kids in the car. For map reading skills and geography, let them follow along on their own map. Car Bingo is always fun. We loved "The World's Greatest Travel Game," a block bingo game. It also doubled as blocks for the baby to play with. I finally found a replacement. If you do a lot of travelling, it's worth the effort to seek out a used game. There are also a variety of bingo cards online that you can print out (see below).
- Travel Activity Books for Kids
- Travel Game Ideas
- Printable Travel Bingo Cards
- Travel Activity Sheets
- More Ideas for Traveling with Kids
Related Resources:
- Top Picks: Bubble Products and Books
- State History and Activity Books
- Electronic ABC and Phonics Games
- Hands-on Geography Activity Books
- 'Keeping in Touch' Kits
- Make Your Own Diary Kits
- Scrapbook Kits for Kids
- Make Road Trips With Children Fun - A video by Kathy Moore with tips to take the stress out of traveling with young children.
