5 Easy Ways to Keep Kids Busy On A Road Trip (Without a Smartphone)

ADVENTURES, KIDS, TRAVEL - December 4, 2017

You may love traveling with the family, but you’re probably not a big fan of seeing your children spend the entire duration of the car ride looking at their smartphones or other electronic devices.

Although you want to keep them busy and occupied for the several hours you’ll all be sitting together in a vehicle, you don’t want to rely solely on technology. In fact, there are fun things to do in the car on a road trip while keeping the kids unpluggled.

Our tips for traveling with kids while on vacation will keep your little ones occupied and give families more time to bond with one another while out on the road.

1. Print Out an “I Spy” Scavenger Hunt Sheet

Encourage your children to look at the scenery around them and spot some of the different items displayed on an “I Spy” scavenger hunt sheet. You can find several of these different sheets online. Choose the sheet you think would be best based on what you’re all likely to see while out on the road.

Providing a binder (or a folder) with age and gender appropriate scavenger hunt sheets will provide a great place for them to keep things organized. And they can decorate/personalize the front and back covers. Consider a dollar store road trip to stock up on your supplies.

After selecting the best sheet to use, make sure to print out several copies before the trip and then hand them out to your children so they’re prepared to start looking for different things during the ride.

They may start looking for stop signs, bridges, animals, and more. The person who spots the most items on the list could get a small prize just to make it a bit more competitive in a fun way.

2. Pull Out the Play-Doh

If you have toddlers, you’ll be able to keep them occupied for quite some time by simply providing them with a few containers of Play-Doh. Make sure it’s easier for your children to play with this type of clay by adding a convenient travel tray to the car seat.

Your children would be able to roll out all the clay, create a few different shapes, and keep themselves occupied without making a significant mess in your vehicle. If the tray gets a bit dirty, you could always remove it from the seat, wipe it down, and then reattach it.

3. Create Some Fun and Entertaining Busy Boxes

Before heading out on the road, put some age-appropriate busy boxes together for each of your little ones. It’s best to use aluminum lunch boxes because then you can stick different types of magnets inside of the box that will easily stick to it.

Your children would be able to rearrange the magnets while playing with some of the other toys you’ve included in the busy box, such as toy figurines, mini cars, and even silly putty. Make sure to customize each box based on what each child normally likes to play with at home.

4. Play the Question Card Game

Purchase some question card games in advance. You’ll be able to keep the children occupied by asking them all kinds of fun, silly, and interesting questions and then listening to their humorous answers.

Along with asking the children a bunch of questions, you can have them ask you some of the different questions that are displayed on the cards. If you’re in a rush and can’t find a pack of question cards to use for the road trip with your family, you can always make your own by adding some questions to a bunch of 4×5 cards.

5. Bring Plenty of Convenient Art Supplies

Let your children express themselves through art while coloring and drawing during the car ride. Bring coloring books, blank sheets of paper, crayons, and colored pencils. Your children may want to color in the pages of a coloring book they like, or they may want to draw some of the different sights they’re seeing on the sheets of paper you’ve provided for them. It’s yet another great thing you’ll be able to do with the kids to keep them occupied for hours on the road.

Once you get back from vacationing, you’ll have lots of great artwork made by the children to remind you of all the beautiful scenery you passed while on your way to the destination. You could hang these drawings on the walls of your home to remind you of your family-friendly travels and the great memories that were shared between everyone.

If you’re willing to pack some extra supplies, such as coloring books, crayons, Play-Doh, and scavenger hunt sheets, you’ll easily be able to keep your kids entertained. They may have such a good time playing, drawing, and having fun with one another that they will forget all about using electronics. And will make the car ride go that much faster!

Do you have any other tips of fun things to do in the car on a road trip to your vacation rental? Let us know in your comments below.

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