Are We There Yet?!? Keeping Kids Occupied on Road Trips

Are we there yet?!?

Jonny’s touching me… I’m NOT touching you… I’m NOT touching you….

No you may NOT rip the fabric off the seat cushions!!

Keep all body parts inside the car window at ALL times…

Stop punching your brother!

The classic road trip scene, right? Makes you feel like you’re vacationing with the Griswold's or something. And, of course you can’t stop thinking to yourself, this is supposed to be a vacation, dangit! You WILL have fun!

Road trips can be hard when traveling with kids! It is not for the faint of heart. Like in many situations when raising kids, you have to get your game face on and prep for battle. The kiddos are out of their routines. They might be excited about the upcoming trip, or VERY tired on the way home from all of the vacation festivities. But, planning ahead and making the vacation experience begin with the car ride, can help ease some of the chaos of the travel. I did say SOME of the chaos… :)

My family recently went on vacation to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Hello, Amish Country! We had a fantastic experience, but thinking about the vacation before hand with a 10 hour car ride and a two year old in tow, I knew things had the potential to get dicey really quickly. 

So, being the anal, I mean prepared planner that I am, I solicited input from friends on how to make this road trip enjoyable for everyone involved. And I got GREAT ideas! In no time, I set out with the task of creating a box of toddler friendly activities that would help keep my son occupied and happy… at least for some of the time - let’s be honest, he’s two.

Check out the ideas below from some seasoned Mamas who are well versed in the phase of Toddlerhood and check out my results from this project!

Below are a list of the activities/items suggested and put in my Toddler Activity Box:

• Jen, from Mama.Papa.Bubba had a great idea of an ACTIVITY BINDER for long car rides. Ahh, an organization soul sister!
  • Crayola Color Wonder Mess- Free Coloring Pages
  • Notebook and Stickers
  • Dollar Store Calculator (Em likes to use it as his cell phone...so cute)
  • Bubble Wrap and Velcro Strips
  • Two small puzzles
• Other FaceBook friends had great ideas that were included in the box:
  
  • SENSORY BOTTLE
  • WRAPPED GIFTS to open as a surprise or for good behavior
  • MAGNETIC BOARD with letter flash cards
  • OLD WALLET and CARDS
  • ROAD  MAP for driving his cars on

• To round out the arsenal of Toddler Activities...
  • ALPHABET TOWN electronic game
  • CARS
  • LIBRARY BOOKS
  • And a DVD PLAYER... the perfect end cap for any road trip 

The results were received with flying colors :) The gifts, DVD player, and calculator/cell phone were the most popular... it's hard to compete with Daniel Tiger ;)

Thanks to everyone who shared ideas and gave me inspiration to help keep the peace on our long road trip adventure!

Feel free to share more ideas! I'm always looking for more creative ways to keep my kiddo happy, healthy and occupied :)

Happy Traveling,
​Kara