Road Trip Tips for Families

Try these Road Trip Tips for Families to make traveling with kids easier. Get ready for the best vacation with these easy tips.

We all know what it is like to be on a long road trip with children. It can make or break the vacation before you even get there!

I am sharing helpful things to do on a road trip so that you survive with kids. These travel tips are practical and easy.

You might also enjoy 9 Ways to Save Money on Beach Vacations and How to Save at Amusement Parks.

Why We Love These Tips
1. Expectations
2. Plan Activities
3. Schedule Your Time
4. Give Rewards
Helpful Supplies
1. Refrigerator
2. Travel First Aid Kit
3. Trunk Organizer
More Vacation Tips

Why We Love These Tips

Our family loves to take vacations. With 8 kids, flying just isn’t in the budget. We have returned from our vacation, and I wanted to report that the car ride I was dreading was absolutely perfect.

This family will definitely be having more family road trips in our future. I thought I would take a few minutes to give you my tips for things to do on a road trip.

I hope these tips will help you as much as they have helped my family. We have had a lot of successful family road trips thanks to these tips and tricks.

1. Expectations

In general, I try to be a positive person. My primary goal in life is to see good and be happy. However, with a road trip, this isn’t a good thing.

I did the complete opposite and expected the worst. I anticipated the worst.

We had a first aid kit ready to go, paper towels ready for a spill and baby wipes ready for sticky fingers. It might seem quite negative in preparing for your road trip, but it will make the trip a much more positive experience. This is the best road trip tip.

2. Plan Activities

Planning is crucial to a successful road trip. Grab a variety of activities for your children to do in the car. After all, you can’t expect them to entertain themselves for 15 hours.

You need a big variety of activities.

Movies. Bring movies on the trip. You might have this in your car or maybe you need to download movies on your devices such as an iPad, phone or tablet. It’s helpful to also bring headphones.
Road Trip Games. We like to play I spy, the alphabet game, road trip bingo and more for fun entertainment.
Books. We brought children’s books and a chapter book to read to the kids. Toddlers especially enjoyed this. Older children might like audiobooks or podcasts on the playlist. The entire family can listen to audio books.
Activity Books and Coloring Books. I purchased activity books for each child at the dollar store with stickers. They have activities for kids of all ages. I also bought clip boards for each child, so it was easier for them to write.
Travel Games. These are perfect for road trips. Amazon has a lot of cool choices for travel games. Don’t forget about classics such as license plates games.
Handheld video games or iPads. These are definitely handy for the car on long trips.

3. Schedule Your Time

This might seem weird but just like a school has scheduled classes, you should schedule out your driving time. For example, I basically told everyone when they were allowed to do what activity.

For example, when it was movie time, they only could watch a movie. When it was reading time, everyone read, etc…

Sample Schedule

1 ½ hours -Watch a movie
30 minutes – read books
The next 30 minutes – Activity books
30 minutes – screen time

Now, I didn’t really write anything down, but I just told the children what we were doing. If it was time to play the video games, they knew they only got 30 minutes with them.

You didn’t hear whining, fighting and complaining, because they wanted to get as much playing done in that small amount of time.

We also had a mandatory resting time. Since our daughter still needs a nap, after lunch we had a mandatory quiet time. Make sure to bring a pillow. The boys knew that once she fell asleep, they could play games or watch a movie (as long as it was quiet).

This guaranteed a good 1 to 2 hours of peace for the parents. Even if your children are too old for naps, a mandatory resting time is still a fabulous idea.

As soon as it appeared that the kids were getting bored, we switched! Rest stops also make great places to stretch legs and have bathroom breaks. Sometimes a potty break is just what everyone needs to break up the time and get out of the car. If you have children in diapers, this is a good time for diaper changes.

4. Give Rewards

Some call this bribery, but I call it smart. The favorite thing our kids loved during the road trip was getting to pick out a sucker or candy at the gas station.

Sure, it is an overpriced treat for this frugal family, but our kids loved it. They knew that if they fought and argued that day, they would not get that special treat the next time we stopped.

This resulted in better behavior and no one arguing. Older kids might like rewards such as fast food on the family vacation. You can also pack their favorite snacks or crackers. You can also try a small toy.

Helpful Supplies

Now, I want to share with you a few items that will make getting to your destination easier for the whole family.

1. Refrigerator

Check out this cool fridge that will make road trips a bit more fun! Amazon has several to choose from and they are perfect for long trips in the car to pack plenty of snacks and drinks.

2. Travel First Aid Kit

You can order a this 121-Piece Road Trip First Aid Kit that has everything you need. It is a very nice comprehensive first aid kit.

3. Trunk Organizer

Snag this Collapsible Folding Flat Trunk Organizer. It is a great size for cars or SUV. You can easily sort lots of items in this organizer. I like to keep blankets inside this. Try adding a change of clothes, trash bag, sunscreen and essentials for motion sickness on long drives.

More Vacation Tips

Try these tips for family road trips. I hope they help you as much as they have helped my family. What tips do you have that work for you? Leave a comment and let us know about your next adventure.

We drive to visit family once or twice a year (8hrs each way), did a 1600km each-way road trip with a preschooler, toddler, and infant, and are currently planning a 4500km move.

I’ve learned to pack things in Rubbermaids for the trunk of the minivan – the storage back there is always narrow and high, and only so many items are capable of being squished at the bottom. It also makes unloading the trunk to look for something much easier, especially if they’re labeled!

Audio books have been a hit lately; our kids are now 3, 5, and 7 and we’ve enjoyed Magic Tree House, Charlotte’s Web, Clementine, and more. I always have a tv show or two downloaded to the iPad just in case so they can all watch together rather than fighting over who gets to play games on it and when. The TV shows are short but are usually enough to “reset” everyone when things are getting ugly.

I can definitely second the clipboards from experience! Next time I’m taping a pencil on a string to them though; when kids are buckled into boosters and carseats it’s difficult for them to retrieve fallen items. Patterned washi tape is lots of fun for them and since it’s not super sticky, it’s easy to pull off of windows etc and never leaves a residue. I let my kids use it to hang things on their bedroom walls too. Melissa & Doug make water pen books (reusable) that are perfect for toddlers – the worst mess that can happen is they could figure out how to unscrew the top and spill about a tablespoon of water. They also make cling-sticker books; we use the reusable “stickers” on the vehicle windows and they can create animal scenes etc.

Doling out the activity items gradually also helps; if I give each kid a box with all their activity stuff at the beginning, it loses its shine quickly. On the flip side, this means I spend a lot of time digging out new things and passing them back.

Hope that helps someone! Some trips fly by; others are more of a grind. Being prepared definitely helps – don’t forget lots of ziplocs for car sickness or soiled clothes!