Creative Ways to Keep Kids Entertained During Long Road Trips

We have been traveling by road since the kids were very little. Heck, T turned 2 weeks old in Montana - we had made the drive from Minnesota to visit with my grandmother, uncle, my sister and her husband. On our many trips, we've discovered things that make the trips more enjoyable for everyone. Here are some of our tips.

Stacks of snack bins filled with assorted treats, perfect for a family camping adventure.

Snacks and drinks

We find it's very important to have snacks and drinks on hand. We fill every water bottle with ice water. The kids drink water slower than juice. We realized that if my kids have juice they drink it fast, and then have to use the restroom right away. For snacks, I get a bin and fill it with snacks. We like to have a variety of snacks on hand - at times, I've gotten large bags of snacks and repackaged them into snack sized bags. Other times, I've gotten snack packs. In the van, this would sit behind the passenger seat, in a way that the front passenger could reach it. In the truck, the bin fits under the back seat.

Everyone has their own favorite snacks, these are some of ours:

• Goldfish

• Dried fruit

• Beef sticks/beef jerky

• Popcorn

• Chex Mix

• Dry cereal

• Graham crackers

• Granola bars

• Trail mix

• Whole apples

• Homemade mini banana muffins

• Homemade mini morning glory muffins

• Candy

We try to make the car snacks different from the trail snacks so they don't get sick of all of the snack options. I will grab all of the snacks and decide which are vehicle snacks vs trail snacks. Trail snacks go in the food bin in the back of the vehicle.

I don't like a lot of chocolate and I really don't like raisins - so I tend to have a hard time buying trail mix in the store. I like to make my own, that way, I can add the ingredients we like.

Marcus and the kids love candy. Sometimes I will purchase candy in advance, and keep it up with us to give out on occasion. Other times, on one of our afternoon gas station stops, Marcus will pick out candy.

A girl on the left, a girl in the middle, and a boy on the right, all in the back of a van reading a book.

Books, books, and more books!

My kids love to read, as do I. When they were younger, they would have a backpack or two full of just books. Now that they are a little older, they each have their own Kindle. This has been a game changer for our road trips! I just make sure to preload books from the library on their Kindles. When we're gone for two weeks, my oldest (11) can easily read 3 books, and my two younger ones can read even more as they are shorter books. Now, instead of 2 backpacks full of books, they each bring their kindle, and sometimes one other book.

From when they were little, we have listened to audio books in the car. When they were very little it was harder as some of the books are only 5 minutes long, but they still really enjoyed them. Once again, I'd go to our library app and download many audio books before we left. When they were little, we had to download a lot of books. And some of the books we'd listen to over and over again. I was a little surprised that they liked even those.

Now, I try to pick out audio books that are a couple of hours long. When we get back in the vehicle after lunch is usually when it gets turned on but they will frequently ask for it before the lunch stop. Now, even when we drive an hour away, they will ask for an audio book.

Other vehicle activates

We like to have other things for the kids to do while in the vehicle. This can be coloring, "I spy" games, cross word puzzles, state license plate game, etc. We've also brought Guess in 10 game and similar games to play in the vehicle.

Scheduled stops

On our trips, we encounter long distances between exits with facilities. I started planning out our stops. This helps reduces the last minute bathroom notifications and gives the chance for the kids to move around. If they were getting extra wild in the vehicle, we'd take the extra time and allow them to run around a bit. Rest areas are great for this, and some even have playgrounds. I have used Google Maps before to take a look at rest areas in advance and we try to hit ones with a playground if the timing works out well. The extra time we allow them to run around is well worth the quieter and calmer vehicle afterwards.

If the timing allows, we also like to break up the travel with a site to see. For example, on our way to Badlands National Park, we stopped to see Pipestone National Monument. On our way to Yellowstone National Park we stopped at the Painted Canyon Visitor Center Rest Area.

Each stop, we try to empty trash, refill water bottles, and find any missing items - usually coloring utensils!

If your kids are like mine, they tend to take off their shoes for a long drive. This tends to turn into a last minute trying to find shoes scenario more than I'd like (especially if the shoeless kid is the one who has to use the restroom NOW!). I try to give them a heads up that we are stopping soon, and to get their shoes on. We also try to have their travel shoes, the ones that are easy to put back on.

Meals

If you can't tell, we don't like to go hungry. We find hungry, crabby people are not fun to be in a vehicle with. Usually (but not always), we will pack a picnic lunch for the first lunch on our trip. This makes it easier to have lunch at a rest area, and once again that allows space for the kids to run around a bit. Other times, we try to plan out where we will stop for lunch to give us good restaurant options. When planning our day, we try not make lunch too late in the day. The exception to this is if we know dinner is going to be late in the day. Then we try to push lunch until later in the day.

The other thing I like to do is have a general idea on when we will get to camp. If it's going to be late, we will eat dinner before getting to camp. Usually though, we are eating dinner at camp. In that case, I like to plan easy dinners the first night. Meals like premade fried rice, or pasta salad. These are easy and can be quickly done when we get done setting up. Sometimes though, we need to have a snack while setting up if it's getting late.

Knowing when to call it a night

We've gone as far as an 10 hour drive - according to maps so not including stops - before calling it a night. That is our max. We much prefer 8 hour drives or less. When we have to stay overnight on our way to our destination, we like to stay at a hotel with a pool. This way, the kids can burn off some energy before we go to bed. Or else we get into the hotel room and they go a little crazy.

Also, when we need to spend the night on our way, we try to have everything we need for that night in one bag, and make sure that bag is easily accessible!