ROAD TRIP: KEEP THE KIDS BUSY

Welcome to our Road Trip Series! If you are just joining, start here or scroll down for links to all the Road Trip Series posts.

I think I’m able to pretty certainly say that keeping the kids busy, or at minimum not bored, is high on the concern list for families thinking of taking a road trip. Maybe my kids are total anomalies but I underestimated their stamina and ability to keep themselves entertained, even if it was just looking out the window. We definitely heard “How much longer?” and “When will we be there?” but when I pointed them towards the GPS and the clock, they could figure it out themselves. It gave us all time to chat and to dance party in the car. I did prep them mentally for our long drive days and on the shorter days, they always had something to look forward to at some point in the drive. I think it made a huge difference that they knew for months that they had a container that they could put whatever they wanted in to bring with.

First, because I sometimes have a genius idea, their Easter “baskets” were actually the containers they got to fill with their road trip stuff. Their Easter goodies also included some items that they could choose to bring with them. This meant they had them plenty of time in advance and they could start thinking about what they wanted to bring. I used these containers. When looking for containers, I had a few requirements. We wanted them to fit their tablets, latch shut, and the lid needed to be sturdy and flat to use as a lap tray. A bonus for these particular containers is that they have a deep lip around the lid that prevented art materials from sliding off and to the floor. We didn’t know it at the time, but they ended up fitting perfectly between the captain’s seats in our SUV. We stored Hudson’s (8) and Wesley’s (4) containers between the two seats. Since Wesley is still in a 5-point harness, Hudson could help him get materials in and out of his “road trip bucket”. Corbin kept his with him in the third row. Here’s what went into each bucket:

Corbin (10) and Hudson:

Tablet
Fujifilm Instax Camera and extra film
Headphones (yay! Everyone listening to what they want!)
Books (The One and Only Ivan, wishtree, Hello Universe)
Pencil pouch with colored pencils, and other various drawing/writing supplies
Drawing pad
IQ Puzzle Twist
IQ Puzzler Pro
Magnetic Hangman
Rock Classifier
A laminated map of our trip*
A sudoku book**
A word-find book**

Welsey:

Tablets (a LeapPad + a little tablet that had movies already downloaded on to it)
Headphones
Pencil pouch with colored pencils, and other various drawing/writing supplies
Drawing pad
Word building magnetic boards
Sticker activity books**

*I made the laminated maps by printing our map from Bing and having them printed and laminated at The UPS Store. Since they were longer than my laminator could handle, this made the most sense for us. Plus, it cost us under $5 for two.

** I bought these at Dollar Tree. Wesley’s activity books kept him busy for a long time. The sticker puzzles had 48 square stickers with numbers 1-48 on each one. They were all mixed up on the sticker page and then he needed to place them on the appropriate squares. He had pulled them out while I was packing clothes for our trip and I thought it’d be a perfect opportunity to show him how he needed to put the puzzle together. It was great for number matching and fine motor! They are only a dollar, and the quality shows in the way the stickers are cut. Often the stickers wouldn’t be cut all the way through and it’d make for some frustration as he tried to pull up one sticker and ended up with four of five peeling up. I ended up taking the “border” sticker off to help him out. I actually did this for all the sticker activity books because the goal was being independent while we were driving.

So what did our drive days look like? We have one kiddo who could manage hours of tablet time and not let it melt his brain. However, we have two boys who turn into little (still-loved) nightmares after too much of it. We limit screens at home and while we were excited for vacation, we didn’t want it to be a free for all. Before we left, we set up a schedule and talked to the kids about it. Our two little (still-loved) technology nightmares wouldn’t be surprised when the time came to turn off screens avoiding meltdowns. On our really long drive days, we’d let them play a couple of hours on their tablets in the morning and then they had to do something else. After lunch, we always had a quiet time. The big boys could read books and Wesley could color but usually ended up napping. After nap and snacks, if we weren’t to our destination, they could have tablets for a bit longer. Wesley had a tablet with movies on it, but never used it and opted instead to play games on his LeapPad. The big boys spent most of their time playing Minecraft together over our vehicle’s wi-fi. Did we stick to the plan everyday? Nope. Am I okay with that? Yep. It’s all about doing the best you can.

Mommas of little-ers, I wish I had some real life experience to offer you but know what I can offer you? Pinterest. Make your way to my Road Trippin’ Hacks board and you’ll find some ideas other mommas have used with their littles!

Overall, we were so incredibly surprised with how well the boys did. Besides the materials we brought, we also made sure to stop often, even if it was to make lunch at a park and let them run around. We had a 14-hour drive day on the way back home that wore on the boys (on all of us, actually). We weren’t above ~~bribing~~ positive reinforcement. If they were respectful, didn’t argue, and limited whining they got to pick out a treat or little souvenir at the gas station or have dessert at the restaurant. By the end of our month away from home, we let some things slide.

Bonus of the bins: We implemented the whatever-you-want-as-a-souvenir-has-to-fit-in-the-box rule. This was an awesome way to keep the stuff that can accumulate on a vacation to a minimum, at least space-wise. We also picked out vinyl stickers at most of our stops to put on our Thule as souvenirs so we could always remind the boys we were bringing something home from each place.

What tried and true strategies have you used to keep your kiddos busy in the car?

Follow along with us to see how we planned, prepped, and what adventures we had along the way.