Top 10 Tips for Road Trip with Kids – Family Road Trip Ideas
With some planning and preparation, you can make your family road trip less stressful and more fun. Here are the top 10 tips for road trip with kids to make sure your kids enjoy the journey.
By Lane | @Lane
Updated on Aug 05, 2019
Family road trips are a popular way for many families to take vacations. However, spending too much time in a car definitely has its challenges, especially for kids. They can feel lethargic and cranky when cooped up in the car for a long time. To make sure you and your family have a good road trip, the top 10 tips for road trip with kids are provided that can make your vacation less stressful and more fun.
- • Plan Your Route and Pitstops
- • Stay Safe and Comfortable in Car
- • Prepare Enough Healthy Snacks as Distraction for Family Road Trip
- • Choose Music and Audiobooks for Family Road Trips
- • Let Your Kids Play Family Road Trip Games
- • Keep Some Surprises at Road Trip with Kids
- • Learn Map during Family Road Trip
- • Pay Attention to Kids Car Sickness
- • Keep Your Car Clean at Family Road Trip
- • Maximize Your Break Time
Plan Your Route and Pitstops
Before starting the trip, plan your routes and stop sites. Search the fun parks along the way as the pitstops to allow your kids to do some outdoor play and let parents stretch legs. Prepare a ball or Frisbee for your kids in case the park has no playground equipment.
Stay Safe and Comfortable in Car
It is important to remain your kids seated and safely buckled in a car seat or booster seat. To make your kids more comfortable, bring along a kid’s neck pillow, blanket or a mini toy.
Prepare Enough Healthy Snacks as Distraction for Family Road Trip
Keeping children’s hands and mouths busy is a good way to pass the long time in the car. It is easy to fall into a junk food rut when you are away on vacation. However, with just a little planning, you can track down healthier options that are sure to please your kids. Bring along plenty of healthy road trip snacks such as sliced fresh fruit, nuts, trail mix, granola bars and low-sugar beverages. You can pick a great scenic spot where you can stop your car and enjoy a roadside snack with your family.
Choose Music and Audiobooks for Family Road Trips
Playing some road trip music can release the whole family and make the boring stretch more enjoyable. You can create your family’s favorite songs as a special road trip playlist. Listening to audiobooks such as stories is also a good way to keep everyone entertained on the road. You can purchase audiobooks on CD if your car has a player, or download the audiobooks to your smartphone and play them through your car’s Bluetooth system.
Let Your Kids Play Family Road Trip Games
Many parents give individual electronic screen like phones, tablets or game systems to their kids for amusement. As the screen time is limited, there are some classic family road trip games to help your kids pass the time on family road trips. One of the car games is “I Spy” which is a guessing game. The first player says "I spy with my little eye something..." then gives a clue to something they can see. Another popular game is the "Alphabet Game," where each player tries to find something of each letter. If your kids are younger, you can printed out sheets with license plates from every state and let your kids mark the one that they saw.
Keep Some Surprises at Road Trip with Kids
Don’t give your kids all of the choices or activities at once. You can give your kids a surprise treat or toy when they start to get restless. Or you can hide some treats in your car and let your kids to hunt the treasure. If you are driving at night, bring some glow sticks, little book lights or tiny flashlights for your kids. They make the trip more fun for the kids.
Learn Map during Family Road Trip
Bring a paper map to help plot your journey in case you can’t navigate with your smartphone or GPS tracker for car when there is no signal. It is a fun way for kids to track your trip’s progress and get a real-life lesson.
Pay Attention to Kids Car Sickness
Nothing is worse than a sick child in the car. If your kid is prone to car sickness, the family road trip is challenging. Prepare some saltine crackers and medicinal products to prevent car sickness. If your kids feels sick, prepare a Ziploc bag for them and wipe up their face with the paper towels.
Keep Your Car Clean at Family Road Trip
It is also important to keep your car clean, because everyone will stay calmer in a clean car. So prepare some bags for trash and dispose the entire mess at every stop and clean up your car at any time and to keep your vehicle tidy.
Maximize Your Break Time
You need to stop one to several times along the way depending on how long you are travelling. Rather than just stop at the bathroom place, you can stop at a grassy spot or park to release the stress. You can play games with your kids like hide-and-seek. Bring a GoFindMe GPS tracker for each of your kids to prevent them getting lost.
One related article you may need: How to Keep Track of Your Kids by Using Geofences
Bottom Line
Family road trips are good ways to arrive at the gorgeous and natural places that can’t arrive by plane. Above are the top 10 tips for road trip with kids. Hope these tips help you and your kids enjoy the family road journey.
