15 Ways to Keep Kids Busy on Long Road Trips

Keep kids busy on long road trips, so your driving will be less stressful.

Are you planning a long road trip with the kids this summer? Not sure about you, but I consider 6 hours or more a long road trip – and we’ve taken plenty. For your next road trip, consider these 15 ways to keep kids busy on long road trips. Your sanity will thank you!

My family has been on many long road trips from Texas to New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma. We usually go to at least one of these states annually – sometimes all three. My son has a pretty much grown-up (all 11 years) traveling by car to these states.

He and his dad just got home from a road trip to Raton and Chama, NM, via Taos, and then home. He would send me pictures of our son, who always seemed busy doing something. He was a little bored with no electronics on this trip, but he kept busy reading, playing road trip games with his dad, and doing word search puzzles. This kid hardly sleeps when we take road trips, not even when he was younger. So, we must keep him busy while driving, or our journey will not be fun.

Keep your kids unplugged and do some of these suggested road trip activities so you won’t go insane.

Related: Top 3 Ways to Stay Healthy on the Road

15 Ways to Keep Kids Busy on Long Road Trips

Some ideas are from other traveling bloggers who identify with us.

1. 1. Car Scavenger Hunt Printables – items are around town and all around.
   2. Road Trip Activity Packs – no idle time with this!
   3. You can always play the “quiet game,” but good luck!
   4. Tic-Tac-Toe Travel Tins – She made her own from old lunch boxes. How cool!
   5. Buy each kid a disposable camera and let them take photos of the trip. This may require you to pull over if they see a deer or bear…but maybe not.
   6. See how to paint a Tic-Tac-Toe Game on a Cookie Sheet – plus read up on road trip safety for 2020
   7. Make Surprise Activity Bags specialized for each kid.
   8. Here are eight games to play in the car that doesn’t involve anything but the kid, their voice, and perhaps yours.
   9. Bring along healthy road trip snacks – I mean a lot of them!
   10. Let your kid be the navigator. Please give them the map and let them find the best way to get where you’re going.
   11. Who likes Bob Ross? Print out these free Bob Ross Activity Printables, let the kids color and do his Big Hair Maze game.
   12. Many times we brought along a portable DVD player. That was a lifesaver until he finally fell asleep.
   13. This idea is out-of-the-norm; however, we have one, and my son had a great time scratching off states we’ve been to. Get their Scratch Off Map for Kids, and watch them go to town.
   14. Take along a stack of conversation questions, so you all can talk to each other as a family.
   15. Have the kids start a travel journal.

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