Planning a road trip? Here are a few fun ideas for keeping the kids happy and entertained!

It’s summer time…which means park dates, water slides and long road trips! If you have kids the idea of taking a long road trip can be daunting. Here are a few tips and ideas on how to turn that miserable trip into a fun, educational and lifelong memory extravaganza!!!

1. Make travel bags for each kid. There are two ways to do this the first way is take paper sacks and number them for each day you will be on the road. If your road trip is not “days” long but rather just one LONG day label your bags with times. At the specific time or date each bag is labeled…surprise the kids with the “NEW” bag! It will keep the kids on their toes 🙂
   In each bag place fun little trinkets  (the dollar section is GREAT for this) to keep the kiddos busy. For example, books, crayons, match box cars, coloring books, travel games, snacks (lots of these) for a little older kids I like to put in a few dollars…this way they can choose a pit stop to pick out their own snacks or souvenirs. 
2. The second way to make a travel bag is to simply pack a single backpack with all sorts of fun games, toys, snacks, treats…whatever your kids will enjoy!
3. Print out a picture of a United States map…give each kid a small pack of crayons…as you are driving down the road your kids can look for different states licence plates…when they see a “new” states licence plate they color in that state! You can turn this into a contest and say the kid who colors in the most states wins a prize!
4. Travel BINGO. This is definitely a family favorite for us (my kids even use their BINGO cards for just everyday around town errands)! You can purchase these easy BINGO cards with sliding windows at Walmart, Target, or pretty much any book or toy store. The best part about these little games is that there are NO small parts to drop or lose!
5. Give your child a new pack of markers to color an intricate coloring page. I used to use this trick in my classroom as a teacher for kids who finished their work early…it’s great! Go HERE to check out a great site with TONS of coloring pages to choose from.
6. Play “I Spy”. My kids do nearly every time they get in the car. One child chooses something they can see from their seat in the car that will stay constant…then the rest of the car takes turns guessing what it is.