Entertaining Your Children on a Road Trip
“Are we nearly there yet?” is the phrase from bored youngsters every parent dreads hearing on a road trip or while stuck in traffic.
Children are the ultimate adventurers – budding explorers, willing to experiment, play and try new things. And while every good parent will normally embrace their child’s creative streak and inquisitive nature, being stuck in a car can soon put even the best parenting skills to the test.
Traveling with children can be a challenge, whether your brood are babies, toddlers, twins or teens. The secret to avoiding a tantrum or emotional meltdown – whether that’s you or the kids – is preparation. Choosing the right travel accessories and bringing along a variety of snacks and entertainment options is vital to turn a typically dull and stressful part of your trip into something fun.
From traditional games, music, colouring books to gadgets, games and films, here are our top tips to keeping your youngsters entertained while on the road or stuck in traffic.
Books
Whether it’s the Gruffalo and alphabet games for your toddler, Roald Dahl’s tales of amazing chocolate factories, witches and marvellous medicine for your twins or the Twilight trilogy for your teens, books are the best and easiest way to keep youngsters of all ages entertained. Don’t forget to pilfer your local library before your trip to ensure the back seat of your car can easily transform your bored little monsters into peaceful book worms.
It’s also worth considering bringing along a few audiobooks to pass the time on the road as children may get car sick and it’s not always easy to read to a child if you are sat in the front seat.
Get crafty and creative
Colouring books, storytelling, making up mind games or writing competitions and quizzes can be another easy way to keep youngsters entertained and to encourage siblings to either work on a project together or enhance the competitive spirit between them. If you get stuck in roadworks, you can take advantage of the traffic management systems in place and ask your child to count the traffic cones or the special road signs! Stick to chunky crayons and pencils rather than felt tip pens and paint pots for colouring as they can be easily lost under the car seats or may stain the upholstery.
Electronic games
Boys in particular love their toys! Electronic hand-held games such as the Nintendo DS can be a great way to keep youngsters entertained for hours. You should try to keep your children away from playing on their games consoles a lot in the days leading up to a big road trip by taking them on outdoor activities so their games hold their attention for longer when they are in the car.
You should also make sure you pack plenty of spare batteries as well as any extra games or charging cables. Headphones are also essential so that other passengers in the car are not distracted by the noisy games.
An iPad or laptop loaded with songs, games and books is also a great way of travelling light and helping to prevent your child getting bored quickly.
Car karaoke
Everyone loves a good sing-along, whether they have a voice to rival Rihanna or more like an X Factor reject! No one but you and your family need to hear whether you are pitch perfect (unless you wind down the window) and it’s a great way to do something together. Don’t forget to take it in turns to pick your favourite songs.
You could buy a special karaoke CD from your local music shop, download an app for your iPad or laptop or simply sing along to the radio.
Watch movies and cartoons
Few people have in-built DVD players in their car but you can take along a laptop or iPad to watch cartoons on. Whether it’s good old fashioned Bugs Bunny and Road Runner or Dora the Explorer and Ben 10, cartoons and children’s movies are an easy fix for long journeys.
Goody bags
You can add a party atmosphere to your journey by stocking up on surprise gifts, just like youngsters get at their friends’ birthday celebrations, bagging them up and presenting them to your kits as you hit the road. Your goody bags need not be expensive if you stock up on cheap colouring books, pencils and crayons, lollipops, healthy treats and pocket games. The novelty factor will hopefully keep your children entertained.
Map your journey
You could involve your children in the journey planning by creating a funky map the day before showing the major stop-off points and sights to see along the way. Smaller children can pretend they are helping navigate the way with toy cars and older kids can help calculate the number of miles left to go. You could also give your kids basic, unbreakable cameras and ask them to take photos of interesting sights they see along the way.