Tips for Parents: Great Car Travel Games, Activities, and Projects to Entertain Kids

Long car trips can be a drag; particularly if you are traveling with young children. In fact, most parents dread the idea of lengthy car trips. This is because of the rambunctious children who grow easily bored, frustrated, squirmy, and eventually tearful or cranky. 

Sometimes, however, long car trips are unavoidable for families who are planning vacations, trips to visit friends or relatives, or are relocating to a new city or town. Certainly, no parent want wants to hear their child wailing ?are we there yet?? from the back seat.  

Fortunately, there are many entertaining, fun, and even educational activities, games, projects, and cool family travel gear you can prepare. This can keep children occupied during long car trips. If you are seeking ideas, inspiration, or tips for fun car travel with kids, the list below will be helpful.  

This list contains a selection of the most highly recommended travel games, activities, and projects that parents have offered as tried-and-true solutions for achieving peaceful, enjoyable and even memorable road trips with children.

Fun Car Travel with Kids:  Inspirational and Creative Products, Games, Activities and Projects

1)   Car Travel Bingo: 

You can purchase these travel bingo games from a variety of children’s stores, toy stores, or online retailers. However, you can also save money by making your own. It’s easy enough for any parent to accomplish using some scrap cardboard and magic markers. Ideas for road trip bingo games include license plates from different states, road signs, and highway signs. You can also have towns or landmarks on a map.

2) Pipe Cleaner Sculptures:

Colorful pipe cleaners are wonderful, soft, lightweight, mess-free arts and crafts products that are easy to carry along on any car trip. Challenge your child to create three-dimensional sculptures of animals, people, vehicles, landmarks, or other objects that you observe during your car trip.

3) Keep a travel Journal:

Are you planning lengthy travel or a family vacation? Encourage your child to preserve his or her memories of your trip by creating a travel journal or scrapbook. Participating in sight-seeing, rest stops, and learning about the places you visit goes a long way toward making car travel with kids a rewarding experience. Provide your child with a notebook to write, draw, and record their adventures. Scissors, tape, markers, pens, and even photographs may be needed to create a travel journal. Be sure to pick up brochures, fliers, or other educational materials about the sites, places, and landmarks you visit. Encourage your child to incorporate these materials into the scrapbook.

4) Magnetic Games:

Kids love board games like checkers, chess, and battleship. During car travel, be sure to locate the magnetic, travel versions of these games. This is to avoid losing pieces between the seats or on the floor. Other magnetic drawing games, such as Wooly Willy or Etch a Sketch, are mess-free, travel toys for toddlers and older kids. It will surely provide hours of entertainment during road trips.

5) Audio Books:

Stories are one of the best ways to occupy young children for long periods of time. As many children (and parents) experience car-sickness when trying to read books while moving in a car, avoid bringing books. Instead, bring audio books that will engage the whole family. 

6) Take breaks

Particularly if you plan to undertake lengthy car trips, it is important to stop regularly and give kids a chance to run around, exercise and burn off some energy. In addition to quiet car games, bring along a cooler of snacks, sandwiches and juice boxes, as well as some frisbees, balls or jump ropes. Stop periodically at rest stops or parks for picnics and driving breaks. During these stops, encourage kids to play and exercise whenever possible.

Resources:
MomsMinivan.com: 101 Car Games
Family Car Travel