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The Organized Mom Life

The Organized Mom Life

Simple organization for busy moms

Road trip activities for kids

We travel a lot over the summer with our 3 kids- and almost always by car.

Today I’m sharing what I pack in each of their car bags in order to keep them entertained and happy on a long road trip. 🙂

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Road trip activities for our toddler

My son, Andrew, is 2 years old. Here’s an example of some of the things I packed for him to do on one of our latest road trips:

Toy computer: This toy has lots of different buttons to push, has a little screen that shows letters, numbers, shapes, etc. and doesn’t take up too much space.

A pouch of small plastic animals to play with

A few matchbox cars

A pouch with a few Little People toys: Andrew loves his Little People sets. He plays with them, talks to them, makes them talk to each other, etc.

A meReader with books: If you haven’t heard of meReaders before, it’s a set of books with an electronic “reader.” Each time you turn a page, you can push a different button and it will read that page out loud to you.

A few Magna-Tiles: Andrew loves Magna-Tiles, so I included a few in his backpack- enough to build a house for one of his Little People. 😉

A Colorblast! book and marker: These books are great. You only need one marker, and it makes all the different colors in this little book.

Preview Product Price
VTech Tote and Go Laptop, Pink VTech Tote and Go Laptop, Pink $21.99Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Fisher-Price Little People Toddler Toys... Fisher-Price Little People Toddler Toys… Buy on Amazon
MAGNA-TILES Classic 32-Piece Magnetic... MAGNA-TILES Classic 32-Piece Magnetic… $49.99Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Melissa & Doug On The Go ColorBlast... Melissa & Doug On The Go ColorBlast… $5.12 Buy on Amazon

Road trip activities for our preschooler

My daughter, Kate, is 5 years old. Here’s what I packed in her bag:

Summer Brain Quest workbook: We tried out these workbooks for the first time this summer, and they are great. There’s a map at the end, and each time you do a page, you get to put a sticker on your map. There are also outdoor activity suggestions and a suggested summer reading list.

2 Wonderbooks: Wonderbooks are books that read aloud to you as you follow along. Kate is old enough now to follow along with chapter books, which entertains her for a long time. We find these at our library.

A coloring poster with markers from the dollar store

An imagine-ink coloring pad: This is the same concept as the book we gave our toddler, but this one includes more than just coloring- it also has some games and activities in it.

A book on CD from the library: Our library has tons of books on CD. Kate checked out 2 new ones before this trip.

CD player and headphones: Our kids each have their own portable CD player and headphones so that they can listen to music or books on CD in the car without driving each other crazy.

Preview Product Price
Summer Brain Quest: Between Grades Pre-K... Summer Brain Quest: Between Grades Pre-K… $7.49Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
HOTT CD204 Portable CD Player, Personal... HOTT CD204 Portable CD Player, Personal… $37.35Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon

Road trip activities for elementary age

My oldest daughter, Emma, is 7. Her attention span is a little longer, and she can be occupied for longer periods of time by a good chapter book, so that’s mostly what we included in her bag:

Workbook and pens/markers: This is from the same series as my preschooler’s workbook. They are so good!

Chapter books: We picked two brand new books from the library just to read on this trip, and hid them from her until it was time to leave!

Audiobooks: We got 2 new books on CD from the library.

CD player and headphones: So that she can listen to her own music and books on CD.

Preview Product Price
Summer Brain Quest: Between Grades 1 & 2 Summer Brain Quest: Between Grades 1 & 2 $8.10Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
HOTT CD204 Portable CD Player, Personal... HOTT CD204 Portable CD Player, Personal… $37.35Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon

Other things we do on road trips

Here are some of our other favorite things to do on road trips:

Snacks: Snacks can be a great activity in the car, especially if you take the time to pack something special that the kids don’t usually get to eat, or if you stop for something special. (One of our favorites is stopping mid-morning for toasted bagels at Sheetz. Yum!)

Naps: We love to plan car trips around our toddler’s nap schedule. We’ll make sure that we’ve eaten and everyone has gone to the bathroom (and the adults have plenty of coffee) so that we can keep driving for as long as possible once he’s fallen asleep.

Listening to music and podcasts: We like to listen to music as a family. Sometimes we let the kids make song requests, and sometimes we listen to the radio or the soundtracks from our favorite movies.

We also like to listen to podcasts or audio adventures together. My preschooler loves this podcast, and my oldest daughter loves these Christian audio adventures.

Wonderbooks: In addition to the chapter Wonderbooks in the pictures above, you can also get tons of picture books that are Wonderbooks.

I usually check out a few to hold on to until someone gets really crabby, and then I pass them out. They have headphone jacks, so everyone can listen to their own story at once.

Some of our other favorite road trip activities for kids:

Preview Product Price
Disney Princess Magical Tales ReadAlong... Disney Princess Magical Tales ReadAlong… $2.29 Buy on Amazon
Disney*Pixar ReadAlong Storybook and CD... Disney*Pixar ReadAlong Storybook and CD… $17.79 Buy on Amazon
Disney's Movie Night Read-Along... Disney’s Movie Night Read-Along… $9.29Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Paint by Sticker Kids: Zoo Animals:... Paint by Sticker Kids: Zoo Animals:… $6.99Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Paint by Sticker Kids: Unicorns & Magic:... Paint by Sticker Kids: Unicorns & Magic:… $8.48Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Melissa & Doug On The Go Water Wow!... Melissa & Doug On The Go Water Wow!… $6.16Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Imagine Ink Magic Ink Coloring Book Imagine Ink Magic Ink Coloring Book $7.98Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Crayola Mini Twistables Crayons for Kids... Crayola Mini Twistables Crayons for Kids… $13.39Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Melissa & Doug Sketch Pad (9 x 12... Melissa & Doug Sketch Pad (9 x 12… $10.99Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Crayola Color Wonder Travel Easel Frozen... Crayola Color Wonder Travel Easel Frozen… $21.99Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon
Melissa & Doug Pet Shop Puffy Sticker... Melissa & Doug Pet Shop Puffy Sticker… $9.60Amazon Prime Buy on Amazon

What are your favorite road trip activities? Let me know in the comments!

Happy travels,

-Laura

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Welcome!

Hi! My name is Laura. I'm a wife, a mom of 4, a lover of coffee, to-do lists, and all things organizing. I created this blog to help you navigate the chaos of life as a mom in a (somewhat!) organized fashion. Find out more about me here...

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Welcome!

Hi! My name is Laura. I'm a wife, a mom of 4, a lover of coffee, to-do lists, and all things organizing. I created this blog to help you navigate the chaos of life as a mom in a (somewhat!) organized fashion. Find out more about me here...

  • Facebook
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