How to Entertain Young Children on Road Trips

Making awesome memories along the way

Image from Anthony Rosenberg on Canva.

I love a good road trip — it’s such a magical time to chat with your partner and catch up without any distractions of home and things to do. Travelling with children, however, can be a slightly different experience. It can cause tension in families, but if you manage to get it right, it becomes something you always remember and time you all treasure. A few years ago we travelled with our boys, then aged six and eight. It was awesome — even the long car journeys.

If you are planning a road trip with the whole family, here are a couple of ideas that made the world of difference to us:

1. Keep your driving to a maximum of three or four hours per day if possible. If you do need to do a longer stint, try doing it when the children are asleep. They love that moment of waking up really early, taking in the crisp night air, looking at the stars and then cuddling back down to sleep in the car for another hour or two. Make sure you have a favourite pillow and blanket for maximum comfort. A hot chocolate roadside break on waking up never goes amiss either.
2. Make a couple of simply awesome music playlists and get everyone involved in making their own. Both boys created one and my husband created a couple for different occasions — a wild, rock-out one that upped the energy and a quieter “calm-zen” one. The boys tracks at the time included AC/DC, Katie Perry in the “Madagascar” theme tune, the Gangnam Style song and Spaceman. The boys make me laugh.
3. Bring along some favourite toys. The boys had their favourite teddy each and wow did the teddies have an adventure — they were teddy rock stars and teddy astronauts and teddy trapeze artists. The teddy stories were so creative and imaginative. It’s awesome to see what children come up with when there are no digital screens involved.
4. Play word games appropriate to the level of your children. We played the “what animal am I?” guessing game a lot which was and remains a firm favourite. The person who is on chooses an animal. The others ask any yes/no questions to narrow down and eventually identify the animal. For example: “Is it a carnivore?” “Is it a mammal?” “Is it bigger than a dog?” You could use this game for other categories too, but animals work particularly well for young ones.
5. Play games that encourage your children to be aware of what’s around them allowing them to anticipate what is coming up. If there is a beach / monument / a sign of some sort that you are anticipating, ask them to keep an eye out for it. This can become competitive — just a little word of warning!
6. Following on from the point above about noticing your surroundings, there’s always the classic “I spy with my little eye…” which goes down a treat as long as it doesn’t continue for too long!
7. You could also play number games and word games with the number plates on cars around you — invent addition / subtraction games according to the level of your children.

We often think back to our travels and remember it as a magical time together as a family. In these strange COVID times, perhaps hopping into a car and taking a slow, winding journey could be just the thing to do — slow down and enjoy the ride. I know we’d love to dust off the hiking boots, pull out the backpacks and travel again. All in good time!

Happy travels wherever you may go!