Last week, we took a journey the east coast as we do each summer. My girls are used to being in the car for long hours and I have found different ways to keep them busy.
Here are my tips for keeping the peace during a long car ride:
1. Bring new things to keep them busy. Right before leaving, Fox Home Entertainment sent my girls Rio 2 travel bags filled with goodies for the trip. I find that new things keep them busy for hours. They loved exploring what was in the bag.
2. Play I Spy. This can keep them busy for hours. 
3. Coloring is another great activity. Bring a brand new box of colored pencils and they are very happy.
4. Drawing also makes the time pass. I gave them each a new notebook and we continued with the Rio 2 fun.
5. Finally, we downloaded Rio 2 on Digital HD and watched on my iPad. They were so excited to see it again! On July 15, it is available on Bluray/DVD . Have you entered our giveaway for a copy yet? Go do it now so you can have some Rio 2 fun.
I would love to hear some of your tips for keeping kids busy in during long drives. We had a few moments where all were getting cranky so:
I used to love playing I Spy when I was a kid and we were on road trips. As a mom, we’ve started driving at night so the kids don’t want to spend 10+ road hours of electronic usage.
We do I spy all the time.
Yes movies are a must! I Spy is great too. I actually just did a post on 10 fun games to play in the car, none of which require batteries or tech.
Driving at night can be helpful too. It saves stopping so many times.
We are traveling again in August so I will have to check out your post for more ideas!
Oh I Spy is a great game to play on road trips! I love that idea! Such a fun activity pack for traveling!
They also like to read and play games on the ipad mini, they are overall pretty good on a road trip.
Those goodie bags are a great idea – plenty of variety and novelty to distract them from the long drive!
We’re planning a trip next week and I may have to introduce ispy to our 4 year old. Non-stop snacks are good too, except it leads to too many potty breaks!
My kids really enjoy watching movies on road trips. Unfortunately, the last trip it wasn’t possible because our DVD players were not working. ISpy was one of our fun things to do though!
The best thing we ever did when we bought our new van was to get it with the entertainment system. Drives are a lot quieter now.
My tips are the same as yours! We also play the Slug Bug game.
We’re big on long drives. Our road trips are always a minimum of two hours and as long as 8. So, having these activities would be fun for my boys! They love Rio 2!
Tips to keep kids happy while on long drives… make sure to break up the long drive every 2-3 hours. 🙂
Long car rides have definitely gotten easier as my children get older. But you bring up some wonderful tips and things that we have definitely done in the past to get them through the long ride
There needs to be something novel about the car activities. Either something new or something they haven’t done/played with in a while. And there needs to be enough room for everyone. Otherwise they start fighting instantly!
Normally I like to drive at night so the kids can sleep the majority of the time away. On short trips to the city (2.5 hrs one way to the closest one), we do coloring books and music. Long trips to the bigger city (4.5 hrs one way) we let the kids watch a movie on the iPad as well as coloring and games.
I just saw Rio 1 last week. Can’t wait to see #2!
We graze in the car – I always have to have tons of snacks lol
Great tips, mine would be pretty similar!
They were really helpful. I took them out as a surprise and it kept them busy for hours.
oh my gosh, did she draw that? What an artist! We recently did an 8 hour road trip. Just me and my son. He is such a trooper in the car! We mostly talked, and looked outside. He had his Kindle for when he got bored, but overall, he enjoys road trips!
Thank you. She was so quiet for a long time. She said she was concentrating. Good idea to bring the Kindle too. That helps especially when they start saying “ARE WE THERE YET?”
Snacks in the car are definitely a good thing to avoid too many stops!
I like to surprise them with different activities and crafts at various intervals along the way. I tend to bring along more than I think I’ll need to keep them busy!
Boy do I know a mom who would benefit from these tips! It is a big challenge.
Those are all great tips! We also bring along some snacks that we don’t normally allow, making it special.
Yes, the trick is to keep them very busy!! haahaha1
On a long trip a few years ago I wrapped presents for the kids with specific milestones as the tags. They would say things like “open when we cross the Mississippi River”, “Open at the first rest stop”, or “open at the campground with a swing set.” This helped them look forward to something new and if we got stuck in traffic. or took a small detour they never “missed” their treat. The River always came, we always stopped at a rest stop, etc.
I’ve always used the ‘new things’ trick – even gone as far as wrapping them as gifts. They can range from small, dollar store items to bigger items they’ve been asking for a while. Car bingo & videos are lifesavers too!