Helpful tips for Road Tripping with Kids

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1. Hit the road right before nap time

We generally try and plan our road trips around nap time. It doesn't always work out that way, but sometimes we aim for a day adventure, and conveniently plan our afternoon adventure home during nap time. Every once in a while we get lucky, and our older child actually falls asleep in the car.

2. Bring noise cancelling headphones

My husband came up with this idea. While road tripping in a rented RV for spring break, we learned that the RV wasn’t equipped with Bluetooth for music. The screen door also rattled quite loud, and random cupboard doors kept popping open. My husband pulled out his noise cancelling headphones, turned on some music, and drove for 7 hours straight to the beach, tuning out the kids and the rattling screen door.

These are also great to have on hand if you are traveling to a hotel. I’ve been confined in a small hotel room with 2 little  kids many times before. The noise cancelling headphones really help in situations like this, or if you want to watch a movie while the kids are asleep, these also help.

I personally wear these around the house also when cleaning, making dinner, or when the kids are playing nice but being a little loud (it’s a great way to tune the kids out). That way I can focus, and be in my own head, with my own thoughts.

3. You can never have enough stuffies in the car

If there is room in the car, I generally allow the kids to bring a ton of stuffies with them. If it makes them happy, and entertains them, I don’t mind. And when I say this, I mean a ridiculous amount of stuffies. We once road tripped to Dinosaur Valley State Park. The entire back seat was full of stuffies, and we had the dinosaur stuffies riding up front, looking out the passenger window. The kids really enjoyed watching peoples reactions, seeing the stuffies looking out the passenger window at them.

4. Bring a camera for the kids

Our kids both got cameras for Christmas from Grandma last year. Whenever we go on road trips, long or short, we make sure to bring their cameras with us. They have little games on there, and the kids can take pictures whenever they want. It gives them a sense of independence, and they have memories to look back on with their cameras. We also print off scavenger hunt sheets for them on road trips, encouraging them to find things on these sheets because it gives them something specific to search for, and take pictures with.

 5. Get them involved with planning

I’ve always encouraged my kids to get involved with planning road trips. Sometimes I don’t take their suggestions into account, either because it’s too far out of the way, or out of our budget, but getting them involved helps increase their level of excitement leading up to the trip, and they might come up with some really fun suggestions you may not have thought of.

One way I get my son involved is to get him to help with the pre-road trip shopping. He’s a big snacker, so I bring him with me to the grocery store to pick out snacks and groceries for our trip.

I also find, having my kids know about our road trip stops and plans ahead of time really helps get them mentally really for big trips. My daughter doesn’t like being out of her comfort zone, but it’s good for her to get out and explore. Knowing in advance where we are going, and what we are planning to do helps her with packing, thinking about what she needs to bring or wear while on the trip. I think this is also a great way to get them prepared for later in life when they travel. My son is an expert road trip packer when it comes to his clothes and personal items to bring.

6. Include a park trip or two along the way

If we are doing long hall road trips, we often plan a park stop or two along our route. Google is of course a great source for this. We recently road tripped from Dallas to Austin, Texas. Along the way, we found this amazing park called Play for All in Round Rock, Texas. There is a whole little town built into this park, with a bike track, several playgrounds, and a music area. This was a great little stop over for the kids to get out of the car, stretch their legs, and burn off some energy before carrying on with our road trip.

I also find, the kids might not be too interested in the road trip itself or even the idea of getting to the destination, but if you give them a park trip, say 2 hours down the road, it gives them something to look forward to, that is kid friendly and on their level, something they relate to.

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