Road Trip Essentials for Kids (and Adults)!
Are you going on a road trip this Summer? I wanted to share my top essentials for road tripping with kids! Keeping kids entertained in the car can be tough, especially keeping them entertained with screen free activities. SO I’ve compiled a list of screen free, (mostly) mess free activities for kids in the car! Not going to lie, as a mom I’ve also found some of these items to keep myself entertained as well!
I hope you find these items helpful and drive safe!
For other important car tips, check out these:
How Was This List Created?
I have compiled a list of everything you need to survive a road trip with kids. This will help keep your car more organized and keep your kids entertained on the long car rides! When I was choosing these items, I tried to be really thoughtful about things that I thought were a lower projectile risk. When it comes to road tripping or just driving in the car with your kids, the less heavy items that you can have loose in the vehicle, the lower risk of anything becoming a projectile in the event of a collision. So while there's things like a car seat tray or a back seat organizer, at the end of the day filling those things in the second row with more and more items just increases the chances of projectiles which can be very dangerous in the event of an accident. I have chose items that in my opinion are a lower projectile risk! They are still projectiles so you have to make that decision for you and your family but I just wanted to bring that to the forefront. That's why I didn't include some of those road trip click-baity items that you see often, because in my opinion they just aren't that safe.
I was also really mindful to choose screen-free activities, because I know if you're anything like my family we struggle with screen time sometimes. I wanted to think outside the box and find things I thought could capture attention without being an iPad! All that aside, let's get started with my kids activity ideas.
Car Activity Ideas For Kids
Little Poppers
You can find these Little Poppers in all sorts of shapes and colors! I like to use the rainbow because George and I are currently working on learning his colors. It has all of the colors of the rainbow and they're super fun to play with. I even find them a little bit addicting and so satisfying. I even let Hattie chew on them sometimes! These are a win-win for older or little kids and babies.
Paint By Sticker
This is an activity for your older kids and it’s freaking cool! We've all heard a paint by number and I do not recommend bringing that in the car because it is messy. Paint by stickers is the same concept, but with stickers instead! They have so many different ones to chose from and the zoo animals is one of our favorites. They also have dinosaurs, unicorns, bugs, and under the sea. This is fun and this will take up a lot of time in the car!
Puffy Sticker Playsets
Kind of similar to the paint by sticker is the puffy sticker playsets! These are cool because they’re reusable stickersand it's a fold and go play scenario. It comes with a bunch of sticker options and it was super affordable too! It came in with three different ones and we love the fun on the farm one! I’m saving that one for my next road trip with George. It's so easy to do all you do and a great option to keep the kids occupied.
LCD Writing Board
I love this LCD writing board because if you’ve ever thought about giving your kids markers in a vehicle, that is so anxiety producing to me! That is why this thing is so cool because they can just write right on the board and no mess in involved. It's super easy to erase, and has a battery life of two years! It's also eye protecting which makes sense because you're not looking at a harsh blue light, it's a little bit easier on the eyes and also so addicting. I'm saying to buy road trip stuff for kids but make sure to also buy an extra for yourself!
Wikki Stix
The Wikki Stix traveler is now one of my go-to road trip activities for my kids (and sometimes me!). Wikki Stix are wax sticks that you can mold to make different shapes with. The whole pack is travel friendly and it even comes with activities so you can do things like decorate Easter eggs. You take the wax sticks and outline the easter egg and then you can fill it in to decorate it. You can also make glasses, make a stick body, and there is so many other possibilities. Mold them to make anything you want and your kids get to use there imagination!
Indestructibles
Next on the list is an activity for the babies or just toddlers in general! Indestructibles are indestructible paper books that they can read, chew on, look at the pictures, and they cannot rip! If this technology exists why do we even make paper children books! This product is amazing and I will be buying so many more of these for the car!
Kid Headphones
I'm so excited about these kid headphones! If you're road tripping and you are going to be using screen time, which is totally fine, these were so darling especially for younger kids! You just put them on their heads and it just plugs right into the device so they just wear them like little ear muffs. They come in a lot of different characters and animals too. I got the little fox for Georgie but they are definitely worth checking out!
Lunii Storyteller
The next activity is probably my favorite and it's definitely the most expensive, but I think it is such a great screen free alternative and perfect for road trips. It is called the Lunii Storyteller and it’s this little device that will tell your kids stories but it's interactive! So your children can select who the character is, where the story takes place, who the secondary character is, and it is so much fun. There's also 48 stories in it and you can download hundreds more for when they get sick of those. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving and I am so excited about this.
Here are all the kids activity links:
Road Trip Essentials for Adults
The kids aren’t the only ones that get to have all the fun! I have a list of adult must-have items for a road trip but they are more car organization items and definitely aren’t fun activities like the kids get. Here’s what I always have in my car on a road trip:
Bissell Handheld Vacuum
My travel vacuum fits right in your side cubby or in your glove box and this is perfect for cleaning up any on the go messes! It is so powerful and I'm telling you a clean car drives better, especially on a road trip! Do what you can to keep the car clean get this pistol vacuum, I promise you will have no regrets!
Car Trash Can
The next item I always have in the car is this little car trash can. It even comes with trash bags and this is the perfect thing just for collecting after snack wrappers. Then when you stop to get gas or pull over you can just take the whole trash can and dump it out. You don't have to worry about collecting trash anymore! There's a lot of different ways that you could hook it onto something or snap it in. I think it's a great size because you don't want it to be too big and you want to make sure you're emptying it regularly!
Water Bottle
Did someone say, Stanley water bottle dupeeee! I love this Reduce water bottle because it’s 40 ounces and is great for a long road trip to stay hydrated. If someone in my family is thirsty. I want to make sure I have water at all time and this keeps it cold and it's huge. It does fit in most cup holders and is a water bottle I think everyone needs to buy!
First Aid Kit & Roadside Assistance
My final road trip essential is roadside assistance and a first aid kit. You never know when you may need it and trust me you will be wishing you had one of these when you are stuck on the side of the road. You may not always have phone service when you are stuck and you might have to fix the problem yourself! Educate yourself on how to use these tools and always keep in in your car!
Here are my adult road tip links:
Leave a comment below about which toy is your favorite and if there was anything that I missed!
