Road Trip Essentials for Toddlers
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Have you ever had this great idea to take your family on a road trip? But then you doubted if it would ever work because your toddlers would pester you with that one question: “Are we there yet?” Fear not. My wife and I packed our family into the car and traveled 15 hours on the road for our Disney vacation. I am going to give you the right road trip essentials for your toddlers that will keep them occupied throughout the trip.
Road Trip Essentials
Snack Containers
One of the best choices we made was to pack each of our children their own snack container. But not just any snack container. We actually purchased jewelry containers that allow you to separate sections, so you can sort out different snacks of your choosing and they take forever deciding on their next bite. It is a great way to break up the car ride, especially if it is a long one.
Paint by Sticker Books
My son absolutely loves the Paint by Sticker books. Each book is set to a theme (His favorite was the dinosaur book.). Each picture is set up like a “color by number” book, except with pages of stickers. You simply match the numbers up and it takes a while to find each sticker as they are randomized all over the page. This is a great activity for your children and with no mess or clean up needed!
Rubber Band Ball
If you are taking a road trip with your toddler, go out and buy them a rubber band ball ASAP. I will warn you: This will result in rubber bands showing up in every crevice of your vehicle weeks later. However, the amount of time that it will take your child to take each rubber band off, one by one…priceless.
Road Trip Games
Name That Jelly Bean
My kids love this one! It’s also an easy game to put together and a road trip essential in my family. Bring a bag of jelly beans and a pen and paper with you! Give your kids a jelly bean and ask them to guess the flavor. Is it yummy? Is it gross? Do they like it or not? This game will bring a lot of laughs and they get to enjoy candy at the same time!
Restaurant Bingo
This road trip game is another easy assembly and easy for your kids to play by themselves. We have our kids look for these popular restaurants while we’re on the road. When they see a sign for that restaurant, they shout it out and mark it on their sheet. Once they get five in a row, they yell out BINGO! It’s easy. It’s fun. And the whole family can play!
Gifts Galore
One of my favorite road trip essentials for toddlers is to have gifts ready to hand out every hour or so. I’m not talking about expensive Star Wars LEGO sets here. I’m talking about small toys that you can find at the Dollar Store. For our trip to Disney, we bought each of our children 10-15 small toys from the Dollar Store or discount aisle in Target. My wife wrapped each toy individually and had a bag ready to go in the car. When our kids became bored in the car or we passed through a new state, she would hand out a fun new toy that they could unwrap. This kept the excitement of the car ride for the ENTIRE trip!
Whether you are going on a two hour road trip or a twenty hour road trip, let me know which of these road trip activities and games you try!