Traveling with kids? Looking for ways to keep them entertained? We’ve all been there! Below are some of my favorite activities and products to keep my kids busy to avoid the dreaded “how much longer?” and “are we there yet?” questions on a road trip.

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Let’s talk organization

With kids, their toys, drinks, snacks, and more in the backseat it can quickly become a mess. My family uses this backseat organizer to keep all of the items my kiddos use for entertainment on a road trip as well as some other essentials organized in the backseat. At first we just used it for road trips. But have since found it helpful to keep one in the car all the time.

Now for the entertainment:

1. Road Trip Bingo. When I was a kid in the 1980s and 1990s I used to love to play a game on road trips called The World’s Greatest Travel Game. It was essentially travel bingo with blocks you would flip over as you found the items you were searching for. I was excited when I found these Travel Bingo Cards – hoping my kids could enjoy a similar experience that I had as a child, but in a compact form that easily fit in our backseat organizer. They both loved them! My older kiddo loved playing the game. My younger kiddo enjoyed moving the doors back and forth on the bingo cards and asking questions about all the pictures as he “played” with his older brother. Overall, they were big hit and a great way to pass time in the car.
2. Coloring. My kids have been a fan of Crayola Color Wonder products for years. I was excited to find the new Color Wonder Activity Pads which are just the perfect size for in the car. For a recent road trip my boys chose the My Little Pony and Baby Shark Activity Pads. They loved them. The activity pads fit well in our backseat organizer, were a good size for coloring on their laps in the car, and were small enough to take into restaurants to keep the kids entertained while waiting. And like all Color Wonder products, there was no mess to worry about in the car.
3. Drawing Tablets. We found so many ways to play with these Kids Writing and Drawing Tablets. The kids enjoyed drawing pictures, coloring the whole screen in to see the rainbow design, using them to play tic tac toe, and even making up their own games including a Pictionary-type game where one would draw something and the other would guess the picture. Best of all since they came in an affordable two pack, both kiddos had their own drawing tablet to keep them entertained.
4. Toys to keep hands active. Small toys my kiddos like for the car (and I like for their compact nature) are fidget poppers, a mini magna doodle, etch a sketch, and a handheld water ring toss game.
5. Maps & State facts. This one may depend on the interests of your kids. My oldest loves learning about states. For him, anything to do with maps and state facts is fun in the car. This can be a paper map highlighted to look at where we’re going, a kids road atlas to do activities themed to the states we’re traveling through, pointing out the welcome signs as we cross into new states, or me reading aloud a book with facts about the state we’re driving through.
6. And finally, headphones for when you reach those moments of the road trip when only screen time will do. We’ve used ones designed for kids from JLab and my kids seem to like them. My older kiddo uses these bluetooth ones and my younger kiddo uses this similar wired version.

Hopefully some of these things that I have found helpful you will too. I hope you and your family enjoy making memories on your next trip. Happy travels!