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Not too long ago, I ran across a collection of family road trip quotes. They were beautiful. What bliss these road trips must be (no road trip activities for toddlers needed here haha)! Here are just a few of my favorites:
- It doesn’t matter where you’re going, it’s who you have beside you.
- No road is long with good company.
- It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.
These quotes make me want to hop in the car right now and drive the distance to pick up my grandchildren.
Except that when I think of traveling with grandkids, or picture them in the car with their parents, the idyllic quotes aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.
Instead, I have a few flashbacks of road tripping with our own kids, and those thoughts were sometimes anything but quotable.
Sure, once we arrived at the destination we had a ton of fun, and I’d drive all those miles again in a heartbeat.
However this time I’d have a little something up my sleeve. Or, as this post will share, I would have the road trip activities below ready for use!
Sometimes the Road is Really Really Long
In the Summer of 2018, we did an 8-hour (each way) car trip with our now 6-year-old granddaughter.
(RELATED: Travel Busy Bag for Preschoolers)
As the time for our departure grew closer I started to get a little nervous about how she would do on this long car ride.
The days of her sleeping through car trips were over, and I desperately wanted us to all enjoy the journey. Because even though the company is good, sometimes the road can just be really, really long!
So I got to thinking about the things we learned to do when our own kids were little. Things that made the trip more fun for everyone.
I grabbed my phone and started making lists of things to look for at our local dollar store, or even from around the house.
The result? A very inexpensive travel kit!
Whether you are traveling with your grandkids or gifting these road trip activities for toddlers to their parents, a super fun collection will result in miles and miles of more contented travelers.
This is a win-win because the happier they are in the car, the more likely these trips are to happen!
Road Trip Activities for Toddlers (Ages 2+)
Popsicle Putback:
Popsicle Sticks – these can be any size, and could also be multiple colors.
Tall container – I used a plastic drink mixing container from the dollar store and cut a decent size slit in the top that the popsicle sticks will fit through.
When it’s time to play, remove the sticks from the container, and allow them to put them back in through the slit.
Older kids can sort by color or follow simple numerical directions. (“Put three blue sticks and two red sticks in the container”)
Because my granddaughter was on the younger side, I would hold the sticks in the backseat and then give them to her one at a time.
Froggy’s Home
The back-to-school clearance section resulted in some awesome little boxes intended for office supplies. I found some inexpensive plastic frogs to put in the boxes. She had great fun opening and closing the boxes and taking the little frogs out and then sending them back ‘home’.
More Box Fun
Smaller boxes than the one mentioned above – I didn’t even put anything in these. She just had fun opening and closing them.
However, adding a small (but double check to make sure it is large enough to not pose a choking hazard) toy would add even more interest.
Sticky Sticks
Use a zipper pouch, or ziploc bag to hold a collection of popsicle sticks with velcro dots on the ends. Grandkids on the younger side can simply press a couple of the sticks together and take them apart again and again. Older grandkids will be able to create fun shapes or letters with their sticks.
Stackables
I found a stackable set of brightly colored containers at the Dollar Store. It was labeled as a multi-use vitamin container/small item container and did not resemble a traditional vitamin/pill container.
My youngest granddaughter loved rearranging the small boxes into the bigger container over and over again.
For older preschoolers, adding a colored pom pom to each container would definitely up the fun and increase the ways this activity could be used.
Mega Fun
For this simple activity, I just added a small assortment of mega blocks to a large zipper pouch. There were enough to entertain, but not so many as to have them all over the car. This was a definite win.
Magna Doodle
The Dollar Store scores again. A little Magna doodle provided miles of fun. Even though she was too young to draw traditional pictures, she understood the concept of making marks and erasing them.
If your dollar store doesn’t have one, I found this one on Amazon and it’s a similar size. It has more with it and it’s a reasonable price too!
Catch & Release
These little fishies were fun to ‘catch and release’ back into their blue zipper pouch pond.
Bag ‘O Books
Again, the dollar store has some of the best items. A little cloth carry bag was the perfect container to hold several small board books. These were read again and again.
Additional Tips:
Use Zipper Pouches
One of the things I discovered was that for longevity’s sake, it was worth investing in heavy-duty zipper pouches rather than relying solely on plastic Ziplocs.
Ours are going on year 4 and have been on many car trips. I purchased them during back-to-school sales, however, they are readily available any time of year.
Definitely check your local dollar store, but if you’re short on time here are a couple of options on Amazon – traditional pencil pouches and travel pouches.
I put absolutely everything (except the popsicle putback activity) into a pouch of some type.
Half the fun for her was getting the activity out and putting it back and getting it out and…..you know the drill!
Favorite Tunes
Make a playlist of some of their favorite tunes! Even though you feel like you will hear the songs in your sleep (and you might!) they can be a great way to pass some travel time.
Tech Use
I’m not anti-tech!
Many families have ipads or tablets for entertaining kids in the car. merricksart.com shares some wifi free apps for pre-k through early elementary that work without the internet.
My daughter found a few that my granddaughter really loves. We just track the time and rotate the tablet among all the other activities.
*New Road Trip for Toddler Activities Recently Added
Art Station
I included a notebook of plain paper, some stickers, and anti-roll triangular crayons.
Imagination and Story Telling Station
There are lots of fun magnet sets available. They can be used with a cookie sheet and are the backdrop for many a creative story.
Melissa & Doug 20 Wooden Farm Magnets in a Box
Lego Creation Station
Simply flip a cookie sheet over.
A lego baseplate was easy to affix to the back side of the cookie tray. Then gather a smaller set of legos to keep in a zipper pouch for easy spill-resistant access.
Travel Activities For Older Grandkids
If your grandkids are older, check out the ideas in this It’s Only Autumn post.
It’s full of options, plus has some printables you can use to divide activities up over the miles.
Don’t forget to pull out all the old favorites from when you were young, such as 20 questions, I Spy, Alphabet Scavenger Hunt, and ‘Im Going on a trip and I’m taking __________.
As our grandkids get older, I plan to keep the tradition going – whether in the car with us, or traveling with their own family.
I believe the time spent preparing these activities in a travel kit for grandkids will bring benefits beyond their actual purpose.
My hope is that these activities will help kids do well in an environment where it can be far too easy to become discontent.
I want them to enjoy (even if they are too young to truly comprehend it) how precious these times away from regular everyday schedules can be.
These road trips are ripe with the opportunity to have fun, to share stories – both recent and from long ago and to create a history that will definitely be worth repeating! Because it really is about the journey!