Are we there yet? Those four innocent words from the back seat can be the stuff of nightmares for parents taking their kids on a long road trip. But it needn’t be. A little bit of pre-planning can ensure that the journey is just as much fun as the destination.
Full disclosure up front — my son was an excellent traveller. From a very young age we dragged him all over the country on caravanning adventures and as long as he had snacks and something to keep him entertained, we didn’t hear boo from him.
Sometimes this required sacrifices on our part. We once spent the entire drive from Sydney to Melbourne listening to the ‘talking book’ of The Lion King. Remember talking books? They comprised a cassette or CD, and the narrator would read the words in the hard copy book, and a little bell or chime would indicate when the child had to turn the page. By the end of that drive, we were ready to tear our hair out, but Lachie was as happy as a pig in mud.
Talking books have made way for audiobooks and all sorts of other forms of entertainment now, but it doesn’t all have to be high tech. Never underestimate the hours of fun to be had from a good old-fashioned game of I Spy or Spotto.
Every child is different and so every travel solution will be different, but here are some tips that might help you navigate the next long trip with the littlies.
The journey can be as much fun as the destination
Get a good night’s sleep
Make sure the whole family gets a good night’s sleep before a big road trip. For obvious reasons this is really important for the driver, but it’s also essential for the kids.
Tired kids can get cranky and grumpy very quickly and in the confined space of a vehicle with siblings in close proximity, the result is often not pretty.
Keep distances short
Consider the distance you plan to drive each day. Taking a long road trip will work for some families, but if you are not ready to brave one then choose a destination a little closer to home or break up the journey with some overnight stays.
How old your kids are, how they handle the car and even how they are feeling on travel day will all play a role in determining how far you’re willing to drive.
Embrace the snooze
One of the great things about travelling with young children is that the motion of the car can send them to sleep pretty quickly, and a lot of kids will sleep for hours at a time while the car is moving.
While the kids snooze, you can knock off some kilometres
The excitement of going on holiday, a few games and snacks, perhaps a toilet break to run around in the fresh air — these are often enough to get most little kids snoozing away in the back seat.
And once they’ve checked out, this is a great time to get some kilometres under your belt while enjoying some peace and quiet.
Tech options
Tech options are the easy go-to for long car rides and generally can keep most kids entertained for a few hours. Load up a tablet with games, movies and books and even some educational apps to keep their minds stimulated.
Some types of educational apps for kids include:
- Language learning apps
- Crosswords or puzzles
- Math games
- Science apps
- Learn to read apps
Despite the rise of streaming services, portable DVD players are still a thing! Many families still enjoy using them, especially when internet access is limited. Nothing beats a good movie or cartoons on a road trip.
Tech options are great for car travel, and can be educational as well
Audio books and podcasts
An audiobook is a great option for travelling or for the evenings when kids need to wind down from a big day of exploring. And they can be both fun and/or educational. Whether it’s an adventure story or an educational book, audiobooks are also great for helping to develop their vocabulary and learning new language skills while you are busy driving or cooking a meal. There are also many kid-friendly podcasts available that can keep them entertained and even teach them something new.
Books can be heavy and take up valuable space on a camping trip, so audiobooks and podcasts downloaded onto a device (download them in advance if you are travelling in areas without internet service) are also a great space-saving option. Make the listening a family affair by playing the book through the car’s audio system or take headphones so each child can listen privately to the book of their choice.
Travel games
There are many travel-specific board and card games on the market which are great options for long journeys, whether they be board games with magnetic pieces so that you don’t lose bits down the back of the seat or scavenger hunt/travel bingo where you create a list of items for the kids to cross off when they spot them out the car window.
Conversation and storytelling games are terrific fun for the whole family whether it’s a classic game like Spotto, 20 questions or I Spy. These games are free and everyone in the car can play.
Long drives can test everyone’s patience so it's good to have some distraction methods up your sleeve
Spotto is an age-old road trip favourite. Create your own version to keep the kids entertained on your next road trip. To play this game you read off a cluster of items and see who can spot each of them first. Laugh and have fun with the kids or have a competition and see who spots what!
Twenty questions is a fun game that can be played with almost any theme in mind. The objective of this game is to have one family member think of a person or object, and everyone else together has 20 questions to guess what it is.
Some fun topics for this game are:
- Famous people
- Foods
- Things you can see inside or outside the car
- Items you might see in a particular location such as the beach
- Animals
To make the game a little harder the person with the word can only answer yes or no as their response.
To play ‘would you rather’, just think of two different options on any topic and have everyone pick which they would prefer. This game can be a bit silly and a lot of fun.
Here are some game topics:
- Food — would you rather eat broccoli dipped in chocolate or have lollies in your chicken soup?
- Body questions — would you rather have feet for hands, or hands for feet?
- Superpowers — would you rather be invisible, or be able to fly?
- Intelligence — would you rather be able to solve any maths question or any science question?
- Animals — would you rather have 20 dogs or 20 cats?
Number plate bingo is easy when you are on the move. Get the kids to spot any number plate and see what meanings the kids (or parents) can make of it. TJK — could be ‘That Jumping Kangaroo!’ The person with the funniest, silliest or best words wins.
Or put on your favourite playlist and have a sing-along in the car where everyone can join in.
Make your own story time. To play this game, each person tells a line of a story, then the next person adds to it. You are guaranteed to end up with a weird and wonderful story, and it’s a great way of encouraging kids to be creative and think outside the square.
Creative activities
Sometimes a good old-fashioned colouring book and crayons can really hit the mark on a long road trip, especially for younger kids. Sticker books can keep little hands busy for a while as can a doodle book with different pages for doodling, tracing, and free drawing.
Colouring in is always popular
Prepare for your road trip by getting activity books or printing activity sheets and colouring-in pages and putting them into hard backed binders, which act as a hard surface for the kids to draw on.
For a unique way to get the kids involved in the trip, check out the Kids' Lap Bible.
Snacks and breaks
Snacks are a great way to keep the kids entertained (and fed) on a long road trip. Taking your own snacks is also a great way to save money, plus it can help out with your picky eaters.
Snacks in a tackle box are a great idea for variety and fun
Packing all the kids’ favourite snacks into a tackle box or similar gives them lots of options and also helps to keep them preoccupied while they choose what to eat.
Dried or sealed foods work well and help to reduce any messy mixing if it gets tossed around a bit. Some great things to pack in a kids snack box include:
- Dried fruits
- Nuts and seeds
- Crackers
- Muesli bars or slices
- Popcorn
- Pita chips
- Fresh vegies like carrot or celery sticks
- Fresh fruit like grapes or blueberries
- Mini club sandwiches
- Cheese slices
- Mini muffins
Make sure they have their own water bottles on hand with some fresh cold water, particularly if you are travelling in hot climates. And it’s wise to have some extra drinking water handy for refills to help limit unnecessary stops. Even with air-con, vehicles can heat up and occupants can become dehydrated.
If you’re travelling through an area where there are roadside stalls and farm gates, these are a great way to get some fresh supplies for the van, feed the kids, stretch their legs and support a local farmer/producer — a four-way win.
A great way to break up long road trips is to plan some fun and interesting stops where the kids can stretch their legs and let off some energy while exploring.
Give the kids regular breaks, especially in hot weather
Whether it’s a stop at a national park or an interactive activity at a local attraction, finding a spot to stop will keep the kids happy, but gives you an opportunity to create some family holiday memories as well.
Some pitstop locations could include:
- Parks and reserves with playgrounds are always a popular option, and kid friendly Australian walking tracks are a nice way to stretch and spot some wildlife. Make walks even more fun with a nature spotting game, where kids can check off items as they see them
- Interactive museums where kids can touch, play, listen or watch are sure to keep them entertained and they might learn a thing or two as well
- Outdoor sporting spots — pack the tennis rackets or cricket bat, and you are sure to find some courts or fields to play with the family
- Zoos or wildlife sanctuaries — the kids will love learning about all sorts of weird and wonderful animals and it’s fun to see them up close
- Water or adventure parks — in the warmer months water parks are sure to keep the kids happy and cool, and adventure parks with rides are fun for the whole family
- Local markets — lots of smaller towns will have markets every weekend where the family can wander and gather trinkets or get their faces painted
- Swimming pools, beaches or waterholes — even if it’s a little cold to swim, heading down to collect shells or spot wildlife can still be a lot of fun
Tree-climbing and swimming to burn off energy between drives
Surprise travel bag
Prepare a surprise travel/activity bag and squirrel it away from the prying eyes of the kids until you need it in case of an emergency — that is, when all else has failed to keep them amused.
Fill it with treats such as a favourite toy from home or a new thing to play with, puzzles, Lego, special snacks — whatever you think is appropriate. Stash it away somewhere in the van and get it out when they get a bit restless. It might be the difference between stopping for the day or pushing on for another couple of hours.
Are we there yet?
Some children become bored easily and find it challenging to sit for long periods of time. The ‘are we there yet?’ and ‘I’m bored’ cries from the back seat are frustrating but try to be patient. They won’t be kids forever and one day, when they’re all grown up, you’ll miss those four little words from the back seat and wish you had the chance to take just one more trip with them.
THE NEXT STEP
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