Traveling with Children

Road trips with young children whose

daily lives exist in a 20 mile perimeter. This felt like a big shift for our family and 2 & 4 year old kids at the time. In preparation of keeping them entertained for long stretches of time, I pulled together a few ideas that I plan to pace out over time throughout the car ride.

photo source @jillianharris

1. Elizabeth Mitchell is one of our family favorites that the girls love listening to and singing along with. Songs for Wiggleworms is another bearable soundtrack. And a little sillier, but definitely entertaining, we turn to Amy Liz.

2. Audio Books- we plan to listen to Sophie Mouse and the Penny series. We used the Libby App with the free trial and downloaded 4 hours of different books, they loved the Fancy Nancy series,

3. Small gift-wrapped snack bags with snack surprises

4. My kids never tire of these re-usable Water Wow books

5. As well as these Sticker Books we have found success with on plane flights

6. These pill containers that I plan to fill with tiny snacks, tiny toys and stickers for them to discover along the way. Bigger sizes here and here.

7. NPR’s podcast Wow in the World has been recommended, might be for older children but will give it a try

*Before taking any trip or family vacation, I usually advise parents not to talk about the trip with their children until a few days before. Prior to the age of 6, time is an abstract concept for young ones and it won’t be clear to them when the trip is happening (right now? today? tomorrow?). It is helpful to have a calendar as a visual or even just wait to tell them about it the day before. That way, they can be involved with packing and preparations in a timeline that will make sense for them.