Entertainment for Fun Car Trips with Kids

Living on the west coast and having family over a thousand miles away, we made many a trip from California to Texas and back. One thing I learned about driving long distances with kids is that you need to circumvent boredom before it strikes!

Stop by the dollar store  before you take off, and find some coloring books, and activity books. You’ll get lots of entertainment for just a few bucks. But…

Coloring or reading can cause car sickness, so unfortunately, those activities could be cut short. By contrast, listening and watching the road are the best remedies for car sickness and boredom.

Here’s a few of our favorite things that helped us cover many miles…

Audio Books and CDs from the Library  – Visit your library to borrow a number of books on CDs or check Overdrive Search to download audio books from the library. Our favorites were the Louis L’Amour book series available online from libraries nationwide. These are western stories with multiple characters’ voices, sounds of trains, horses, kids and dogs. Our kids actually looked forward to getting in the car to finish their stories. 

Audio Books MP3 – Visit TheAudioBookBay.com  & AudioBooksForFree.com to download free MP3s of books from many genres. 

There’s lots of ways to entertain kids on summer car trips with nothing but your own eyes and ears. Try the old “I Spy” game, or…

The Alphabet Game – We play this for hours, and it never seems to get old. Starting with the letter “A”, look for words on signs that start with the letters of the alphabet. It takes awhile to get to “Z”, but it’s challenging and fun for even little ones.

Survival Supplies: Provide each child with their own pillow. Now, those sleepy heads can pass the time with some Zzzzzs!

Take lots of walking and stretching breaks.

Take time to stop and smell the roses.

Make some fantastic family memories, and have a great trip!

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