A screen-free road trip with little kids.

Does reading that excite you or freak you out?

I’ll be honest, until this year, taking a road trip with little kids was not high on my list of “fun family activities”. I don’t know about you, but just hearing road trip with little kids conjures up hours spent with crying children, way too many pitt stops, and lots of messes in the car. Ha! In fact, I wrote a blog post last year about why you should plan a staycation instead.

But, this past May we had a road trip to take. One of my younger brothers was getting married in Pensacola, Florida which is about a ten hour drive from where we live. So, as our trip got closer, I started to plan.

I am not the expert on taking a road trip with little kids. In fact, our only previous trip with both of the kiddos was a five-six hour drive to the beach a couple summers ago. I did NOT spend time thinking that trip through (hey, what’s a five-six hour drive, right?) and ended up regretting it. Our drive home from that vacation was not fun at all.

So anyway, I knew that I needed to plan ahead a bit if I wanted this longer trip to go smoothly. And seeing as how the ten hour drive turned into twelve hours, I’m really glad I did!

We even managed to make the whole road trip completely screen-free, although I had packed the ipad just in case. 😉

So, today I thought I’d share what we did. If you’re planning to take a long trip over the holidays, I hope you’ll find some helpful tips here!

Tips for a Screen-Free Road Trip With Little Kids

{This blog post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through a link I may receive a small commission.}

Snacks

I know I know, snacks are a given on road trips, but I thought I’d share what we packed in case you need some ideas. I tried to include some healthy options (that the kids like obviously) because the last thing we needed was for the kids to be on a complete sugar high the whole trip!

Snack suggestions: apple slices, baby carrots, fruit/veggie blend pouches, crackers, goldfish or cereal, granola bars, special candy treats that aren’t super messy like lolly-pops or twizzlers

Prizes

A reader suggested this idea to me and I’m so glad she did. Before our trip I ran to the dollar store and purchased some little prizes for the kids. I’m not normally a fan of small cheapy toys but this time that’s just what I was looking for.

I took them home and individually wrapped each prize with some leftover Christmas wrapping paper and stuck them all in a bag which I put in the car, out of sight of the kids.

During our trip, whenever the kids were really starting to get antsy, I’d pass them both back a little prize to unwrap. They LOVED getting little presents and Pablo and I loved that it kept them occupied and happy for awhile.

If you’re wanting to try for a screen-free road trip with little kids, this is definitely my favorite tip!!

Prize suggestions: small white board with marker, little character figurines (my kids loved the Paw Patrol ones I found), matchbox cars, squishy toys, small plastic animals, little board books, candy jewelry, new stickers, etc.

Toys

What’s a road trip with little kids without some toys along for the ride?

I knew our car was going to be a mess (especially with the new little prizes the kids would be opening) so I didn’t want to bring too many toys along. But, I packed a small ziplock for Caleb with his favorite matchbox cars and one for Sofia with some Little People. Their toy bags ended up being quite the hit – maybe just because we don’t usually have them in the car – so I was really glad I packed them.

Books

My kids love books so I packed a small backpack full of some of their favorites. I think they would’ve enjoyed some quiet time looking at them . . . but can’t say for certain because we drove off on our trip without the bag. Haha oh well, I tried.

Something to draw on/with

I packed a notebook for each child along with a couple pens and pencils for drawing. I’d picked up some new stickers at the dollar store so I gave those the kids as well to stick in their notebooks. My kids love stickers so that was a big hit! It was a tiring activity too apparently . . .

We also brought along Sofia’s Magnadoodle. We didn’t end up using it on this trip but it’s definitely a good option, especially if you’re worried about your kids making a mess with their pens/pencils.

Ziplock bags

I mentioned ziplock bags before in my post about flying with a one year old. Well, they come in handy just as much on a road trip!

I like to keep the diaper bag organized with gallon sized zip-lock bags (one for the diapers, one for a change of clothes, you get the idea) and I like to have smaller quart size bags on hand as well. Ziplock bags are great for corralling random toys or snacks or containing an outfit that got wet.

Take stops

Well, duh. But what I mean is that when you’re taking a long screen-free road trip with little kids, (or one that involves screens too) don’t feel it’s a race. In our pre-kid days we would always try to beat our GPS’s estimated time of arrival. Anyone else? That was fun, but don’t do it with kids.

For one thing, you won’t beat it I guarantee you, and rushing rushing rushing isn’t good for your littles and will just stress you out.

Take some time at your stops to let the kids run around the car a few times to get their energy out. Stop at a rest area or a park for lunch. It might feel like wasted time, but if it makes the kids happier (and tires them out for a nap in the car later) then it’s a win!

Music

I can’t not mention music! Our family LOVES music so we had something playing for most of the trip. Caleb and Sofia love The Piano Guys which is great because it’s just as fun for adults to listen to. We also listened to parts of the Star Wars soundtrack over and over again because Caleb loves that music . . . it got a little old after awhile but hey, it kept him happy so yay!

If you need some fresh music grab a free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited right before your trip and you’ll be all set!

So, those are all my tips for your screen-free road trip with little kids. Now it’s your turn! Have you had a successful road trip with little kids? I’d love to hear your best tips! Let’s chat in the comments!

PS – Need some more ideas? I think you’ll love this article that I found on Pinterest!

PPS – This particular trip of ours was screen-free. Does that mean that all future trips will be screen-free? No, no it does not. If you use screens to help keep your kiddos happy on trips, trust me, no judgment here. 😉