tips for making it a screen-free road trip
If your first question is “why would I want to do that?” then this article is probably not for you. But if you already have some discomfort about kids using screens on road trips (or any other time) then read on! Here are our top tips for making it a screen-free road trip.
first, a few notes
AGE MATTERS | We didn’t try to do this until our oldest was almost 4 and our youngest was 2.5 years old. I think it matters a lot because you need your kids to be able to open things, clearly communicate what they want and generally try to keep organized.
ALWAYS REMEMBER THE WHY | It would certainly be easier to just return to screens but every time I’m packing the car full of toys I remind myself WHY we do it this way. For us screens in the car were a bigger headache than help. And I love the creativity, conversation, and connection that happens during our long drives. Yes, there is still some complaining but half of it comes from the front seat 🙂
what we do instead
Okay. It’s not really a spoiler to say this – you’ll need lots of toys and lots of snacks. And lots of bags… 5 bags/baskets, in fact. Here is what we’ve found works best:
1– A MAIN BASKET OF FIDGET TOYS | I have one main basket that contains shared toys. These are almost exclusively cheap fidget type toys. The main rule for this basket is there needs to be as many identical toys as you have kids. So three kids = three of each thing to eliminate arguments because they will inevitably want the same thing at the same time.
2– GIVE EACH KID A SEPARATE BASKET | Each child gets a little plastic bin beside their seat full of special toys that ONLY GO ON ROAD TRIPS. This part is key, you need to have things that are reserved for your drive so they feel new and the kids get excited for them.Â
My daughter (age 6) gets mostly things to write/draw with, a sturdy notebook, a booklet of stickers, a couple of fidget toys, and some ‘color by sticker’ or ‘find the hidden picture’ books.Â
Each child's individual basket.
My son (3.5) gets a few small cars and animal figurines, a big dry erase board, a larger car/truck, and water wow books. I keep more things up front for him since he’s still a little unreliable to put lids back on, etc.
The shared "fidget toy" basket.
3– A BIG BAG OF BOOKS | I like to put a big bag of books in the backseat also. I just leave this in the floorboard and stuff a few in the seat pocket in front of them. I’ve found my kids prefer familiarity here so I don’t actually change these out often.
4– KEEP ANOTHER BAG UP FRONT WITH YOU | I keep the final bag of toys up front with me. This one contains a few more things that will help bust the boredom that comes when they’ve exhausted their backseat bins. It should have:
Extra toys and backup supplies:Â scratch off sheets, molding clay, car bingo games, games/toys with small pieces, and small trays to contain anything with smaller pieces
Cleaning/organization solutions: wipes, grocery bag for trash, ziploc baggies, empty paper/plastic cups for splitting anything you didn’t pre-portion.
5– SNACKS | The last, and likely most important bag, is the snack bag! I’m all for healthy eating, it’s another thing we try very hard to do but road trips are not the time to stress about this too much. Here are some things we like to pack…
Pre-portioned fruit in baggies, their favorite snack/granola bars, small cups of dry cereal (the good stuff they don’t get at home like Fruit Loops), trail mix, pre-portioned chips/crackers, popcorn, fruit strips, suckers, gum. If we are brining a cooler then we’ll pack cheese sticks and pepperoni pieces. Yogurt squeezes would be good too!
MORE IDEAS FOR TOYS & GAMES | We’ve also packed those seasonal window cling things, glass markers, wikki sticks, water coloring cards & books, wipe clean activity books, and playing/learning cards.
other tips & lessons learned
+ Always start at the Dollar Store. Spend $10-15 there and you’ve set yourself up well.
+ Get cheap markers but nice notebooks. They need to be sturdy!
+ Give the older child incentive/rewards for being a backseat helper. This has gotten significantly more easy as our 6-year old has embraced helping her brother. She hands him markers, helps him find lids, gives him suggestions on what to play with next, etc. She gets praised and treated for being so helpful!
+ Try podcasts or special soundtracks. Our kids haven’t gotten into kid focused podcasts but they love a good Disney soundtrack. That always helps reset the mood when they’re struggling.
+ Try to make them go at least 30-45 minutes without anything from your special bag. That is my rule because we are commonly in the car for that period of time anyway and they always do fine so I expect that they can last at least that long on a road trip too.
+ Pack one snack for every 45-60 minutes. Road food isn’t that filling and it serves as an activity too when you pack things like fruit loops (sort them) or shelled pistachios (crack them).
Now plan where you'll go!!!
Check out our growing list of day and road trips here!