Planning a road trip? Check out these creative tips and tricks for keeping your kids entertained on the long drive, shared by your frugal friends right here and on The Frugal Girls Facebook page…
Julie said: “Have a portable DVD player, music (kid friendly), activity books (coloring books, word finds, etc…), and play games such as I spy.” 
Toni said: “DVD players with favorite movies or shows, maybe rent a new one they’ve been wanting to see, snacks, a few small toys, and stuff to color.”
Monica said: “We take a portable DVD player and rent a new Redbox movie on the drive there…return it at our destination, and get a new one on the drive home. My kids will pay closer attention to a new movie (therefore staying quiet longer) than a movie they have seen 10 times. Works out really well when you can get a free rental to do this!”
Kim said: “DVD’s, portable games, Nintendo DS, coloring books, snacks and beverages. Pillows & blankets to encourage sleep. Play interactive road games like license plates…guessing what vanity plates say or finding plates from every state. Noticing …every yellow car and shouting “bee sting” (my granddaughter taught me that one). Or pick a different odd color and a different name. Notice various things on billboards.”
Cyndi said: “We play the old-fashioned “Car Trip” games like the ABC game (where you find words on signs in order according to the alphabet like “Exit” for E.) The Car Tag game where you try to find a car license plate from each state. For the younger one, we play the color game where you pick a color and then count how many vehicles go by in that color. This last trip we a new game… we counted different types of trucks – car carrier trucks, bucket trucks, fire trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks, etc. Lots of fun. (Of course we still have the modern stand-byes of video games and DVD players & movies too, as well as lots of kids music CD’s).”
Carilyn said: “I have a 3 year old daughter and I have found that she really enjoys looking for specific things. On a 5 hour car ride, we had her look for and point out all of the yield signs. That kept her busy for quite awhile. We also have her look for animals. Cows and horses are everywhere!”
Aisha said: “Hand held toys, goldfish, juice boxes, sandwiches and NAPS!”
Julie said: “Portable handheld games. You can buy some such as UNO, Scrabble, and other games for younger kids, such as Spongebob at Walmart.”
Hollie said: “We give our kids (3 & 2) special snacks and water to drink, as well as a Magna Doodle, books, and a Leapster laptop. – The Magna Doodle is great because the pen is attached with a string so they can’t drop it on the floor and there isn’t any mess like with markers.”
Rachel said: “I’m going on a road trip next week, and I’m taking a portable DVD player, a Leapster Explorer, and the Printable Car Trip Bingo Cards that were posted on The Frugal Girls. Plus, I’m leaving at night, so hopefully the kids will sleep at least half the time! P.S. – I played “I spy” when I was a kid. Hoping it works!”
Danielle said: “The AAA Club has great games like Travel Bingo. Also, if you get a couple of plastic TV trays from the dollar store, they could play games such as Travel Connect 4, Travel Checkers, do some coloring, etc… not to mention it makes for less mess while eating!”
Tina said: “Best idea ever is using a cookie sheet for their lap. It keeps the pencils from rolling onto the floor, easy cleanups with a wipe, they can have their snacks on it, they can play with toys, set a book on it, anything goes. My girls are 9 & 7 and they still use them on our 23 hour drives to Grandma’s house, and they like them on shorter trips too.”
Jeannine said: “I used to travel 1,500 miles with two small children twice a year. Get little book bags for each child. Put small fun snacks and a bunch of dollar store goodies, like coloring books, activity books and small toys. However, these days, so many people have portable DVD players… so use a portable DVD player if you have one.”
Natasha said: “We do a lot of car traveling, so I try to travel at night so they sleep. I agree with the goodie bags and games too! I like peace and quiet on the drive, so the handheld games, e-books and movies keeps it peaceful.”
Lynn said: “Bring small gifts from the dollar store…wrapped. Every so often when they have been good, they get a gift!”
Anita said: “When we took our kids to Colorado from Indiana a few years ago, I put together 100 mile bags. Little goodie bags with treats in them. If they were good with no arguing, they got a bag each 100 miles we traveled.”
Heidi said: “One great tip we used on our last 18 hour road trip – and we plan to do again this year. I went out and bought dollar store items and wrapped them in tissue paper for each child. Every time we finished a stop for gas or to use the bathroom they got to reach in their bag of gifts and open up one item. Some were games for the trip, some were just fun toys, but they def got a kick out of that. Along with the wrapped dollar store gifts, each child had their own iPod, and Nintendo DS, and they took turns watching movies on the portable DVD player – headphones are a must have!”
Julie said: “Take a plastic container (such as a an empty quart of applesauce), and put maybe 20 tiny toys in it (things from Polly Pockets, etc.). Before you put the toys in the container, take a picture of them all and print it out on one sheet. Then put the toys in the container and fill it 3/4 with rice. When you put the lid on, make sure it is secure (I used duct tape). Give them the picture and make them find the things by turning the container around. My kids really liked this.”
Sandi said: “Crazy things entertained my kids. The sticky post it notes even for the ones who can’t wright. Mine loved the sticking and resticking. lol”
Drea said: “Get a variety pack of 100 pipe cleaners! Make people, silly glasses, crowns, etc! Also a bag of Mom’s surprise, doled out along the way, from the party store or dollar store. Use your library to get stories on CD. I recommend Adventures in Odyssey! These worked pretty well for a two and a half week road trip, combined with movies on the laptop, and my husband’s method of alternating mega-driving days, and short driving days with sight-seeing stops.”
Alison said: “I bought a small cookie sheet and some magnetic letters from the dollar store and a package of felt from the craft store. I hot glued a piece of felt to one side of the cookie sheet, and then used the other pieces to cut out shapes and little animals. One side can be used to stick the felt shapes on to make a picture, and the other side for letter magnets! This buys me a good hour or so of quiet. Also, the dollar spot at Target has tons of little books and small toys that you can put into a bag special for the trip. Just make sure you ration them to maximize your time!”
Denise said: “First bit of advice is plan out your trip with an atlas. You know, those things that are bound with roads on them. 
Find rest stops along the way and figure out how many times you will need to stop. My kids are 1 1/2, 3 1/2 and 5 1/2. … We have found that we can usually make it 3 hours without a stop and sometimes push it to 4 hours. Plan a nice long stop if you can, with time to run around. We try to stop for at least 30 minutes. We eat, use the bathroom, and if there is no playground… just chase the kids as hard as we can. Also, if you are going on a trip where it is still cold, then look for fast food places with indoor playgrounds. McDonald’s still has some and Chick Fil A has some nice ones. Oh and LOTS of water. I keep 2 cups per kid with them, so we never run out and have to stop.”
Nicole said: “I travel alone with my triplets (now 2 years old) from Ohio to Louisiana about 4 times a year. I travel with a variety of DVD’s, a bag of books, 3 Magna Doodles, snacks and juice boxes. We stop every 3-4 hours for a break. They love stopping at rest area’s because they can run, but I also know where all the McD’s PlayPlaces are on our route. There is actually an iPhone app that called “PlayPlaces” that will tell you where to find them. I also use a free iPhone app called “Parks n Rec” that tells me where I can find a public park with a playground. DON’T forget to pack the hand sanitizer…LOL”
Angela said: “We traveled from CO to IN w/4 boys ranging from 10-2. Pop Tarts & granola bars for breakfast, along w/an apple or banana, a soft-sided cooler w/lunchmeat & cheese held lunch & we stopped for a fast food dinner. Everyone had a water bottle I refilled at every stop. I packed kid mix, the same concept as Chex Mix but w/o seasoning (Cheerios, Kix, Goldfish-the colored ones were fun, pretzels & gummy bears) as a surprise snack for everyone. For toys/games we had 2 DVD players w/headphones, 1 player for each row of kids, colored pencils, coloring books, plain white paper, reading books, dollar store toys (puzzle books, the little metal ball maze things, cards, cars & fake Transformers, etc), a clipboard or hard book to use as a clipboard to color/draw on top of, BATTERIES, a small pillow & blanket for each kid, etc…”
Natalie said: “We travel across the country every summer with 4 kids! The key for us is to leave early in the morning (4 or 4:30). They are still very sleepy, and we can usually make it until 8 or so before they want to really wake up! I just returned from the library where I borrowed 4 new series of books on CD. All 4 kids will listen to them, and it doesn’t cost me a dime! When we get bored, we get a Redbox so we can watch a new movie and then return it at our next destination. Giving the kids a map to track your travels is nice, and a cooler full of food. Instead of stopping to eat in a restaurant, we bring our picnic out and let the kids run. We save money, eat better food, and don’t spend our rest time sitting at a restaurant waiting!”
Stacey said: “Okay, so it won’t keep the kids busy, but it will give you some sanity. My mom would give us a roll of dimes for spending money. She would then take a dime away every time we asked: are we there yet? Let me tell you, it only took two dimes before we didn’t say it again lol!”
Got a tip or trick to keep the kiddos entertained on a road trip?
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My kids are all grown up now, but I would entertain the kids with stories of my, and my husbands childhood or even just refresh their memories about adventures we have had. The kids loved that and when they got older asked me to make a book of the memories. Problem is, they keep asking me to add another story to the book, it has become a never ending project! When you make a rest stop everyone must try! They used to tell me they didn’t have to go, I would tell them yes you do. They would come out of the rest room and say, “How did you know I had to go?” I told them moms know everything, lol.
At State info centers, let them pick up a map and a few brochures. My kids would trade brochures and would ask where we were and follow along in the map trying to beat each other saying when we would cross a main road or rail road tracks or river. They were all well versed in map reading at young age!
We played several alphabet games like trying to find words on signs that start with each letter in order or “A my name is Amy and my husbands name is Adam we live in Alabama and we sell Apples”. Sing songs, the sillier the better, tell jokes, get a weird fact book and read it to them or make up stuff to mix with it and ask them which they think is the real fact.
Audiobooks! We have 5 kids, and their ipods are always loaded with stories… just in case. There are lots of great sites, but we use this one a lot because all the stories are original and free. Here’s the link if anyone is interested. http://www.twirlygirlshop.com/moral-stories-for-kids