How to Keep Your Children Happy During Long Road Trips

As children get older, it’s much easier to keep them occupied. You simply push an iPad under their nose and they aren’t going to say a word for the duration of the journey. Younger children are a lot harder to keep busy, though, and sometimes a bit of creativity is needed to maintain the peace and quiet we all deserve. If you’ve got a vacation planned soon and you’re looking for ways to keep the peace during long trips, consider the following tips to keep your children occupied.

Take Regular Stops

If you’re going to be on the road a lot – plan your trips ahead so you can all benefit from a few rest stops. This will give your children a chance to stretch their legs by running riot and it could potentially tire them out for the rest of the journey when it gets underway again.

Group Activities Provide Better Atmospheres

It’s wise to try and get everyone involved in games while traveling, just to improve the atmosphere and make things more fun. Keeping your children happy during longer trips is all about trying to make them forget they’re traveling in the first place. Games like I-Spy or the first family member to spot another vehicle with a driver wearing sun glasses are effective ways to achieve that.

Bring Tasty Snacks

Snacks will not only feed hunger but they’ll also help keep children quiet for long periods of the journey – and even help them get their heads down for a few hours. Bringing snacks will also make the journey much more cost-effective, as it is cheaper than stopping for food in diners and truck stops.

Give Your Children a Say

The journey isn’t all about getting to your destination as quickly as possible; it’s also about enjoying it along the way. Some longer car journeys can really take it out of you, which is why you should give your children a say in what they’d like to do during the journey. There are numerous roadside attractions available wherever you’re traveling, so give your children a choice of what they do to break up the journey for everyone else.

Bring Physical Games to Play

Eventually, games like I-Spy get boring and they always lead to arguments in the car because there’s usually one family member that starts cheating. Bring some physical car games for the kids so they can have a hands-on gaming experience without having to play with other family members.

Get Interactive

Technology has come on leaps and bounds these days, which means car journeys aren’t as boring. Invest in built-in car TVs and DVD players so the whole family can watch a film for the duration of the journey. Even celebrities like Michael David Palance, who are always on the road, can’t travel without watching their favorite movies.

Keeping your children happy on a long car trip does not have to be a challenging experience. If you’re willing to fill the car up with toys and snacks, there’s no reason why you can’t have a journey that’s full of laughter or peace and quiet when you need it.