Road Trip Hack With Kids

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We had an 8 hour car ride with 5 kids. My kids are decent travelers, but I wanted to do something extra fun for the long day of driving. Here is one of my favorite car trip hacks!

The kids had a present to open on each hour of the drive. It made the time go by so fast, and the kids were happy and anxious to see what would come next.

Car Presents Info

We didn’t get in the car until 8:00, so they got to open the first present right away. It was the Barbie: Puppy Chase movie. I had expected them to be pretty tired from waking up earlier than normal, so this would be a low-key way to start the drive.

Next, at 9:00 we had a little container of treats for everyone. Every car trip needs a good treat!

At 10:00, they each got a toy/activity to work on. By now the movie was over, so I wanted something to keep their hands busy. These Dry Erase Workbooks are a favorite.

At 11:00, they got books. I specifically chose books that my kids had shown interest in, and should last them a while.

Noon, we stopped to get some lunch, so I didn’t do a present in this hour. We don’t eat out very often, so it was like a special treat.

After lunch, at 1:00 I gave them new notebooks to decorate with stickers, and then we did a few drawing prompts. Lots of fun!

And finally, I knew the baby would be getting tired and everyone else would be getting antsy by now, so we had a 2:00 movie of Finding Nemo, which we haven’t watched in a long time. When the movie was over, we had about 20 minutes to our destination. It was amazing!

I hope this car trip hack comes in handy for you! What other things do you do to keep young kids happy on long car rides?

Happy Travels!

Kristen