Recently, our little family ventured out of Kansas on a road trip to Colorado where we explored a cute little city, camped in the mountains and went to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were supposed to visit my sister and her family in Calgary, Canada this year, but those travel plans had to be cancelled. In this time of uncertainty, it was so nice to get away and see some beautiful scenic views and go on adventures with our kids.
We were somewhat worried how this nine hour drive would go, but in the end, besides the (very) frequent potty stops, it wasn’t so bad. The week before, I gathered some supplies to make some cute personalized activity bags for the kids that would entertain them for those long hours in the car. Today I’m sharing what I filled our activity bags with. I should first warn you that nothing I purchased is particularly groundbreaking, but it may give you some ideas for your next road trip with kids.
For the bags, I cut out letters using felt and hot glued them on to simple canvas bags. Easy peasy and the kids were so excited by this personal touch.
ONE: Dot Stickers
These are geared toward the younger set probably ages 2-4. My kids love stickers, but I can’t stand when they are unable to peel them off the package themselves. These stickers come off super easy. I packed blank paper for them as well to put the stickers on. Eventually, they ended up using about 300 of them to ‘decorate’ my husband, Danny’s, arm (desperate times, people).
TWO: Melissa and Doug WaterWow
This pad uses a water brush which you fill yourself to color different scenes. As they color, more details are revealed. This was a huge hit for Leo who usually is not one to concentrate on one task for very long.
Three: Markers
These are pretty self explanatory, but we used these with the coloring books we packed for them. We used the kid’s cupholders to hold the markers while they were coloring so they weren’t rolling all over the car.
FOUR: Road Trip Scavenger Hunt
I found this printable on Pinterest and the kids enjoyed finding these things along the way and crossing each item off.
FIVE: 5-Minute Stories
Do your kids own any of these 5-Minute Stories books? I believe we were gifted our first one, and my kids surprisingly loved them, probably because they tell stories about their favorite characters. We would read these books aloud to the kids during our road trip, and we also used them for bedtime books.
SIX: Coloring Books
Of course any coloring book would do, but our kids love this particular series. You can buy different themed ones on Amazon. The coloring pages are particularly good for beginners because the drawings are simple and the lines are thick. I know my kids feel overwhelmed if a coloring page is too complicated.
SEVEN: Melissa and Doug Puzzles
These puzzles aren’t actually great for the car, but they are perfect for entertaining kids when we were waiting for food at a restaurant. This could work in the car if your child has some type of hard surface to work on. Each box comes with four different 12 piece puzzles. Each piece is labeled with a different shape for each puzzle so they can be easily sorted.
