5 Road Trip Survival Rules For Traveling With Kids + Free Printable License Plate Game

We recently took our first and second road trips with the girls, and survived. I have never been a big fan of car travel, even less so with kids. But we broke our two-hour rule taking them in the car for four- and six-hour road trips. It seemed like a crazy idea, but it was totally worth it, and not as bad as I feared it would be. Plus we got to go really cool places like Gulf County, Florida and my cousin’s wedding!

The key to our success, was planning ahead to keep the kids entertained. Because there is nothing worse than being stuck in the car with a bored toddler who doesn’t like riding in the car. If we can make it, so can you! 

Assume the Role of Cruise Director – Whether you are going to be in the car for two, six or 12 hours, if you want to survive the trip with your sanity you must plan activities — lots of different activities. The goal is to have more activities than you need because in this case less is not always more!

Tip – Keep all of your activities a secret, even consider wrapping some like gifts. And then dispense as needed. Don’t forget to reserve some surprises for the trip home! 

• Blank note books for writing / drawing. 
• School Work (not exciting, perhaps but good for so many reasons)
• Color Wonder Markers
• Window Markers & stencils
• Stickers
• Mad Libs on the Road (great for working on parts of speech & lots of laughs)
• Books
• Handheld electronics
• Eye Spy
• Small Dollar Store toys
• License Plate Game

Download a FREE License Game Printable here.

Keep ’em Fed – I don’t know what it is about the car that makes kids crazy hungry, but even if we just ate a meal within five minutes of getting in the car someone wants a snack! Keep snacks on hand and within reach. Great road trip snacks include Goldfish, trail mix, grapes, Pirate’s Booty, small tangerines, pretzels, dried fruit, apple slices, etc. My daughters also like to keep their Thermos Funtainer handy to sip on — these things are so great the ice stays frozen for hours so they always have a cold drink.

Favorite Disney Movies – What did we do before movies in the car? One Disney movie = 90+ of quite in the car! Ahhhh! The newest way to take your favorite movies with you is with the Disney Movies Anywhere App. With Disney Movies Anywhere, you can stream your favorite Disney movies or download them to your iOS device to watch them in the car. Tied to your iTunes account the free app allows you to give your kids access to their choice of Disney movies while keeping them out of the rest of your iTunes movies (that way they don’t end up watching Game of Thrones by mistake!). 

Disney Movies Anywhere gives you the freedom of linking movies that you already own that came with digital download codes or buying new movies in digital form. So in case your kids decide they have to have a new movie for the trip, you can buy the digital download of any Disney movie. In order to buy Disney movies, you have to link to your iTunes account. And right now when you do so, you get a digital copy of the Incredibles for free! 

Pitstops – I purposely delayed potty training my toddler until AFTER our road trips, but if you are traveling with little ones — plan for lots of unplanned pitstops. A foldable potty seat helps little ones in public restrooms — bonus, they don’t touch the potty! If you can plan for some well-timed stops, like lunch, for everyone to stretch their legs and use the bathroom, fantastic. But there will likely be additional stops along the way. My recommendation is to stop at fast food restaurant for potty breaks over a gas station, they are cleaner. 

Paging Doctor Mom – Hopefully, your adventures will be smooth sailing without any ailments, but with kids you never know. Keep your travel meds handy so that in the event you need something you don’t have to stop. We learned this the hard way when my daughter inexplicably broke out in hives on the road and we had to search for a drugstore because we forgot to pack the Benadryl. Tylenol, Advil, Benadryl, Dramamine — keep it in an easy to reach baggie, just in case.