Parent Tricks to Traveling

with Kids in the Car   

By EK Wills

Ever wonder how to survive a 10 hour trip in the car with young children - without an electronic babysitter? Sounds challenging, but it is not impossible with some surefire ways to keep them entertained and interested.

all within reach while driving

Now we are heading into the travel season, it’s the perfect time to think about the practicalities of the upcoming trip with support of handy travel tips.

We regularly drove to Byron Bay from Sydney in the Christmas break utilizing these self help pointers.

Planning is Key

Have a think about how long your child lasts without food or sleep. This is very much age dependent and will impact your approach.

Also, are you doing this as the only adult to supervise as well as drive? If you are lucky enough to have one to drive while the other negotiates childcare needs, you have a time advantage – you wont need to stop to tend to them as often. The aim is for 2 hour intervals, when you need to revive anyway.  

Everyone can stretch, toilet and have a play.

Age is a big factor

Travelling with a baby, means you can drive while baby sleeps and you will need to stop for feed times. A windup music box will help comfort and suspended mobiles will entertain bub.

The good news is that if you have a settled baby, you won’t need to think of as many entertainment or settling options.

Older babies or toddlers will need more engaging activities such as books, toys and music. On a long trip, you can rotate items in when kids get bored. This will add more time between stops and thus reduce trip time.

When I had to do the trip on my own, I packed paper bags with items for each child that I knew they loved. When they got to the point of getting bored or irritable, I would pass each one another paper bag to the back seat for them to explore the contents - like receiving a goodie bag at the end of party.

Bigger kids can enjoy games, craft (yes, even in the car) and music.

travelling can be fun

Simple games

1.‘I spy’ is an age old favourite and is easy to play anywhere.

2. ‘I’m having a birthday party’. This one was introduced to our household by my youngest sister, now also a Mum. One person thinks up a party theme and the others have to guess it by asking whether they can bring an item like ‘Can I bring a beach ball?’ Then whoever guesses the theme has a turn of thinking up theirs for a birthday party.

3.’When I bake a cake, I use…’ and everyone gets a turn of thinking of a disgusting ingredient.  This memory game is great for many ages because everyone has to try to remember what other players are baking with, in the order that it was added to the cake.

 There are so many game options but, if you need some fresh ideas, there are box sets of game cards that kids can sort through to pick out, teach and play with the whole family.

Plus magnetized game boards are very useful in the car – but pieces can get lost so big versions rather than tiny travel kits for little hands.

Crafty

Some easy to execute paper activities can occupy curious minds. Simple things like hangman don’t require much in the way of equipment. Colouring pencils and colouring book can be a more individual activity and felt boards are easy, too.

Snack time

Food is always a good option to soothe the savage beast: preferably snacks that don’t smear over kids and car. Crackers, dried fruit, and pre-cut apples (covered in lime juice to prevent browning) are good healthy options. For a treat, plain biscuits or chips can be easily vacuumed at the end of the trip. Beware bananas…

Music to Soothe

Although this could be considered giving a version of an electronic babysitter, we started by having baby lullabies as music for everyone to listen to. This way, there is no messing around with headphones, particularly when children are little.

As they get older, small MP3 players can be handed to kids separately with headphones. Just be prepared that there will be issues with finding songs, headphones coming off, unplugging and batteries running out. It is a good last resort after games, books and craft are exhausted in order to keep on the road.

Plus you get to listen to some adult music in the meantime.

magic of music

 Using all these options, it can make a long trip into a family time rather than each person absorbed by their own world of an electronic device. Of course, if you employ these tactics and the trip is not going as planned, help yourself by using whatever method works. Plans don’t always go as expected and the ultimate aim is to be kind to yourselves.

Happy trails and a festive season!