Are you looking for things to do on long car rides? Especially if you have kids these can seem rather daunting, can’t they? But never fear I have been scouting my friends for top tips and racking my brains and I think we have come up a with a great list here for you.
Are you ready?
51 Things to Do on Long Car Rides
- Check your insurance is in order before you go. If its a car hired just for this trip you might need to purchase monthly car insurance
- Check MOT is in date
- Ensure you have road side assistance for your car
- Check tyre pressure
- Check oil
- Check water
- Ensure lights all work
- Take de-icer
- Fill up with petrol before you go
- Make sure windscreen and mirrors are clean
- Check car is tidy and smells clean fresh before heading off
- Everyone go to the bathroom before heading out
- Everyone stretch their legs before heading off
- Take a sick bag and change of clothes plus wipes and keep all together for easy access
- Minimize stops. Every time we stop for something it seems to add an extra 30 minutes to the drive. And, when you stop take care of everything at once (bathroom, gas, food, drinks.)
- Travel at night or early morning so kids sleep some of the journey
- If you are the driver make sure you have a had a good rest before driving!
- Take sleep masks and noise cancelling headphones in case anyone wants to zone out
- Make sure everyone is dressed really comfortable
- Make sure everyone has easy to slip on shoes they can take off in the car
- Create an excellent car journey playlist with something for everyone
- Pop a couple of blankets in the back
- Ensure kids devices are full of battery
- Ensure kids devises have right headphones
- Ensure devices have movies, stories and songs downloaded onto them
- Cloud spotting.
- Count colour cars.
- Eye spy
- A-Z game (names, countries, foods etc)
- Encourage the kids to take photos with their devices while you’re driving! Gets their heads out of screens and make them take in their surroundings. Also, means they can show you stuff when you’re parked that you didn’t get to see
- Make some over due phone calls from the car
- If you have 3 in the back get them to switch seats every now and gain to mix up their view
- Make a word from the letters of the car reg plate in front of you (great if you are stuck in a traffic jam)
- Stock up on books and magazines (but don’t let kids who get travel sick read)
- Take a battery pack with you with the right connectors
- Take extra bottled water
- Do car karaoke
- Take the opportunity to introduce the kids to some musical classics from your teens
- Play a wide genre of tunes and introduce them to something new
- Have an audio book on you all listen to and pause after each chapter to discuss it.
- Stop and stretch your legs
- If the driver is at all tired – stop and refresh – one of the most important things to do on long car rides
- Plot a few good places to stop along the way that everyone is looking forward too
- Plot a surprise to keep everyone on their toes
- Don’t just eat snacks, do have a proper lunch /meal but do remember food can make you sleepy so keep it light
- If the driver is too tired find a motel
- Take a rubbish bag for the car and insist everyone uses it or your car will be trashed
- Pack a notepad for games like hangman or noughts and crosses or just in case you are feeling creative and want to draw or write a poem (you never know..Jack Kerouac got the inspiration for ‘On the Road’ from somewhere)
- Start a foreign language course
- Have good old trip down memory lane and remember all the happy journeys you have taken before
- Read up on where you’re going
Over to you – Things to Do on Long Car Rides
I hope you have enjoyed these ideas for Things to Do on Long Car Rides – do you have any to add, If you do please drop me a comment below with your suggestions
51 Fabulous Things to Do on Long Car Rides is a collaborative post