When you have kids on sports teams, chances are that you’ll have some longer car rides to away or travel games. These car rides can be tough for kids, especially when they’re younger. Whether you’re driving your own young kids or are driving a carpool of teammates, these 5 tips can help to keep kids occupied, making the car ride more enjoyable for all of you.
Put Road Trip Games to Use
Road trip games can help to pass the time and keep kids occupied. Come up with a list of your kids’ favorite games, such as counting cars of a certain color, playing “I Spy,” or looking for license plates from each state. Need some great ideas? Moms Minivan has a great list of some fun games for car rides.
Create an Activity Binder
You can create an activity binder just for the car, so your kids are never without a fun puzzle or game. Print out individual activity pages, like connect the dots puzzles or word searches. Scholastic has a great assortment of printable pages for kids of all ages. Put the pages into some plastic binder sleeves, and include a bag of pencils or crayons.
Get Artsy
Bring along supplies for some car-friendly crafts. Friendship bracelets are a great idea, as are coloring books paired with crayons or colored pencils. You may also want to bring along some pipe cleaners so kids can make their own creations without needing glue or tape. You can keep all of these items in a plastic container or in plastic bags.
Have Sing-a-Longs
For kids who love to sing, car sing-a-longs can be a favorite activity. Bring along a selection of CDs, or connect your car to a Pandora channel to find music that’s suitable for the whole family.
Keys to a Successful Trip
Before you hit the road, make sure that you have plenty of activities to help keep your young kids entertained. Travel games can require a lot of time on the road. If you’re not able to get to every game, don’t forget that GoKid allows you to easily set up carpools with other parents, so no one has to do all of the driving. And, thanks to our new partnership with TeamSnap, it’s easier than ever to set up sports carpools. You can access your child’s team roster right through GoKid, so setting up carpools is a breeze.
