Road trips with kids don’t have to be miserable. After more than 20 years of road-tripping with our children — from short drives to 13-hour journeys — we’ve learned what actually works. These practical road trip tips for kids will help reduce “are we there yet,” keep kids entertained, and make family road trips far more enjoyable.

These road trip tips work best for toddlers through elementary-age kids, but many still help teens on long drives.

 

Why we love to Road Trip with Our Kids

We have been road-tripping with our kids for more than 20 years and have learned a lot of tips and tricks for making the journey enjoyable. (Yep, that’s us in the picutre above in a small rental car.)

We started taking road trips with the kids as soon as they could be strapped in a car seat, because there is so much in the US we wanted to see.

We started small, like a 2 hour trip to see family or an hour to a fun children’s museum, but we gradually took longer and longer trips. And somehow our kids seemed to actually like these trips and be fairly content in the car.

We regularly drive a 13 hour drive to Prince Edward Island, 7 hours to grandparents, and 4 hours to Maine and my kids have been happy and content for well over 15 years.

But it wasn’t magic and it was slow going at first. Here is how we were able to get our kids to love a road trip.

How to Stop “Are We There Yet?” on Road Trips with Kids

“Are we there yet?” No other phrase can make a grown adult want to scream!  If you have elementary school aged kids and younger, you will be asked this a lot of times on a family road trip. But don’t despair, there is a fix that can take it down to a minimum of once or twice an hour.

So why do kids all ask, “Are we there yet?”.

My theory on the never-ending ” Are we there yet?” is that young kids really have no grasp of time. You can tell a young child that it will be 2 hours until you are there, and you might as well have said 200 hours or 20 minutes.

 

When my kids were very young (under 5), I would try to frame time in terms they understood. I would tell them it was only one episode of “Blue’s Clues” or 4 “Dora’s” longer. It seemed to help them frame the overall time. But unless your trip is only one “Blue’s Clues” they are going to ask again.

Give them a Way to Tell Time

As your kids reach elementary school age, it can be helpful to give them a watch or make a clock very visible. I would then write down our approximate arrival time on a piece of paper I would tape on the seat in front of them. This helped my especially antsy son and helped remind him so he didn’t continue to ask every few minutes!

Break the road trip with kids into little increments 

My best tip is to break up long car rides into 30-minute sections and give them something new to play with every half hour.

I would do a mix of dollar store toys, books I could read to them, coloring or sticker books, a favorite new movie download, snacks, or song time.  Any thing that makes it special and feels like a goodie bag.

My kids favorite thing when they were small were joke books , sticker books, and puzzle books.

Breaking up the time with something fun allowed them to concentrate on smaller chunks instead of hours. As the kids have gotten older, I still try to have something to break up trips longer than 5-6 hours. They still like candy, movies, and even coloring books!

Stop every few hours on a road trip with kids

When the kids were very young, we would try to have something to do every 2 hours on long trips. We might stop at something as simple as a grocery store and let the kids pick out a treat.

Other ideas are playgrounds close to your route, museums you can check out in less than 30 minutes, fast food locations with indoor playscapes, and even rest stops where there is room to get out and move.

 

Download a New Movie Just for the Road Trip

If you have kids who will be glued to a movie, pick out a new one just for the trip. This works especially well if you have elementary school-aged and younger children.

We pop one in our DVD player built into the van, or we download a new one for their iPad, and we buy ourselves an hour and a half of silence.

Bring an Audiobook

Audiobooks are a great way to entertain everyone while allowing your kids to do sticker books, coloring, and more. There are plenty of audiobooks that will cater to the whole family and keep the driver entertained as well.

To find the best audiobooks for family road trips, check out our posts with our favorites.

Bring a Tray Table along

 

These have saved us from frustrated kids and from turning around to pick things up every other minute. These tray tables fit in front of your child and keep their toys, games, snacks, and devices within arms’ reach. The best car seat tray tables fit your child’s seat snuggly.

This is the best one to attach to a car seat:

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This is a great one for older kids who just need a flat surface:

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Road Trip Games

Road Trip Games can make the journey fun for the whole family. You can play classic games like “I Spy” or the License Plate Game.  Your kids would also love a stirring game of Would You Rather!
Or you can buy a few that you have never heard of. To find our favorite road trip games, check out our post Best Games for Little Travelers

Or buy this 100-page printable Road Trip Worksheet Packet

Pack Familiar Snacks for Long Road Trips

Make sure to bring some of your kids favorite snacks and drinks on your road trip. Although fast food is generally synonymous with a road trip, you don’t want to be stopping every time one of your kids gets the munchies.

Make sure they are snacks that don’t need refrigeration and can handle the journey, or take this amazing plug in cooler.

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Change up Seating Positions

Do you have that one child that can’t get along with anyone? Or one who has a good hour before they start fighting with their sibling. After every stop switch positions to allow your kids more space, a different seat mate or even let them sit up front for a bit. It really helps with sibling fighting.

Be prepared for Car sickness and bathroom emergencies

Bathroom emergencies and car sickness are 2 of the reasons most parents need to pull over on a road trip. If you find that your kids can’t hold it and you don’t have access to a bathroom you will definitely want to have a portable potty.

This portable potty is great for boys and girls and takes up almost no space. It is a must have if you are traveling with kids under the age of 5.

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For car sickness these vomit bags have saved us more times than I can count! I always have one tucked in every car seat pocket and a couple in the glove compartment.

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Road Trips with Kids are a skill

Just like anything you do with your kids, practice makes perfect. My kids can now go 15 hours in a car without once asking how much longer or complaining. Of course, they can all read a clock, and their concept of time is very solid, but they were doing great by the time each of them was 7 or 8. Keep working at it because the payoff is great family road trips with no more, “Are we there yet?”!

Happy Travels!

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Last update on 2026-02-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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