10 Activity Ideas to Have a Device Free Road Trip!

Ah, summer vacation! Pristine beaches, breathtaking mountains, hiking, swimming, whatever your end destination, there is first the road trip. I've always loved the journey to the destination, and then I had kids! 'Are we there yet?' 'I'm done playing with this toy' *sobbing* 'Mom I spilled all of my ________ on the carseat!!'
Over the past 5 years of being a mom, I've discovered a few ways of keeping my son entertained on the journey. A few of these suggestions are actually my sister's ideas, but I wanted to share them with you, today! If you're like me, and having an unplugged summer, you want the portable DVD player as a last resort. Hopefully these ideas will help you as you prepare for summer vacation! Here are 10 screen free ways to entertain your kids on the road:

Search and Find Books

Is my kid the only one who will look at a search and find book for a half hour or more? Since he was little he enjoyed books like this one Nickelodeon Paw Patrol - Look and Find - PI Kids and even some of the more advance ones. We probably have 5 or so search and find books and they are road trip essentials for us!


Felt Books

My sister made this one for my son. It has sandwhich making, buttoning flower petals, color popcicle stick sorting, and more! She found ideas on pinterest and DIY-ed it herself. If you are like me, and lazy don't have a lot of time, here is something you could buy already made:Melissa & Doug Soft Activity Book – Little Chef (Developmental Toys, Interactive Cloth Lift-the-Flap Baby Book, Machine Washable) It's a bit young now for my son, but the 2-4 age range would be perfect!

On the Go Color packs from the Dollar Tree

Dollar Tree normally has popular characters on these road trip ready packs! I normally pick up one or two every time I go to the store, as I don't go to the Dollar Tree often, and you never know when they will be out of stock of something. Speaking of Dollar Tree, here are a couple more things you can get from there to entertain your child.

Unwrapping through the States

Another sister idea, but when they went on a trip to Vermont, my sister fixed up a small gift for my younger siblings to unwrap for every state. It was normally something from the dollar tree. Perhaps a felt coloring page,  national geographic book to look at, adult coloring book (yes, they have all these at the Dollar tree!). When we traveled a couple of states away, we used a 'every hour' kind of a deal. We will do the same thing this year, since we are traveling several hours, but not leaving our state! For Little Man's age, little toys, craft packs, sticker scenes, and whiteboards are great things to unwrap!

State Printable

Another thing my sister would do once they reached a new state, is have a printout like this one. She would actually have my siblings do the printable before they opened up the gift. This provides entertainment, and education-win, win!

Water Wow

I've talked about these before, but they are great for church, trips, and basically anytime! Something I have noticed about these, though, is that the 'brushes' do wear out eventually and don't 'paint' as well as they used to. We have had them for over 2 years now, so I still think that it's worth the money. They are pretty inexpensive and come in all sorts of different themes. If your child is like mine, and eventually learns how to unscrew the brush, it's only a tiny amount of water that's spilled! I think I may get a new Water Wow for our trip this summer, since ours are getting a bit old. Here are some great ones to choose from! Melissa & Doug On the Go Water Wow! Under the Sea Reusable Water-Reveal Activity Pad, Chunky-Size Water Pen Melissa & Doug Water Coloring & Painting Book, (Water Wow Animal - On the Go Travel Activity)

Coloring Books

This may seem like a 'duh' one, but I am adding it so I can say that I recommend one that also has activities in it. Even though my son can't unscramble words yet, or do all the activities, he enjoys doing his own thing on those pages. It just adds some extra time to the activity, making it almost like a 2-in-1! Here is my son's favorite one (which I can sometimes find at the Dollar tree!) Paw Patrol Coloring Books - 2 Pack

Sticker Activities

You can normally find sticker scenes, or pads at the Dollar Tree, but I find that those can sometimes have stickers that are hard to get off. I am linking a Melissa and Doug activity pad, since they normally have higher quality products.Melissa & Doug Safari Puffy Sticker Play Set (Activity Pads, Reusable Puffy Sticker Play Set, Double-Sided Background, 42 Stickers)

Toys in a plastic container

This sounds very random, but my son has a small screwable container where he has a couple of hot-wheel cars, a couple of tiny figures (superhero, pawpatrol, etc.) and some plastic bugs...yep, bugs. He LOVES this thing. I used to keep categorized toys in a Ziploc and would give him one category at a time, but he will play with this little container for much, much longer! I have no idea why, but I thought I would share. I don't know if it's because he got to decorate it with his name and stickers, or that it is small enough to fit in his cup holder. I just don't know.


Magnet Tins

One like this-T.S. Shure Farm Magnetic Tin Playset is a great little person thing to play with. I will warn you though, you will not come home with the same number of pieces you started with! They seem to get everywhere! However, my son really enjoyed playing with this, and it can serve dual purpose, as it's a great quiet time or church activity as well.


Did I miss anything? What are some things you've found work well on road trips with kids?

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