Don't even think about going on your next road trip without a road trip binder for the kids! Filled with road trip games, activities, maps, and fun printables! The kids won't mind taking a break from their electronics to have some good old fashioned fun!
So the countdown is on until the day of our big move and we are preparing every day. Today I cleaned out the cupboards and freezer and washed all of my dry foods containers. Also went through and got rid of a ton of plastic food containers that didn't have lids. Now onto the next item of business...
One thing that we don't have to worry about anymore is keeping the kids busy on our trip. It's crazy how road trips have changed from when I was a kid! Holy cow! My parents never went out of state, we usually just stuck within a 1-2 hour radius from our house and I still remember being BORED to tears!Our kids are spoiled, but they've also been across so much more territory than I ever did as a child. We've driven from California to Alaska. From Alaska to Ohio and from Ohio to Utah (twice) on top of trips to Niagara Falls, Pennsylvania, etc. So I guess a bit of extra effort is required since we drag our kids all over the country! With a portable DVD player, books on tape, a new DS (ugh...yes, we caved and finally let our children get one to share on the trip), toys, new chapter books, and these new travel binders that I made, I think they will have fun!
Road Trip Binder for Kids: Road Trip Games, Map Activities and More!
The boys' binders are identical. Kaylee's is a scaled down version with lots of coloring pages and stickers instead of educational worksheets.
Each binder has a map of the US that they can check out and follow along. The front of each binder has our trip mapped out for them as well. They can follow along with little post-it flags.
The first several pages are road-trip games. Links to any printable I show can be found at the bottom of the post. Yay for free printables! What a time saver! The first is a state licence plate game. Both of our cars have Alaska plates so they can check those off....or should we make them find other cars with Alaska plates? Probably!
Next is an I-Spy game. I put post-it tabs and flags inside the binders to use as markers for games like bingo and to mark what they found.
A slug bug game (although I think we'll just look for cars in these colors too) and an Alphabet game. Those two are games we always played as kids, while traveling, and I play them with my kids now. I never thought of putting them on a printable to mark off though. Genius!
Another version of the I-Spy game with things to find.
I have a section for them to keep their ticket stubs and brochures from the attractions that we visit.
Also a place for them to keep their bonus travel tickets. The kids can earn tickets by catching Derrick or I saying the "Word of the Day". For example, if the word of the day is "Car", anytime we say it, and they catch it, they earn a travel ticket. Tickets are worth money and can be used to buy souvenirs along the way!
There is also an itinerary packet for each day of the trip in its own page protector. It tells them where we will end up each day, has a list of things to look for, tells them what the word of the day is, and includes a joke as well. The jokes are all different so they can share them with each other.
Each packet also includes a journal page for them to write or draw on.
There is also a math worksheet to do daily.
And a fun worksheet, like this hidden picture page. I found these books at Joann's awhile ago and the kids love them. There are word search, hidden pictures, mazes, educational worksheets that correlate with their grade level, etc.
I know that we could just give them snacks and a ton of movies and they would be happy (we've done it before and we will still do that this time too), but we would also like to create memories, and have them and interact with each other. So hopefully these games will help with that!
Since Derrick and I are driving in separate vehicles and I will be the one primarily driving with the children, we can use all of the fun interactive, and boredom buster ideas we can get!
3500 miles and 18 Days on the road, then another 2 months of hotel living before our house is finished......BRING IT. 😉
2016 Update! I've added more pages! These seek and find pages are so fun and the kids love them. Put them in page protectors and use a dry erase marker to mark off each picture! I've included the links at the bottom of the post with the rest of the free printables. Enjoy!
This is a very old post, and some of the blogs that I originally linked to are no longer around. Here are the printables still available:
Rosa says
Hi,
I would love to know where I can find the printable link. Please. Thank
michelle says
Would love to know where you found the printable bonus tickets page! Was printing/filling out our travel binder and needed place to put our road trip dollars (thought of using business card holder), then I can across your page and love the brochures and the bonus tickets page (and that cover page!!!). LOVE IT!! Would love to know where you found them or if you created them if you mind sharing. Thanks!
- a new follower 🙂
Brandy says
Hi Michelle! Welcome!! 🙂 For the tickets, I went onto a free clip art site, saved an image and then set it to print 16 per page or something like that. It's been 4 years so unfortunately I don't remember which site I used. You can probably find a free ticket image on google images if you do a search on there as well. Good luck and safe travels!
Five Sandals Travel says
Hello! I am a travel agent and have a blog. I linked back to your site and page for an entry I did on travel binders. I hope that's ok!
Brandy says
Thank you! I appreciate it!
Kim Croisant says
I absolutely love this idea. I'm going to make one for me that we can all use. I'm also going to add this to my Road Tips Essentials Round-up post.
Thanks from your SoFab Friend,
KIM
annelysem says
I love your binder idea. It is great. I love that it includes spots for them to include their own pamphlets and ticket stubs, this will make scrapbooking the trip so much easier. Great ideas. Thanks you!
Becky Nebbleton says
Luv it. Keeps the kids entertained for hours. Thanks so much.
Kate (aka MakeshiftMummy) says
Hi, I just stumbled upon this post and I am so glad I did. This is an amazing idea and I have even thought of a way to use it for other activities also - eg: our Holiday Club etc. Thanks for sharing 🙂 Will look through the rest of the blog now 🙂 Excited. xx
Brandy says
Hi Kate! Welcome and thank you for your sweet comment!
Angela says
Where did you get the map of the United States?
Angela says
nevermind. didn't scroll down far enough on comments. thanks.
LindaG says
I really enjoyed this post! I am about to travel with a 3.5 and 5 year old and love how you put the kids binders together. Although we are flying for a short duration, the wait and check-in times add double the time to our trip so I will have to add some of these ideas to keep my active and smart kids busy. I hope to use more of your ideas in the fall when we hope to take a road trip.
Brandy says
Good luck Linda! Traveling is so stressful with kids, but they usually end up doing great!