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:
s.zakarison says
what map program did you use? I have been trying to print one off for our upcoming trip from mapquest and google maps and they keep printing off super small! thanks!!
Brandy says
Hi! I used AAA and made a triptik then printed it out! Hope that helps! Here is a link: http://ww2.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline.woa/509?target=self&association=AAA&zip=94401&club=005&page=ITTServices&sessionRedirect=1208552809980&zip=95901&stateprov=ca&city=marysville&devicecd=PC&referer=www.aaa.com
Jocelyn says
I love this! We have to move from Oregon to the Chicago area in a little over a month, and this will really help with that long trip. Now I just need to figure out what to do for my 2 year old!
Brandy says
Wonderful! I hope it works out for you!
Whitney says
This is an awesome idea!!! I have a 3 1/2 year old and some of these pages would be great for her on our trip to niagra falls. Wish I would have seen this before our trip to Hawaii last november. 10 hours on a plane with a toddler....all she had was a coloring book and the in flight movies. But this will be PERFECT for future trips!
Whitney says
This is an awesome idea!!! I have a 3 1/2 year old and some of these pages would be great for her on our trip to niagra falls. Wish I would have seen this before our trip to Hawaii last november. 10 hours on a plane with a toddler....all she had was a coloring book and the in flight movies. But this will be PERFECT for future trips!
Roger Richard says
Great idea for having a fun with small kids , i just love kids and i can do anything for her smiles......Thoroughly enjoyed the post. Eagerly anticipating what's coming next.I would never have normally come here to read the blogs but I'm really glad I did. I will definitely be coming back.
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Missy Lum says
Awesome! Thanks, perfect for our move to AK!
Brandy says
Wonderful! I hope your kids enjoy it. We've done the Alaska move too. We lived in Kodiak for 4 years and my husband is from Alaska. Such a beautiful place. Good luck! 🙂
Jen @ de Jong Dream House says
This is great! We have a big road trip coming up and this will be great for our 4-year-old.
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zea chaira says
This is fun!Ususally when we travel, I just let my kids watch videos for children using wi-fi and they are good. You gave me more ideas.
Courtney says
I love this!!! What a great idea! I can't wait to use it on our next trip!
Brandy says
Thank you so much ladies for sharing what you've done for road trips in the past as well! These ideas are amazing and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to comment and share!
Brandy
Gluesticks
Jaimi Erickson says
These are great for the older kids! I did some similar ones such as the 'I Spy' worksheet. I used actual pictures so it was realistic, but I can see how the free printable ones you included here are great for kids as well. I brought along dry erase markers so that they can be used to draw as well on the back of the game sheet-the game sheet was placed in a plastic page protector like you used here. I made a couple of additional games for the preschoolers and under that I posted on my page last week. Since I have a toddler and a preschooler I wanted to bring activities that they could both use, but that would not be boring for one or the other. Hooray, though, for children who travel well! The more they do it, the better they get-I too am a milspouse (Marine Corps), so hello from a fellow military family. Thanks for sharing these ideas!
Tami says
So cute!
I’d love it if you shared this with the Fun Family Crafts audience.
FFC is similar to Craftgawker but it only features kid friendly tutorials.
Looking forward to seeing what fun crafts you submit!
http://funfamilycrafts.com
Jamie Gupton says
Super cute! You have been Pin'd excessively by me. 🙂 I hope you don't mind!
Kelly says
I'll have to remember these ideas for our next road trip. They're great!
Kelly at Little Wonders' Days