10 Road Trip Activity Ideas For Preschoolers

So… we just got home from a road trip to Florida. With a 9-month-old and a 3-year-old. This might potentially make us certifiable! Ha! Well, we survived it at least, with only some stiff joints, bags under the eyes, and a car full of sand as collateral damage.

Because we drove straight through from Connecticut to the Tampa-area, it took us 24 solid hours each way. No stopping to sleepover anywhere. Just potty breaks. (With, I might add, a nearly fully potty trained toddler – YIPEE! So glad he decided THIS was the week to get on board with our potty training efforts! LOL).

I knew the trip would be long and somewhat boring, since we weren’t stopping for sight-seeing. So I packed a bag FULL of activities for my toddler to enjoy. I hope these ideas will help you on with any spring, summer, or anytime-of-year road trips.

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Road Trip Activities for Preschoolers

Here’s what I brought (from top left, clockwise).

1. Car roll with various colored cars inside.

I had made this DIY Car Roll as a Christmas present for my son – it has a road sewn onto it for extra playtime fun! He would lay this on his lap and run his Matchbox cars along the road for quite some time. Then when he was done, he could “park” them all in their pouches and stash it away!

2. Wooden animal magnets

These wooden animal magnets were taken from a larger set and placed into a small tin box – very handy for carrying to restaurants! He could create scenes with the magnets and make up stories for them as we drove or waited for our food.

3. High-interest books

We packed a few of his favorites – books that we know hold his attention for quite some time. Picture books with a lot of detail, like Usborne’s 1001 Things… series or Richard Scarry are perfect for long car rides.

4. Wipe-off activity book

His wipe-clean activity book was highly requested throughout the trip. The best part is, I could just erase and he could start over. He did, however, get marker on his face a lot (but never on the car seat!).

5. Lace-up animal shapes

I thought these lacing toy animals would be more popular as an activity, but he just liked to hold them and play with them, not actually lace them. Still, I think they are a great busy-hands activity to pack for a road trip.

6. Maps

I printed out a few maps of the U.S. I had researched many great map activity ideas, but most were just too old for him. What we ended up doing was drawing our route (in red), and then I drew a little car every time we stopped to show how far we’d traveled. If something interesting happened at our stop, I’d draw that out to the side as well. (Like the time we saw a big bridge!).

Perhaps an older preschooler or kindergartener might enjoy these laminated placemat maps as you drive!

7. Cookie sheet and wooden magnet blocks.

This was also a popular addition to our road trip activities for preschoolers! I got both items at the Dollar Tree! The magnets (mostly) stayed on the sheet and he had a lot of fun creating designs. The cookie sheet also could double as an activity board for drawing/writing on a child’s lap in the car.

Try this travel tangram book for kids! It looks handy for road trips.

8. Blank journal and crayons.

Oh the good old standby of paper and crayons! Good for any number of activities, including stickers! If you really want to be sure your car doesn’t get written on, try the Crayola Color Wonder books. The markers ONLY write on the special Crayola papers.

9. Magnadoodle –

They make these doodle boards in full size, but the travel sized Magnadoodle board is quite handy!

10. Sticker sets – I had some “create-a-scene” sets, Dress Up a Fireman, and race car design sets. I also brought plain old regular sheets of stickers. This create a scene sticker set also happens to be reusable, which is great not just for keeping kids busy over and over, but also because those stickers will not stick to your car windows (for long!).

BONUS: (Not pictured) Pack a few glow sticks. These were a LIFESAVER. When our son woke up at 1 am as we were driving, he started crying and got very upset to find himself strapped in a car seat in the dark still. I broke out a green glow stick and he was happily waving it around in seconds. About ten minutes later, he was fast asleep, clutching his mini glow stick tightly! I wish I’d taken a photo, but it probably would not have turned out.

TIP: Keep the activity bag up front with you, and slowly pass out items. The last trip we made to North Carolina, I made the mistake of handing my son the entire activity bag. He ripped through most of the activities and stickers in about an hour. Oops. Our next trip, I held onto the bag and doled out activities whenever he started to get restless! Much better!

Also see my other post on Road Trip Activities for Toddlers!

What else have you done on the road to entertain your children!?