Screen-Free Road Trip Activities for Kids

Tablets, smartphones, and laptops can be incredibly helpful when traveling. They help keep young ones entertained on long trips, keeping them calm and happy when you are on the road. While these screens have their uses, it is a good idea to give your kids lots of screen-free time as well. Road trips can be a great opportunity to bond with your family instead of staring at a screen. Too much screen time can lead to the development of chronic headaches and attention disorders in young children, making it important to find screen-free road trip activities your whole family can enjoy.

Mad Libs

One of the oldest screen-free activities is still one of the most entertaining. Before your trip, pick up or download a variety of Mad Libs. You can find them on almost any topic you like, so you are sure to wind up with ones that match your child’s interests. Not only are they entertaining, but you can also use them to reinforce or teach the parts of speech to your children.

20 (or 10 or 5) Questions

This is a great way to pass the time and help your children add a range of descriptive words to their vocabulary. Simply pick a topic, such as cartoon characters, animals, or plants. One person picks a character, animal, etc., and everyone else takes turns asking questions about it to find out what it is.

Guess the Song

Make a playlist on your phone or iPod that contains songs everyone in your family likes. Put the playlist on shuffle and award points to family members that can guess the song that is playing the fastest. You can adapt this for younger children by adding nursery rhymes and other songs they enjoy.

Read or Enjoy Books on Tape

As long as no one gets car sick from reading, bring along a few books for private, quiet entertainment. Younger children may enjoy “find the image” books or activity books, with a story and some type of challenge You can also pick a story the whole family enjoys and listen to it on tape.

Travel Games

If you have two or more kids, pick up a few magnetic travel games. These can keep your children occupied for hours.

Once you figure out which screen-free activities you and your family may enjoy most, you should turn your focus to your car. Be sure to have it examined and fully inspected before heading out on the road to keep you and your family safe. Visit us at Greg’s Japanese Auto for all your servicing and maintenance needs. Our focus is on taking care of you and your car, wherever you are!