Over the years we’ve done a lot of road trips in the car with our 3 kids, some easy and fun and others we’ve learned to laugh about since! Both good and bad trips have resulted in ideas to make the experience easier next time, including being one of my parenting experiences that inspired me to start Pipity!
The Pipity Activity Case is compact and lightweight, so it is really easy to store in the seat back pocket, making it easy for kids to grab, use and put away when they’ve had enough.
It has a built-in easel, with elastic straps to hold activities in place, and with it’s cushioned back, it’s easy for kids to use on their lap. The pockets keep everything neatly in place and handy to take out, use and pack-away.
Activities inside are great for keeping kids entertained during roadtrips including...
· Riddles are fun for kids to read out to the rest of the family, and are a great way for passing the time while everyone works them out.
· Road Trip Bingo is a great way to encourage kids to look at the world around them, and find items on the board to cross-off. The pack includes Travel Bingo for urban, countryside, and general environments. Kids can play this on their own, or against other player in the car… who can spot it first!
· Colouring and drawing activities including ‘Scruffy Scribbly Pets’. The point of this activity is not to stay inside the lines, and to give your pet a shaggy coat, ideal when you’re on the move!
Here are 10 top tips that I’d recommend To make a road trip easier..
1. Make sure kids have drinks to hand
2. Bring treats (preferably things that can be easily cleaned up after!)
3. Audiobooks are a fun way for the whole family to pass the time, we’ve really enjoyed Harry Potter, Roald Dahl and David Walliams books.
4. Electronic Entertainment, ipads, dvd’s
5. Car Games that everyone can join in with. For example iSpy, Alphabet game (choose a theme like animals, and then take turns to each name something related to that theme in alphabetically order).
6. Plan stops in advance. Work out roughly when you might want to stop, and then check out that area online to see if there’s somewhere for a quick walk, picnic, drink, loo stop!
7. Have a sick container and emergency clean up items. My kids are good travellers and generally don’t get car sick, but I’ve been caught out twice over the years, and the memories of having to continue journeys, when we were unprepared have stayed with all of us!
8. Have a change of clothes handy… in the eventuality of the above, or a spilt drink or accident.
9. Take mini pillows for sleepy heads. There are some great travel pillow to Velcro to seat belts. I chopped a bed pillow into 3, and sewed up the edges to make 3 mini pillows, that were easy to store in the kids footwells.
10. Relax, have fun and enjoy the beautiful drive!