If you’re preparing for a road trip with a toddler you’ve come to the right spot. Here is your guide to the best road trip activities for toddlers from road trip games, road trip friendly toddler toys, books, songs and other fun ideas to keep your toddler entertained. The best part, all of these travel activities for toddlers in the car are completely screen free!
We’ve done lots of traveling with our now 4 year old. From long haul flights, to cross country road trips. We’ve done it all with her and we’ve learned a ton along the way. Here’s our full list of our favorite toddler travel toys to check out and other family travel tips and tricks.
Now let’s get into our guide for the best screen free and highly entertaining road trip activities for toddlers.
Toddler Road Trip Games
To start the list of road trip activities for toddlers we are going to explain a few toddler friendly games that can help pass the time.
I Spy
Take turns saying “I spy, with my little eye, something that is…. insert color of whatever thing you are referencing. Then the other person starts guessing what it is you see that is that color.
Example: I spy, with my little eye, something that is RED could be the apple you are snacking on.
Name That Tune
Take turns humming a tune your toddler knows and see if they can guess the song. Then let them try humming a song and see if you can guess it.
What Color Is It
Take turns listing items of the same color and see if the other person can guess the correct color.
Example: Banana, school bus, lemon, sunflower. If the other person guessed yellow, they would be right!
Story Telling
Start a story and let your toddler finish it. Then continue to add on to their story and take turns creating a brilliant story full of twists and turns you would never expect.
Toddler Road Trip Toys
For a long road trip with a toddler I would suggest packing a few toys in a bin and storing them either by your toddlers feet or in the middle seat on the drive. Here are some wonderfully entertaining road trip toys for toddlers that are also screen free.
Water WOW Book
Water WOW books are mess free, compact and easy to pack. I love that the book has storage for the water pen right in it. This makes it so much easier to keep track of. Plus there are a ton of theme options, so you can pick one your toddler will like best. Dinosaurs, jungle, under the sea, safari and more, what road trip water WOW book will your toddler enjoy most of all!
Mess Free Markers and Coloring Book
I love these mess free markers because they only work on the magical paper, meaning no chance of a mess in your new car! Again, there are so many options from princesses, Spider Man, Paw Patrol and more so pick one your toddler will love. It’s one of the best travel activities for toddlers in the car.
Doodle Tablet
My daughter loves this doodle tablet. We take turns drawing pictures and guessing what it is. It clears with a push of a button. I especially love this lion one because it’s so cute and the pen is attached by a string so you can’t loose it. It also comes in fox, owl or bunny.
Window Clings
This is one of the best road trip activities for toddlers. They will love sticking the window clings on their window. Consider packing ones that fit with your trip. For example, Christmas window clings if you are traveling for the holiday, or beach window clings if you are road tripping to the beach.
Magnetic Dress Up Dolls
Robot Suction Toys
Your toddler will love suctioning the robots together or suctioning the robots to their window. Stretching and collapsing the arms and legs is a great sensory experience for your toddler that will keep them entertained. It’s one of the best road trip activities for toddlers.
Favorite Movie Figurines
My daughter loves Moana and Frozen and uses these mini Disney figurines to act out different scenes from the movie. There are so many movie options so pack your toddler’s favorite. Check out Toy Story, or Spider Man. There are so many options!
Listen to Music or a Story
Another great road trip activity for toddlers is to listen to their favorite music or stories. Have a playlist with all their favorite songs ready to go before your trip whether it’s songs or stories.
Our daughter loves listening to Disney stories on Spotify. The playlist is called Disney Storytime. I usually just play it over the car speakers, but if you’d like some peace and quiet you could try the Yoto Mini with cards, headphones and a case to keep everything together and organized on your road trip with a toddler.
Read Books
Pack a few of your toddler’s favorite books to read on your road trip, like the Gruffalo, See You Later Alligator, or Grumpy Monkey. This is one of the most simple, yet super entertaining road trip activities for toddlers.
Road Trip Snacks
Snacks are possibly the best form of entertainment for toddlers. Pack a few different snack containers with a variety of snacks so your toddler can spend time munching all the different options. A few of our favorite toddler friendly snack containers are
The cup holder snack tray is also essential for helping younger toddlers eat snacks on a road trip. Snacking is definitely one of the best road trip activities for toddlers that will keep them happy and quiet.
Road Trip Nap
Last but certainly not least, in fact maybe the best road trip activity with a toddler is a road trip nap. If you can time your road trip with a toddler over nap time or after bed time, that may be the best case scenario. Picture a peaceful drive with a toddler snoozing in the back seat while you sip your Starbucks latte and listen to your favorite podcast.
Enjoy your Road Trip with a Toddler
We hope you found this blog on the best road trip activities for toddlers helpful and you found some ideas or toys to help your road trip with a toddler go smooth. There’s no doubt a road trip with a toddler comes with it’s challenges, but some preparation will certainly help.
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