16 Things to Bring on a Road Trip with Kids

These coloring and sticker books from Disney could knock out a couple hours of road trip by themselves. The coloring book has 96 pages, including mazes and connect the dots. 

There’s really nothing like a fresh colored pencil kit, and they’re a lot less messy than crayons or markers. This kit comes with 50 colors.

If you want your kids to draw something, instead of coloring something already drawn, get a blank sketchpad—the options are limitless. These come as a pack of two for kids don’t like to share.

Kids love looking at the navigation screen, but they like physical maps even more. Get one for each of the states you’ll travel through, and mark off your route as you pass different cities.

This is another clean, easy activity for the kids, most of whom are probably already familiar with Eric Carle’s books. The box comes with 40 magnets and four scenes to place them in.

The I Spy travel game comes with 48 cards featuring items you might see on a road trip. It’s for ages 4 and up, but even younger childen can enjoy the concept.

No batteries needed for this game. Instead of rings, the kids have to stack the triangles in a pyramid shape. They sell these in packs of two for the same reason as the sketch books.

This travel scavenger hunt set comes with 50 highway cards and 50 city/suburb cards. The cards have color-coded difficulty levels.

When you’ve had enough of screens and tech, the classic pipe cleaner will turn your kids’ imaginations back on. (Sorry, but you’ll be picking these out of your seats for years!)

Another magnetic toy, this board can be drawn on and erased as many times as necessary. It also improves fine motors skills for young users.

This game is for the older kids—it says 12 and up—and features trivia questions from the 2000s. Topics covered include “The Office,” “Britney Spears,” “Fast and Furious,” and more.

You can play this without the cards, but this game, good for all ages, will set you up with 52 animal cards, six clue cards, and a box to store it all. You get 10 questions to guess the animal.

Sign your kid up for the R&T Crew subscription box for an assortment of cool car-related gear and activities—perfect for bringing along on the road! 

A sort of an all-in-one kit: Contains two sets of over a dozen popular games, from hangman to battleship, as well as several reusable activities. 

Keep all of the above stashed in one easy-to-reach organizer, which doubles as an extra layer of protection against endless protestations of “they’re touching me!”

When all else fails, you can pull the ripcord and break out the iPad. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it will keep your kids quiet for hours. This mount has a universal fit. Check the sizes if you have really big, or small, tablet.