Essentials for a road trip with kids

Summer is almost here, and summer means vacation and road trips. Even though it is unclear with the global pandemic if we’re ever gonna be able to travel again, I am longing for this!

Last summer, my ex and I went on a road trip with our kids from Montreal, Quebec to Lawrence, Kansas to go visit our American friends. About 2,300 km (1,429 miles), 21h if you don’t stop to eat, use the bathroom, or sleep. My kids were 5 years old and 3 years old. I planned to make the trip as great as possible for them, and for us.

I decided to make you a list of the essentials to bring with you on a road trip. It will change depending on the age of your children, but this is what worked, for me, for kids aged 3-5.

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Portable car seat travel tray

I don’t see how anyone could survive a long road trip with kids without these travel trays. There is space for a tablet, coloring books, crayons, books, a water bottle, plushies, you name it. And the best part? It’s machine washable!

It comes with adjustable straps: one for the headrest of the passenger seat, one that goes behind the car seat of your kid. This means that you can adjust the height of the tray, and it will be fixed and stable enough so that your kid won’t be able to push it around, close it, or throw it to their sibling #truestory.

Tablet

Screen time is a major debate topic amongst parents. You don’t want your kids to watch TV or use tablets? I admire you. You can go to the next point!

Get Netflix, Disney+, and/or Amazon Prime, then download episodes of your kids’ favorite shows.

My ex got our kids Amazon Fire 7 tablets. As I am writing this, it is $69.99 on Amazon Canada. However, wait until a good sale price comes up. My ex got our kids two tablets, and we paid $49.99 ea.

You can also set up the parental controls (unfortunately, you can’t hide or uninstall YouTube. You can’t run away from Baby Shark. If you know how to limit YouTube for kids, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW OMG).

It’s a 7” tablet, so it’s not too big or too small. If you have kids who are not careful with their belongings, I strongly recommend you get this cute protective case, for $18.99 on Amazon Canada.

Kids headphones

And I’m specifying here: KIDS headphones. The volume and decibels are appropriate for children, so you know their ears won’t explode. And Mom, listen to me: you NEED headphones for your little ones when you go on a road trip unless you want to add “listening to Paw Patrol again and again, and weird YouTube videos” to your list of noises while you’re driving. Just sayin’! That being said, I bought these cute headphones for my kids (see pictures above and below), and I loved them. I gotta say: my son’s headphones did not last long, but he was ROUGH to them… He tore them apart… But my daughter still uses hers 🙂

Activities

You may like looking at the gorgeous landscapes while listening to your favorite playlist, but your kids will find the drive super boring if you don’t give them many activities to do. Start with the basics:

• Coloring books
• Crayons
• Storybooks or activity books
• Toys, like building blocks, dinosaurs, dolls with changeable clothes, mini-figures (whatever characters they like. With my kids, it was Paw Patrol, My Little Pony, dinosaurs, and unicorns)
• Snacks (Cheerios and fish crackers are your best friend)

If you brought a tablet, download apps for kids. Here are the ones I downloaded (on Android), and I approve all of them:

• Bimi Boo apps (audience: babies, toddlers, preschoolers). My kids like them so much that I bought their 3 favorite apps (about $7 each)
• Télé-Québec Coucou: this is an AMAZING app made in my lovely province! I am not sure if it’s available in English, but there are many educative games, rhymes, and series for kids. And this is where the kids can watch a classic TV show in Quebec: Passe-Partout!

• ABC Kids Tracing & Phonics: I didn’t buy this app, so the content was very limited, but this is a cute educational app.
• World of Peppa Pig
• Animal Puzzle for kids
• PBS Parents Play & Learn
• Unblock me
• Storybook Rhymes volume I, volume II, and volume III
• French learning for kids
• Laugh & Learn First Words Fun

First Aid kit and emergency car kit

While these are always useful to have in your car, first aid kits and emergency car kits are especially important on a road trip. When you’re far from home, you need to be able to take care of an urgent situation, whether it’s a papercut or a flat tire.

You should also add the following to your kit:

• Anti-nausea medication
• Allergy medication
• Baby wipes
• Tylenol and/or Advil (or any other brands you use)
• Wipes (think WetWipes) to clean messes, whether it’s ketchup on your windows, or a kid throwing up
• Health insurance cards, or proofs of insurance, and emergency contacts
• Travel insurance documents (especially when you are traveling to another country)

Parting thoughts and considerations

Your car is going to be DIRTY, no matter how much effort you put into asking your kids to not throw they chicken nuggets covered in ketchup on the floor. My best tip here: fold a blanket and put it under their car seats. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s definitely easier to put the blanket in the washing machine than the car seats, am I right?

My parents also recommended we use a dog car seat cover, so we tried that. Indeed, it does help prevent messes, but the one we got didn’t have the appropriate holes to attach the baby car seat straps to the handles in the seat… But now that both of my kids are using boosters, I can use the regular car belts, and therefore use a dog car seat cover!

I linked many items from Amazon Canada, but you can get things for your kids pretty much EVERYWHERE. Just grab stuff at the Dollar store, especially coloring supplies, and your kids will be super happy about it (hey, new toys. They don’t care where they are from).

Even though going on road trips with kids can be quite the challenge, I think it’s a great way for them to learn about the world and broaden their culture. Think of all the cool memories they will take with you! And it should get easier as the kids get older.

What are your tips for traveling with kids, whether it’s by car or by plane? Let me know!