Family road trips are classic childhood and family experiences that provide memories to last a lifetime!
Our large family has traveled thousands and thousands of miles, in a car, across the United States over the last 11 years, sometimes for a major cross-country move, and other times to visit family, or to attend conferences, or to go on fun family vacations.
Through our many long family road trips, we have learned a lot about what works well to keep us safe, happy, healthy, and entertained. We’ve also figured out ways to make it more affordable too.
Be sure to pin this page, or bookmark it, as I continue to add more content to it over the coming months and years! We truly hope you’ll have great family road trips with your family, no matter how big or small that family is.
Things to Do During a Road Trip
With babies, toddlers, grade-schoolers, and teens trapped in a car for long hours, it’s good to have things to do so cries of “I’m bored” don’t have to grace your ears, or at least not too often on your trip.
And let’s face it. Adults get bored too and need distractions and things to help them stay mentally alert while driving and sitting for long hours too.
That’s why I put together an awesome list of the Best Audiobooks for Family Road Trips.
We’ve listened to several of these and love listening to audiobooks in the car on a normal basis too. Of course, you can listen to whatever you want, but my list should appeal to a wide audience of listeners.
Even kids as young as 2 or 3 can start to enjoy listening to audiobooks.
That said, toddlers are often the wild cards when it comes to family road trips, and can protest against audiobooks and just being in the car generally.
That’s why it can be super helpful to check out my list of Toddler Road Trip Games and Activities.
One of our favorite games to play, and a great way to work on those letter skills, is the Car Alphabet Game. If they are still a little too young for that, “I Spy” is good too, or just singing a lot of songs together.
Road Trip Checklists & Prep
Before you head out on the open road, you need to make sure you are ready for your voyage! I’ve created several family road trip checklists that you can download for free when you sign-up and become a subscriber.
They include a car checklist for road trips, family vacation packing checklist, what foods and drinks to pack for a road trip.
You want to make sure you also check out my post about road trip safety so you are well-prepared!
Be sure to also check out my list of summer road trip safety tips!
Tips for Family Road Trips
I asked a lot of people and put together an awesome list of how to take long road trips with kids that boasts lots of helpful tips and ideas.
But, if you have toddlers, be sure to specifically hit up my post of tips for taking toddlers on road trips and how to handle potty training on a road trip.
If you are pregnant, be sure to read my post about road trips while pregnant so you can be safe and healthy if you do decide to venture out while with child.
If you have people in your family who suffer from car sickness, read all my tips for handling car sickness in kids (and adults).
Be sure to check over your child’s car seats, and evaluate if it’s installed correctly, see if it’s expired, and so on.
Head to my post to learn more about car seat safety 101 and a different post to learn when a child is ready to move up to a booster seat. You can also see my tips for large families buying and installing multiple car seats.
If for some reason, you need a new car seat but are struggling to afford a new one, head to my post about how to get a free car seat.
I also have some tips for taking better summer family road trips.
Helpful Family Road Trip Apps
If you need suggestions on kid-friendly places to visit, places to stay, and local deals all around the world, be sure to download the GoWhee App!
If you want to play the license plate game, we love the simple and free License Plate Games – Road Trip Fun app.
Family Road Trip Accommodations
I also recommend using Hotels.com for booking your stays so you can collect stamps and work toward earning free nights in the future. Plus, they have competitive rates and frequent promo codes.
If you are a big family (like us) you can also look into renting a house through Vrbo! There are more and more options every day and they are a wonderful option for many people! Plus, it helps the local economy.
I hope you enjoy your next family road trip!