5 of the best road trip activities for kids

I put together a list of 5 awesome road trip activities for kids. I made sure to pick activities that are mess free and fun for everyone. I’m also all about saving money so keep reading to see how I saved money preparing for my trip.

This post is sponsored by the Ibotta app, but opinions expressed are my own.

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How I save money preparing for my trip

Whenever I’m preparing to go on a road trip I like to buy new toys/activities my kids haven’t seen before. They get more excited and it will entertain them longer. Whenever I’m buying anything for a new road trip whether that be toys or snacks I make sure to check the Ibotta app.

Ibotta is a free app that gives you real cash back on every purchase, online or in-store. Earn cash back every time you shop for essentials, groceries and more. I do most of my shopping online nowadays so I love that they let you link your online purchases. I linked my Target account to my Ibotta app so whenever I shop online I get cash back.

If you are already going to buy something you might as well get cash back for it. I use Ibotta almost every time I go shopping. All offers were valid as of publish date. Don’t forget to check your app for details as offers change frequently and may not be available in all areas.

5 Road Trip Activities

I put together a list of the best road trip activities for your kids. These are some activities I have personally done on our road trips and I’m planning on doing these activities again for our road trip this summer.

The best tips to survive a road trip with toddlers

1. Mess Free Coloring

The best tip I could give for a long road trip is to avoid messy activities. Kids love to color, but dealing with markers and crayons can be such a mess and you lose lids everywhere. These three different coloring activities are mess free so you don’t have to worry about getting your car dirty and the kids love them!

Water Wow Books

These Water Wow books are absolutely brilliant. All you need is water in the pen and your kids can color pictures for hours and there is no mess. My boys absolutely love these! You can find a lot of these in the dollar section at Target.

Magnetic Coloring Pad

You can never go wrong with the magnetic coloring pad. My boys love to bring this with them on our long road trips and the best part is no mess. I also love that the pen is attached to the pad so I don’t have to worry about it falling in between seats and losing it.

Doodle Board

This is another great option for older kids. It’s mess free and kids can draw on this for hours.

2. Sticker Books

You can never go wrong with sticker books and my boys love them. Target has a lot of different sticker books in their dollar section that would be perfect for entertaining your kids on a long road trip. Some sticker books even have activities so your kids can have fun and learn at the same time.

3. Cookie sheet with magnets

These cookie sheets are great for road trip activities. I bought these cookie sheets at the dollar store and then got some of our magna tiles to go with it. My boys will play with the tiles on top of the sheet or drive their cars on top of the cookie sheet as well. You can use this for a lot of different activities and my boys love it. They even used it as a tray for eating or coloring.

4. Magnetic Maze Boards

These magnetic maze boards are perfect for road trip activities. The best part is no losing little pieces and it’s so fun for your kids. Some of these are great because they are learning while they are playing.

1. Water board // 2. Alphabet board // 3. Apple Tree // 4. Number

5. Electronics

The last road trip activity is of course the ipad or Amazon Fire tablet. I try and have my kids go as long as possible before I get the tablets out. At some point in the drive my kids have played with most of the activities and I need to get the tablets out to survive the rest of the trip. I listed some of the tablets I use and some apps my boys love to play with.

Ipad

I have some old ipads that my boys use for our road trips and they work fine. I will download some of their favorite Netflix shows onto the ipad before we leave so they can watch when we don’t have wifi. I also make sure all their favorite apps are up to date as well.

Amazon Fire Tablets

The Amazon Fire tablet is great because it’s a lot cheaper than the ipad and just as good. You can also download apps on the Fire tablet and use it during the road trip. If you buy your Amazon Fire tablet through the Ibotta app you will get 5% cash back.