Kids’ Road Trip Essentials Checklist

Kids’ road trip Kids’ road trip
  • Activities

  • Books, magazines, and comics

  • Games, such as the license plate game or travel bingo

  • Sketchbook, washable markers, and colored pencils

  • Pre-stamped blank postcards (find them at the post office), which your kids can decorate, or postcards bought on the road; have your children write to friends, relatives, even pets

  • Doodling doodads: a small dry-erase board, Etch A Sketch, Magna Doodle

  • Pipe cleaners, easy origami, and other scissor-less craft supplies

  • Portable DVD player and DVDs; don’t forget headphones!

  • Tape recorder: Let the kids produce a vacation broadcast

  • Books on tape for the whole family, such as the Harry Potter series or “The Chronicles of Narnia”

  • Scrapbook envelope—entrust your children with the responsibility of collecting postcards, ticket stubs, and brochures for a scrapbook

  • Food

  • Individually packaged, crumb-free snacks such as bite-sized goldfish crackers

  • Hard-to-bruise fruits such as apples and berries; or try fruit roll-ups or fruit leathers

  • Trail mix, which will leave kids feeling full longer (and keep fingers greaseless)

  • Reusable bottles filled with water

  • Miscellaneous

  • An emergency kit. In a click-shut plastic bin, stock jumper cables, a first-aid kit, a flashlight with extra batteries, road flares or reflective triangles, a fleece blanket, bottled water, and a few protein bars. 

  • Garbage bags to collect trash

  • Extra diapers and wipes, if necessary

  • Change of clothes, in case of accidental spills

  • A blanket for spur-of-the-moment picnics at rest areas—and naps

  • Jump ropes and balls, so energetic little travelers can tire themselves out at rest stops!

copy saved

copies saved