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Long Weekend Road Trip? Here’s how to Keep Your Kids Happy

Long Weekend Road Trip? Here’s how to Keep Your Kids Happy

Article by Bob Benson, Fleet and Commercial Manager for Cam Clark Ford Lincoln Dealership, sharing his tips for a stress-free road trip with kids.

Does a Road Trip with Kids Strike Fear in Your Heart?

With summer fast approaching, it’s a fantastic time for families to go away on short vacations. The upcoming May long weekend also often means a road trip to visit family and friends. However, any mom knows that kids can get restless on long journeys. Without entertainment the dreaded question, “Are we there yet?” will inevitably be voiced.

The strain of restless kids can be a deterrent to summer adventures. At Ford, we recognize the value in families spending quality time together. That’s why we’ve pulled together our top tips to help you keep your cool – and your kids happy – on your next road trip.

Road Trip Travel Tips to Keep Kids Happy

  • Scenic Stops: Plan a picnic at a scenic spot or stop at a local landmark or attraction. This will break up your trip, allow you to stretch your legs and provide quality time with your loved ones.
  • Toys: Pack toys for the journey. Puzzles and colouring books provide easy entertainment. For really young children, bubbles are popular.
  • Goody bags: To take it one step further, create goody bags in advance and place them on the back seat of the car. You can personalize bags and include sweets, toys and puzzles.
  • Games: Keep kids occupied by playing games. ‘Eye Spy’ is the obvious one, but there are many others to consider.
    • Car Bingo – Children look for cars marked on their bingo card – the first to spot all the cars on their bingo card wins.
    • The Fame Game – Ask your kids to choose (but not reveal) a cartoon character or a pop star. Everyone else then asks questions to guess who they are.
    • I Packed My Suitcase – Players take turns adding an object into the suitcase, and the next player lists all the belongings already in the suitcase as well as adding another. For example, player one says, “I packed my suitcase with an apple.” The next player then says “I packed my suitcase with an apple and a Band Aid,” and so on.
  • Sing: Most children enjoy a sing-song. Choose songs that the whole family is familiar with so you can all enjoy car karaoke.
  • Technology: Personal DVD players keep kids entertained for hours. However, if you want to be sociable, consider buying an audio book; you can listen to the story along with your children and talk about it during the journey. Alternatively, if you have a smartphone or camera, you could ask your children to take pictures of interesting things along the way.
  • Timing: If all else fails, plan to travel at night. That way, your children will spend most of the journey asleep and they’ll arrive at the destination bright-eyed and ready for adventure.

These are our thoughts on how to keep kids entertained in the car. We hope they help see you through your next road trip!

For more information on Ford of Canada, visit www.ford.ca.

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