It can be extremely difficult to keep children occupied on a long trip, whether that be by plane or by car. In this wikiHow, you will find multiple tips and tricks on how to keep children from saying "Are we there yet?" every two minutes. This wikiHow will help you to keep children occupied during a long trip.
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 2:
Keeping Children Occupied During Road Trips
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Make sure you have sufficient snacks and drinks or have plans to stop for food. Kids get more difficult to handle the hungrier they are.
- Do be sure to control their food/drink intake as well to avoid incessant bathroom stops.
- A great way to do this would be to make a little snack bag for every hour or so of the trip.
- Within that bag, you could put a snack and a small drink (i.e. a juice box). This would give the kids something to be excited about and would control the amount that they're snacking/drinking between meals.
- Do be sure to control their food/drink intake as well to avoid incessant bathroom stops.
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Watch a movie. This is a great way to pass time. It makes the time go by much faster and will keep the kids entertained and quiet for the duration of the movie. This is a good thing to do after the excitement of the trip has dulled into boredom from the long ride. This happens about two or more hours into the trip.
- A great way to do this if you don’t have a video screen built into the car as some do, is to get a tablet stand that attaches to the back of a car seat, and place a tablet in that.
- Another way to do this is by downloading a movie onto a laptop and placing it on the center console for them to view.
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Play a board game. There are many versions of popular board games that are made to be played in the car.
- Monopoly, Scrabble, and Connect 4 are all games that have road trip editions that are small-scale and come in a case that acts as a game table.
- There are also many checkers and chess boards that are transportable, some of which are magnetic so the pieces don't slide off of the game board.
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4Give children activity books. There are many different types that vary from educational to fun puzzles and games. These books can occupy children for many miles of a long road trip.
- Some books like this can be difficult for children to do on their laps, so it would be a good idea to invest in some lap desks for them to use. There are some that can simply be placed on the child's lap, which can also be used outside of a car, as well as some that are specifically made for cars that attach to the seat in front of them and fold down similarly to how the tables fold down on an airplane, which usually are better options for saving space. These tables can also be useful for minimizing messes if/when children eat in the car.
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Plan some places to stop along the way where the kids can get out of the car and expend some of their energy. A great place to go is to a playground. The kids will have fun and hopefully tire themselves out somewhat so that they might sleep a little during the ride as well.
- If you search on Google, “Playgrounds near me” or “Playgrounds near [enter name of city you’ll be passing through here]” a list of closeby playgrounds will come up, as well as reviews of the park from past visitors, which can include reviews about cleanliness as well as safety.
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Get them to sleep. A way to do this is to plan to leave very early in the morning or late at night so that the kids are tired.
Warning: This tip is contingent on the driver’s ability to stay wakeful during the unconventional hours, so if the driver is not able to do so, then this is not a good tip for you.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:
Keeping Children Occupied During Plane Trips
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Pack small bags for each child, filled with the things that are going to occupy them that can be placed beneath the seat in front of them. This is because on an airplane there is very limited space, as bags need to either be stowed above you or beneath the seat in front of you.
- A great way to do that is by having backpacks for each child. It will not only make them feel somewhat independent, but it also is fewer things for parents to carry.
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Make sure that you have sufficient snacks to tide the kids over between the food that is provided by the plane, which can vary from small snacks to full meals depending on the length of the flight. Whether a meal will be provided or not should be listed in the itinerary of your flight.
- Packing snacks is especially important if your child is a picky eater or has allergies, and is something you should keep in a bag close to you so you don’t have to go to your stowed bags above every time a child is hungry.
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Watch a movie. It makes the time go by much faster and will keep the kids entertained and quiet for the duration of the movie.
- Most long flights use planes with tv screens built into the seats in front of them, but they charge an arm and a leg for headphones that are cheaply made and uncomfortable. So, a great thing to pack for each child is a pair of headphones that they find comfortable, whether that be over-the-ear headphones or earbuds. Whatever they wouldn’t mind wearing for a couple of hours while watching a movie.
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Try activity books. There are many different types that vary from educational to fun puzzles and games. These books can occupy children for quite some time and are a great break from screens.
- Coloring books are also a great option for more artistic children.
- Planes usually have a table built in the chairs in front of them, but they don’t have a place to put pencils and things. A great item is to buy a standing pencil case that acts like a cup for pens and pencils so the kids can just grab what they want to use without scouring a traditional pencil case for the right one.
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Get them to read. Reading is a great activity to do on a plane. It is a wonderful opportunity for kids to learn new things or read their favorite series.
- If your child doesn’t like reading very much, perhaps a reward system would be good as well.
- For example, you could tell them that if they read for thirty minutes, they can have a sweet. Reading is a great way to pass the time and is wonderful for children's imagination and development.
- If your child doesn’t like reading very much, perhaps a reward system would be good as well.
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Prepare a surprise for halfway through the trip. This will make children have something to look forward to and make them excited.
- You can make the surprise a snack they love, a small toy that they can use on the plane, or even a small magnetic board game that they could play together.
- This can be something that parents carry themselves or something that is wrapped or hidden inside their personal backpacks. Either way, it should be something that kids are aware of so that they have something to look forward to.
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Tips
- For both methods of travel, it is a good idea to keep kids updated on how far you have traveled. For a road trip, parents could create a timeline of sorts using string and clothespins inside the car that you can update or allow the kids to update as you pass certain areas or cities. For a plane ride, oftentimes a plane’s tv screen has a flight tracker where you can see a map of how far you are and how much longer there is in the flight. This is a great way to avoid the excessive “Are we there yet?” question.Thanks
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