Every year as we pack up the car to go on holiday I try and create a special bag to go in the back of the car filled with activities and entertainment for the kids for our long journey ahead.
It’s become such a tradition that the kids now actually look forward to the journey!
It needn’t be expensive, I generally head to discount booksellers such as The Works in order to pick up some bargains.
If you like the convenience of online but want to support your local book shops wherever you can Hive Books are great – delivering to local bookshops who then get a cut of the deal too.
We try, wherever possible, to reduce our kids’ ‘screen-time’. Not only is it a quick route to pukesville it can cost a small fortune to get a device for each child and (assuming that’s out of budget) sharing always leads to arguments of “he/she had a longer go than me!” etc.
| — Looking for some ideas to save money once you get to wherever you’re going? Read our 9 Ways to Save Money on Family Days Out Happy to give the kids some ‘screen time’? |
How to entertain your kids when TRAVELLING – without screens
A quick note before we start: beneath each tip we link to places to check the latest prices on an item. This is because prices can change often and a lot so, for the penny-pinching-parent it’s always wise to shop around.
We don’t always list all our recommended retailers as sometimes they just don’t sell what we recommend. Other times they’re a lot more expensive – so even with a big price shift, won’t be the cheapest.
1. Audio books
These have been a lifesaver on long journeys! If you find the right one it can keep the kids entranced in a story for hours, keeping the journey stress-free for you.
For the younger kids we really enjoyed Paddington and then as they got older we moved onto the Just William stories read by Martin Jarvis. Jarvis is absolutely amazing at doing all the different character voices and has the whole family in stitches every time we listen to the William stories, my kids all now pipe up with amusing William-style quips too which keeps me amused.
This year we embarked on the Stephen Fry audiobook of Harry Potter.
Despite spending hours and hours in the car over the course of the holidays we only got through the first two books, but we were all totally absorbed in the story and it made the journey so painless!
- Check prices for Paddington audiobooks on: Amazon | The Hive
- Check prices for Just William audiobooks: Amazon | The Hive
- Check prices for Harry Potter audiobooks on: Amazon
2. Sticker books
Sticker books are good in the car as they don’t create mess but do let the kids get arty.
Usborne do an amazing range of sticker books but the kids absolute favourites are the dress up ones, from superheroes, costumes from around the world, World War I to Villains and Outlaws.
- Check prices on dress-up sticker books on: Amazon | Hive Books | The Book People | The Works
3. Car bingo
This is a great game to play in the car and so simple (you could even make your own version but we have this fun version).
Each child has a card on with things to look out for, for example: A purple car, a yellow flower, a black front door, a 30mph sign, a cow, a blue bus etc.
They then look out of the window and cross off each thing they see until they have everything on their sheet and can shout out ‘Bingo!’.
The Travel Games Pad is a great book to start with:
- Check price of Travel Games Pad on: Amazon | Hive Books | The Works
4. Pencil games
When I first found this book full of pencil games I wasn’t sure if it’d be worth it but when I looked through it I realised it had quite a few games I’d never heard of so I thought I’d give it a go.
I was really glad I did as the children have played with it endlessly (so much so that half the pages are falling out).
The premise is simple: there is the simple explanation of how to play the game followed by about a dozen printed sheets on which to play it. It has old favourites such as hangman, battleships, noughts and crosses plus lots of games I’d never heard of like honeycomb and treasure map.
Once the kids have played the games a few times they can recreate them themselves on plain paper once the book has run out.
- Check price of Pencil & Paper Games on: Amazon | Hive Books | The Works
5. Have a sing along!
Whack the radio on full blast or put on your favourite CD and get everyone to join in with singing along.
This really raises the spirits and cheers up flagging kids after hours of driving – just try and remember to close the windows first!
6. Play i-Spy
It’s an oldie but a goodie! We often add an extra twist to make it harder (as otherwise we tend to get stuck on the same things over and over) by saying you have to go through the alphabet.
This way it becomes more cooperative, so we say “Everyone look for something beginning with A!” and once someone spots something we move onto B and so on.
7. Geek out
Our kids really love the DK series of books on Lego mini-figures.
They have the encyclopaedia of Ninjago characters, Star Wars characters and DC superheroes (and villains!).
The one in the middle seat then holds the book and they pore through it each picking their favourite character on the page. Keeps them entertained for ages with long debates about the merits or otherwise of each character!
- Check out Ninjago prices on: Amazon | Hive Books | The Works
Pro tip: some of these Lego books come with a free mini-figure (a little Lego person/toy). This is fine if you have one child but can lead to arguments and tears if you have more children than mini-figures. Worth bearing in mind.
If you’re after supplementary mini-figures FireStar Toys do some great ones starting at just a few pounds per figure.
8. One word stories
Get your kids to make up a story using one word at a time.
Each child gives just one word of the story before it moves on to the next child, slowly building up a (usually crazy) tale.
Pro tip: ban any ‘rude’ words as it seems irresistible otherwise to make the story mainly about bums and poo!
Last update on 2022-01-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API