Surviving a Road Trip With a Preschooler

It’s been a long time since I have posted! We have been very consumed by house projects as well as projects for customers. Current house projects consist of us jacking up our house. Yes, you read that correctly. We are jacking up our house due to structural issues…no pressure or stress there! We are also making a built-in bar and some painted signs for customers. We are keeping busy!

Amid all the crazy chaos, we decided we needed a vacation. So this spring break we decided to road trip to Texas. From where we live it’s about an eighteen-hour drive. And we did it with a three-year-old and it went really well! This is what we packed to help us survive the trip.

Screen-Free Activities We Bought

1. Discovery Camera – Little MK loved taking pictures of everything we passed by. He thought it was the coolest thing! We picked up this camera on sale at Kohl’s. Or you can find it here on Amazon.
2. Disney Book Reader – Surprisingly this kept Little MK busy for a long time. He not only liked reading the books but he liked matching the shape to the corresponding page. You can find it here. 
3. Mess-Free Coloring Book (second picture, top right) – We purchased this Paw Patrol coloring book from Kohl’s but I have also seen them at Target.
4. Shapes, Numbers, and Letters Activity Books – I bought these from the Dollar Store. They work great at the restaurant too!

DIY Screen-Free Activities

1. Lower-Case Letter Matching Cards – This activity was found at Playdough to Plato. These cards are a great educational activity! Find them here.
2. Number Matching Cards – This great ocean themed counting activity is from Coffee Cups and Crayons. Megan has tons of busy bag activities. Our family LOVES busy bag activities. You can find her post here.
3. Bunny Color Matching – I got this FREE printable from ABCs to ACTs. This blog is filled with wonderful printables for kiddos. You can find her blog post here.
4. Pom-Pom Patterns – This project was so easy. I got the idea from Raising Little Super Heroes. All you need is garage sale stickers, popsicle sticks, and pom-poms.

**Note – I found this lap tray at Hobby Lobby. Use a 40% off coupon to save money. I bought a cookie sheet from the dollar store. I glued felt to the bottom of the pan to make it more kid-friendly.

1. Letter Building Fun – I used popsicle sticks to write simple letters on and then glued magnets to the back. I packed letter magnets we already had on hand.
2. Little Buggies – Little MK had a blast helping me make these together before the trip. Find the tutorial here from Making Life Blissful.
3. Mini Road System – I am sure that I found this idea on Pinterest somewhere but I honestly can’t remember where I saw it. I have had this busy bag made up for a while and I figured, what a perfect activity to bring on a road trip. I painted popsicle sticks to look like roads. Little MK already had mini cars that worked perfectly for it.
4. Road trip coloring/Activity sheets (see below) – I found these printables on Picklebums (left). She has LOADS of kid’s activities to try! You can find the truck and road printables on the left on this page. The printables on the right are from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. You can find her activities here. I only printed out the ones appropriate for Little MK’s age (3). However, she has 20 road trip games!

Screen Activities

1. Portable DVD Player – Our wonderful friends loaned us their portable DVD player. It was a lifesaver!
2. New iPad apps
   1. Sago Mini Preschool – Little MK has always loves the Sago Mini apps. They are simple and allow your child to explore freely.
   2. Sago Mini Robots
   3. Spinlight Bundle – This bundle contains an alphabet app, a number app, a job education app, a reading app, a writing app, and a sports app.
   4. Jake the Pirate – Sailing, a band, mazes, and treasure hunting. Can you say FUN!?
   5. Leo’s Pad – This app is pretty expensive but Little MK loved it! It’s an adaptive learning app developed by Stanford Researchers and the animation is pretty good for an iPad app. Plus you can test out a chapter before you purchase. Or you can purchase 1 chapter at a time.

Other Tips

1. The Car or Trip Fairy – A sweet co-worker of mine gave me this tip. I bought little dollar store toys, etc. and some sweet treats for the “Trip Fairy” to leave during stops when Little MK had a good stretch.
2. Think of the road trip as an adventure not as a means to get to your destination. It will help you enjoy the journey.
3. Don’t be too regimented on the schedule. Your little one will probably have to stop or will get antsy along with way. Being flexible will be important.
4. Pack snacks. Buying snacks and drinks at the gas station quickly adds up.

*Everything was packed in the same bag we use for our Beach/Boat bag from this post here.