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How would you describe road tripping with your preschooler? This may surprise you, but I would say our most recent trip was fun. My three year old daughter normally does good in the car. With all the fun activities I made and got for her she did even better than normal. We didn’t even end up using all the fun things I had planned in the almost 30 hours we were in the car. Read on to discover some really fun things to do in the car on your next road trip with a preschooler.
I organized most of the activities for my daughter in three bags that I kept in the glovebox. These bags were magnetic activities, dry erase activities, and everything else. This kept everything organized and easy to reach. I am going to organize this blog post in the same way after telling you about her four favorite things. If you are also traveling with a younger kid, check out what I brought for my 17 month old son.
Activities and Toys for a Road Trip With a Preschooler
Best of the Best:
The below four activities were my daughter’s favorites. They were what she spent the most time with and requested multiple times. I put these at the top so you can quickly see them, but don’t let it stop you from continuing to read to the end. Every kid is different and yours might be more into something further down in this post.
1. Activity Currency
What started as a way to keep my daughter from asking for something new all the time, turned into what entertained her the most. My daughter loved these cards. I gave them to her to buy different activities with. Learn how to make and use your own activity currency here.
Preschooler Rating: 10/10
2. Book Audio CDs
Someone happened to be giving away a whole bunch of books with audio CDs a week before we left. These ended up being the second most used item. I brought six different books along with their matching audio cd. We listened to each one a bunch, but Three Bears ABC was my daughter’s favorite. Read why Scholastic thinks audiobooks are great for kids.
Preschooler Rating: 10/10
3. Firefighter Playmat
I made a laminated firefighter themed playmat to bring on this trip. When I made it, I did everything I could to prevent all the pieces from ending up on the ground. It paid off and was my daughter’s favorite hands on activity and she didn’t drop anything. She asked for this playmat several times throughout the trip. Here are directions on making your own themed playmat. You can use my free printable to make a firefighter themed one or follow my steps to make your own.
Preschooler Rating: 10/10
4. Toniebox
Both my daughter and one year old son used our Toniebox a lot during our trip. I brought just a few Tonies and gave my daughter a new one once on the way and once on the way back. Both times she got a special purple question mark activity currency card (see above) that she could trade for a new Tonie. My daughter listened to her Laurie Berkner dinosaur and Mickey Mouse Tonies the most.
Preschooler Rating: 10/10
Magnetic:
Cookie sheets are the absolute best thing to bring along for a road trip. The smaller size fits perfectly in a child’s lap and they can use it for so many things. It can be a convenient hard surface to color or play on or you can use it with magnets. Below are some of the magnetic toys we paired with my daughter’s cookie sheet.
5. Car Tracks
I made car tracks for a previous road trip, so I knew that these would go over well. I made a few improvements this time around and my daughter played with them for a little bit. Instructions and a link to a free road printable are here.
Preschooler Rating: 7/10
6. Popsicle Stick Puzzles
Before our trip, my daughter and I made several magnetic popsicle stick puzzles. We used printed pictures for some and hand drew the others. My daughter played with several of the puzzles, but never asked for them again. Learn how to make your own here.
Preschooler Rating: 7/10
Dry Erase:
I have always read about the wonders of dry erase markers in the car, but have been too scared to try them. But, my daughter has been good using a dry erase book she got for her birthday. So, I knew she would do (mostly) OK with having markers in the backseat. If you can trust your kid to not make a big mess with them, they are definitely worth bringing. I did pair the below things with magnetic dry erase markers and the above mentioned cookie sheet.
7. Dry Erase Book
We were recently given a few of these spiral bound dry erase books. My daughter loves a David and Goliath one I put in her church busy bag, so I thought this space themed one would be an instant hit. By the time I gave it to my daughter to play with, she had already seen (and really enjoyed) lots of the other activities. She colored in it for a while, but only the once. I think she would have liked it more if I had shown it to her sooner. It seems like this specific book is no longer made. This wipe clean numbers book seems to have similar number content.
Preschooler Rating: 6/10
8. Busy Book
I found this busy book at a bin store and have been looking forward to giving it to my daughter. It has a whole bunch of Velcro pieces kids can place on themed pages. I separated all the pieces out into separate envelopes to make it easy to pass back to her a page worth at a time. The book also has a dry erase activity on the back of each Velcro page. My daughter played with this book several times and played with both the Velcro and dry erase sides.
Preschooler Rating: 9/10
9. Dry Erase Board
We never ended up trying it, but my daughter’s car seat tray came with a magnetic dry erase board. I think she would have had fun drawing on it, but with all the other fun activities we never took it out. We will save it for next time.
Preschooler Rating: ?/10
Other:
Everything else went in the third bag or in various other tucked away areas in the car.
10. Coloring and Activity Books
Another thing we never used was a variety of coloring and activity books. I brought a sticker book, coloring books, a hidden pictures book, and paper along with erasable colored pencils.
Preschooler Rating: ?/10
11. Lovey Paper Doll
If you are familiar with this blog, then you probably know about my daughter lovey named Lumpy. She is well loved and I have made a lot of crafts featuring Lumpy. A while back I made a reusable paper doll with Velcro clothing shaped like Lumpy. I put away for a while, so my daughter was very excited to get to play with it again. Learn how to make a reusable paper doll that looks like your own child’s special toy here.
Preschooler Rating: 8/10
12. Reusable Stickers
I also brought a big pad of reusable stickers and scenes. My daughter loved putting animals on a scene, taking them off, and handing them to me in a big stack. So, I also got the entertainment of putting all the stickers back on their sheets. We took these out towards the end of the trip, but they were still asked for again.
Preschooler Rating: 8/10
13. Panda Drawing Tablet
I threw in my daughter’s panda drawing tablet just in case we needed something else. She ended up never playing with it, but her brother did. Check out what else I used to entertain my one year old son here.
Preschooler Rating: ?/10
14. Bible Sequencing Cards
My daughter loves teaching Bible class to her lovey, so I made her cards to teach with. I made creation, Noah’s Ark and David and Goliath cards. She played with them once, but I think she enjoys playing with them when she has more space to move them around. Here is how I made them and where I got the graphics from.
Preschooler Rating: 6/10
15. Dollar Tree Toys
Before we left, I took my daughter to the Dollar Tree and let her pick out one thing to bring. After I vetoed a mini pool table, slime, and an instrument, she settled on a purple winged horse toy. She kept it and an etch a sketch doodle we have had in the car for a long time in the back with her. Every so often she took one of them out to play with.
Preschooler Rating: 9/10
Conclusion of Surviving a Road Trip With a Preschooler
We survived! I think that my daughter could have driven for weeks with all the entertainment we had. As you can see, there were several things that she didn’t get a chance to play with. And a lot of other things she probably would have played with more if she had more time. I will keep some of these activities tucked away for the next road trip and put some in her church quiet bag. What is the longest road trip you have taken with a child?
With all the things we brought, I didn’t want to make this post super long by giving in depth descriptions to each thing. But, if you have any questions about any of it, please let me know in the comments. I will be happy to get back to you quickly.
