Road trip ideas for kids

The classic for a reason. Younger children can play by colour ("something blue") rather than first letters, so even pre-readers can join in from the back seat.

Make a silly sentence from the letters on the car in front, or hunt for plates from the furthest-away places. Good for keeping older children scanning the road rather than the floor.

Give each child a few things to look out for — a tractor, a bridge, a caravan, a sheep — and tick them off as you go. Easy to tailor to whether you're on a motorway or a country lane.

Shout to claim the animals in fields on your side of the car; most spotted by the end wins. Daft, loud and brilliant for a stretch of countryside.

Take turns with daft choices — "would you rather have a pet dragon or a pet dinosaur?". Endlessly replayable and a reliable way to get giggles going when moods dip.

Reusable sticker scenes, dot-to-dots and wipe-clean activity pads keep little ones absorbed without loose pieces vanishing under the seats. A clipboard gives them a firm surface to lean on.

Magnetic draughts, noughts and crosses or a magnetic doodle board survive the bumps far better than anything with counters that roll into the footwell.

Older children love logging the trip: ticking off counties, sketching what they spot or sticking in a leaflet from each stop. It turns the drive into a keepsake and a gentle bit of geography.

A couple of cheap activities wrapped in paper, handed out at the worst moment, work wonders. The unwrapping alone buys five minutes, and the novelty buys a good deal more.

Window-safe crayons (on their side window, never the driver's view) and felt or sticker storyboards let younger children create and re-create without anything permanent to clean up.

A good story can swallow an hour effortlessly. Pick something pitched a touch above their reading age and the whole car gets drawn in. Libraries lend audiobooks free through apps like BorrowBox, so it needn't cost a thing.

Story, quiz and fact-of-the-day podcasts for kids are made for exactly this — short enough to suit shorter attention spans, and a welcome break from the same playlist on repeat.

Build a playlist everyone can belt out, from their current favourites to a few your own parents played you. Let each child pick a song in turn to head off the "it's always their music" complaints.

Story-led audio adventures and simple quiz apps give children something to respond to rather than just listen to, which holds attention longer on the dullest motorway stretches.

Time the longest legs around naps, and keep a few favourite toys clipped on so they don't end up on the floor out of reach. Bring spare clothes, wipes and nappies in the cabin, not the boot, and build in unhurried breaks for feeds and crawling about. Expect to stop more often than feels efficient — it's worth it.

This age thrives on simple spotting games, sticker books and songs, but tires quickly, so rotate activities every 20 minutes or so. A running commentary on what's out of the window — diggers, tractors, bridges — keeps them engaged with the journey itself.

Old enough for proper games, audiobooks, travel journals and a bit of map-following. Give them a job — chief navigator, snack monitor, official animal-spotter — and they'll happily own it for miles.

Independence is the win here. Let them curate part of the playlist, plan a stop, or listen to their own podcast or audiobook on headphones. Loop them into the route in advance and they're far more likely to be along for the ride rather than counting down the minutes.