8 Entertaining Ideas to Keep 5-10 Year Olds Happy on a Long Journey

Long journeys with young kids can be a daunting prospect, but with a bit of creativity and planning, you can turn the travel time into a fun and memorable experience for both kids and parents. In this article, we’ll explore 8 entertaining ideas to keep 5-10 year olds happy on a long journey.

1. Create a Travel Playlist: Compile a playlist of your child’s favourite songs and let them sing along. We listen to a variety of songs in the car, from Musicals, to pop, to Disney and more. The girls definitely know what they like and creating a playlist makes it easy to keep them entertained.

2. Interactive Storytelling: Spark their imagination with interactive storytelling. Begin a story and take turns letting each family member contribute to the plot. This is a great option if they’re starting to get a bit moany as it will distract them! It can be done anywhere, from the car, to a ferry or a plane.

3. Travel Bingo: Prepare bingo cards with items commonly seen during road trips, such as a red car, a gas station, or a cow. Hand out the cards and let the kids mark off items as they spot them. Offer small rewards for completing a row or filling the entire card. You can adjust these depending on the children’s age, making it harder the older they get.

4. Snack Time Fun: Pack a variety of snacks. We often time our travel with meal times as it’s an excellent way of passing time. I pack a substantial picnic with many different options and more snacks than you think you’d ever need! The only thing I tend to avoid is chocolate as it melts and gets very messy very quickly.

5. Portable Entertainment: Our daughters use our old sim-free phones (instead of a tablet) to download games, apps, and things to watch such as Netflix, Disney+, and BBCiPlayer. We travel with headphones so they don’t disturb other passengers and generally they dip in and out of using these among other things on long journeys.

6. DIY Activity Kits: I have always taken coloring books, puzzles, and travel-sized board games with us on journeys. I adapt this depending on their age at the time and their interests. A small canvas is often a good idea, or plain paper with a pencil case (I allow them to choose their own pencils and pens to take as I’ll probably get it wrong!

7. Scavenger Hunt: Create a scavenger hunt checklist with items to spot along the journey. Include both common and rare items to keep things interesting. You can get really good Scavenger Hunt books on Amazon for different places such as At The Airport, In the City and so on.

8. Frequent Pit Stops: Plan regular breaks to stretch little legs and explore interesting landmarks or attractions along the way. This not only breaks up the journey but also allows the kids to burn off some energy. This can be easier in some places than others…but on a plane, where you can feel fairly trapped – it can be nice to walk up and down the aisle a bit, or even just going to the toilet can break up the monotony a bit.

Conclusion:

I hope you found this useful and thanks for reading 8 Entertaining Ideas to Keep 5-10 Year Olds Happy on a Long Journey. If you’d like to get some packing tips then check out my packing blogs here. Safe travels!