Let’s be real here, even a short car ride can be quite the adventure with a toddler, so even thinking of a long road trip is a thought I didn’t even want to entertain until recently.
But with summer here and wanting to take a family vacation, and now being road trip season, we decided to just go for it and head out for a long drive to somewhere fun!
If you are planning your next road trip with kids, you’ve come to the right place! Read on for tips on how to make the best car survival kits for kids that will keep them entertained for the long drive ahead and that the whole family will love!
This post contains affiliate links. By using my links to shop I may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
When we first started planning, I knew that I was going to have to be creative with the kids on how to keep them entertained especially on long car rides and to ensure that we would all have a great time, even in the car. I stocked up on a couple of coloring books, activity books, road trip games and even a DVD player, but it was getting a bit messy and unmanageable.
DIY Road Trip Survival kit for toddlers and kids
That’s when I thought of putting together a road trip survival kit! I wanted each girl to have their own box with toys, books and activities that suited their interested and needs but could also keep everything together.
I’ve definitely been in the position of not being able to hand things over from the front seat to the backseat as my car is big and my arms are short, especially with them still being in car seats. I thought it would be a great idea to give them something that they could easily access and manage, especially for the long drive.
Car survival kit Basics
I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I stocked up on everything from the dollar store and amazon. I stuck with things that were small or easy to transport so like for notebooks and books, I looked for ones on the thinner side that would be easier for my little one to flip through.
I recommend getting a small plastic tub that will be easy for you to store in the backseat or an easy reach for you. And also for your kids to carry in their laps and be able to find things quickly.
These ideas are great for younger kids and older kids. Just buy items that each kid is interested in but you can keep the tubs/pouches the same. The best part is that you can really personalize each kit to each kid and with all of these things to keep them entertained it gives us moms a peace of mind that they won’t be indulging in too much screen time!
What to buy for your road trip car survival kit
- Books – coloring books, activity books
- Playing cards
- Stickers, sticker books
- Markers, crayons, pencils, pens
- Travel journal
- Art Supplies
- Snacks
Personalized Car Survival Kits to keep kids entertained
I thought it would be a fun idea to make each kit personal for both my girls, so I got my Cricut Explore 3 to make some labels for pouches and the tubs!
I separated out the items that would work for each girl. Since my oldest is really into drawing, I wanted to make sure she had her own pouch with just her drawing materials.
Some of the pouches were to share, like the stickers and coloring pouches but I wanted to keep everything labeled so that they would play with one pouch at a time and then when they were done, it would be easy for us to sort and put away.
Supplies to personalize your road trip survival kit:
- Cricut Explore 3
- Smart Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Portable Trimmer
- Weeder and scraper (this is my favorite set of basic tools that every Cricut owner must have)
- Reusable Zip Pouches
- Small Plastic Tubs
- Small Divided Containers
How to make personalized labels using the Cricut Explore 3
For this project, I logged into Cricut Design Space and used the font “Honey Syrup”. I highly recommend joining Cricut Access so you can choose from 500+ fonts!
Type out the labels that you’d like and make sure to measure the items that you’ll be labeling so you can get the exact measurement that you will need.
Load the vinyl into the machine and let the Cricut do it’s magic!
Once it’s done, weed out the background from the letters. Place the transfer tape on top using the scraper tool. Then you’ll just place the label onto your items, remove the transfer tape and you’ll have your personalized pouches!
DIY Travel Snack Box for Kids
It’s not a road trip without road trip snacks! To keep from having to constantly open different bags and pass around snacks, I created a little snack box that the kids could easily open and snack on whatever they wanted!
This was actually my kids favorite things out of the whole road trip survival kit! They just loved being able to control which snacks that they could eat and not have to keep asking for different things.
It also made it so that they didn’t fight over things since they each had their own box!
I recommend getting some foods that are not in packages for easy access but I also recommend getting some food like granola bars or fruit snacks that can keep for a bit longer in case they don’t eat it all right away. It’s easy to pack snacks in a larger bag and do a quick refill whenever you need.
Don’t forget these family road trip essentials!
Other important things to include in your road trip, a water bottle for each kid, hand sanitizer, trash bags and a first aid kit! If you have a baby, don’t forget the diaper bag, changing pad and a travel pack of baby wipes!
I love having these little road trip kits for a 1 hour drive to even short day trips. If you are planning to stay at a hotel, these are great to take into the hotel room to keep the kid occupied as well. I didn’t show it here but because the tubs are big enough, you can also pack little toys for the kids that they can play with too.
This was such a fun project for me to make and so much fun for my kids! Now we are really looking forward to heading out and the girls can’t wait to try out their new road trip survival kits. I know that having these fun activities prepared for them, we are on the road to a successful road trip!
