Long and sometimes even short car journeys can be dull for lots of children. There is nothing worse than having them complaining all the time and so it is a good idea to be prepared with things that you can do to make the journey more fun. It means that the driver and adult passengers will also find it more fun!
Have Fun Stops
If the journey has some stops along the way, make them fun. Plan things to do when you stop and that will help them to look forward to the next part of the journey. They might start looking out for signs to that place etc and it might help things be better. Ideas for fun stops could be a nice shop, an interesting town or just the opportunity to get a snack at the services! Kids might get as excited about buying a chocolate bar at the services as they would about looking at some interesting views!
Encourage them to Navigate
It can be good to give them the map or get them to look out for road signs to help out with navigation. I can be a useful skill for them to learn but also will occupy them with something. They will think they are being really helpful (they might be too!) and this will give them a sense of importance and improve their confidence as well.
Play Games
Games an be a great way to pass time. Younger children might be happy playing I-spy and things like that. You can also get them looking for certain things out of the window as well. Games where they look outside can be particularly good for children that get car sick. Looking out of the window can help a lot. There are books with car game ideas in but finding items beginning with alphabet letters, certain coloured items, see who can see the most birds or whatever, can all be simple games to play that will keep children occupied. Parents will have to be prepared to play along or at least keep control during the games though as argumentative kids might be prone to getting into heated discussions about who is the winner etc.
Movies
If children do not get travel sick, then watching a film can be a good way for them to pass the time. If they have a mobile device then they can use this to watch the film and they will be able to keep the sound down so that it does not distract the driver. They may even be able to use headphones and then each child could watch a different film, should they want to. They could also watch TV shows, cartoons etc if they want to. If they have a device, they may also want to look at social media etc and this could keep them occupied for a long time. You will need to make sure that you have chargers though so that they are entertained for the whole trip if this is what they are expecting. A sudden lack of power could cause significant upset and then trying to think up some games and activities to replace a device could be difficult and stressful.
Books
Reading books in a car can be a good way to pass time. It is something that not everyone will be able to do because they may get travel sick, however, if they can then having a stack of fiction or non-fiction material could be useful to look at. It can be good for them to have some different types of reading material as they will then be able to choose between them and find the one that they are most interested in. It could even be worth considering a trip to the library to get them some different books, although if there is a risk they may get lost it might be better to buy some, perhaps second hand as they will be cheaper.
Crosswords
Having quizzes or crosswords to do could be a good use of the time and everyone could have a go together. There are lots of these online and so you could print them off or download them to a device you have with you or you could buy a book with some in. It can be a lot of fun having a bit of competition between you to see who can do the best. Obviously, if you have young children, you will need to make sure that there will be some things that they will be able to answer as well as things for the adults.