It’s nearing the end of the year and oh boy, what a year it’s been already. You need a break and so do the kids but getting to the holiday destination isn’t without its own bumps and tantrums. “Are we there yet?” “I’m bored…” and “Tell him to stop kicking me!” are just some of the dreaded phrases no one wants to hear. We tackle the boredom this holiday to find the best kids entertainment for long road trips.

Now of course you’ll be able to find most of the essentials at a PNA store near you! Activity books, colouring pages, pigmented crayons and pencils are a must for long drives or airplane rides but here are some other activities that are sure to please even the grumpiest of travelers.

Lap boards

Keep it simple (and cost effective) with a  magnetic baking tray and some magnets strips to stick to markers and crayons. See here for more.

But if you want to make sure everything stays in place, we suggest putting in some muscle work. Measure and mark where you want to drill holes to fasten it to the car seat with Velcro. After drilling the holes use cord keeper Velcro straps to loop through the holes around the car seat armrest.

Magnetic Tic-tac-toe

Now that you have the magnetic board in place, look at adding games to the mix. To make this Tic-tac-toe travel game a bit more stable, glue small magnets to the base of each playing piece.  That way if you hit a bump your pieces won’t go flying all over! Draw a Tic-tac-toe grid on a piece of paper and glue magnetic strips to 6 (3 of each colour) small stones (painted black or white), small gems or even fluffy pompoms you can buy from PNA.

Travel Memory Game

Similar to the popsicle memory game this game helps improve memory by challenging kids to find the matching symbol on the other side. Click here for the full tutorial.

You’ll need:

• 8 pieces of felt in different colours
• Scissors
• Glue

Magnetic Puzzles

Do you have an old puzzle laying around that doesn’t get played with very often? Well then, it’s the perfect piece to add to the road trip puzzle. Glue little magnets to the backs of the pieces and have the kids build puzzles on the magnetic lap board!

Or if you’re feeling extra crafty, create your own popsicle stick puzzles. See how it’s made here. Don’t forget to paste little magnets on the back of the sticks so they don’t get lost in the car.

Keep the boredom at bay and the smiles coming with these fun road trip activities! Do you have any fun things to add to the mix? Leave us a comment below.