Many years ago a friend of mine had the brilliant idea to take a basic plastic dollar store bin and use it as the basis of her kids’ road trip entertainment. It was their personal box with everything needed to keep them busy, while minimizing the whining and fighting. Back, then it was mostly filled with books and crayons but as we continue to road trip with kids, even as they get older, our box has evolved.

Next week, we’ll be heading off on a family adventure and I’ve already started thinking about what will go into the bin.

For the Big Kids:

•Gimp and string for bracelet making – This just made a resurgence in our house with the start of camp

•Sketch pads and coloured pencils

•Défis Nature cards – We just discovered these cards thanks to Hannah’s wonderful french teacher and they are great for practicing french reading, numbers and learning about nature

•Old math workbooks – Yes, homework on a road trip. Because my kids still think math is fun and they had tons of incomplete pages in their workbooks from last year

•Robert Munsch audio books pre-loaded on my iPhone

•Mini white board and dry erase markers

•Headphones

•Snacks, drinks and kids Gravol

For the Little Guy:

•Board books

•Sticker books

•Alphabet flash cards

•Milk stored in a travel sized cooler with ice packs

•His favourite CDs

•A blanket and doll for napping

All of that should keep them entertained for all of five minutes! But seriously, they are bound to get bored at some point. That’s when we break into some of their favourite car games, like the alphabet game and name that song.

And I’ve always got my mom stash on hand for any road trip with kids. It includes tons of wipes, a plastic bag for all of the garbage, an empty Tupperware container (in case of puking) and Tylenol. Because I know I will be turning around to help someone do something in the back seat or climbing back to the third row a minimum of at least seven times!

Happy travels!