Road Trip Essentials You Need With A Toddler

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It finally happened. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been trying to avoid this. My girls were almost 4 and 2 years old by the time we packed them into the car for a period spanning longer than one hour. In fact, it was a rather huge leap going from a one hour max car ride, to a 12 hour road trip.

Were we insane? Absolutely. However, my sister-in-law was getting married in North Carolina, and nothing in the world was stopping us from getting there. Not even a 12 hour road trip with two under four, one of whom really hates the car. Looking back, a short plane ride may have been worth the cost… HOWEVER, it was not too bad. It was only not-too-bad because like any other anxiety ridden mother, I prepared myself. So congratulations! You are on the path to a not-too-bad road trip yourself! High five!

Yes, I took to the internet and armed myself with the best ideas I could find. That combined with my early childhood educator knowledge, and we had some real life savers on this trip.

My grand master plan consisted of 5 bags and a portable toddler potty. This post will go into detail about each bag and what to include in it for road trip success!

Toddler Road Trip Essentials Bags

The Treat Bag

The treat bag may very well be the single most important bag of the five. Have you seen your toddler hungry? How about your toddler bored out of their ever loving mind, been in the car for five hours and hungry? No? You do not want to see it my friend.

Now is not the time to worry about your child’s nutrition. 12 hours in the car is not going to permanently ruin your child’s healthy habits. You have got to pull out the big guns. I made a special ALDI’s road trip snack run. I got things I never would have thought I would get for my children. Oreo cookie sticks with frosting to dip, cracker sticks with cheese dip, fruit gummies, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, mini muffins, baby bottle pops, m&ms… Almost anything you could imagine a toddler losing their mind over.

Of course, I also got their usual favorite snacks: goldfish, oranges, applesauce pouches, yogurt pouches, granola bars, potato chips, pretzels. You know what your toddler likes, don’t be stingy. Load up on your snacks, Momma. Unless the idea of being trapped in the car with a bored and ravenous toddler sounds like your idea of a good time. Be my guest.

The Fun Bag

Ah the fun bag… Remember what I said about snacks being the most important… This might also be the most important.

You do not necessarily need to buy anything new for this bag… but it helps. You know that something shiny and new tends to hold a toddler’s attention for a fraction of a second longer than their old toys. So, if you can spare the expense, get a few dollar store toys you can add to your fun bag.

Another option that works especially well if you rotate your toddlers’ toys is to break out toys that they haven’t seen in a while. This is the magic of toy rotation, it’s like their toys are new to them all over again! These toys will absolutely keep their attention just that much longer.

Here’s a list of Fun Bag Essentials:

Books: Particularly books with sound buttons like this!
Sticker Books: We brought Bluey and Encanto
Coloring Books: Whatever you have at home should be fine, or you can invest in some new ones from the dollar store for cheap!
Doodle Pads: These are a great no-mess option that toddlers love! Heck, I love drawing on these!
Mega Blocks: These kept the girls busy in the car for a significant amount of time, longer than I anticipated. These are definitely a must! Rather than bring the entire bulky bag (which would have inevitable wound up spilled all over the car), I put about two handfuls each in two freezer bags for easier transportation.
Car Tray: The car try is absolutely necessary for building blocks, making puzzles, coloring, etc. We have one like this. I also brought the trays that come off of the girl’s tea cart similar to this one.
Matching Game: We have this Disney Princess Matching Game. Again, rather than bring the entire box of cards, I put about ten matches in a sandwich baggie. I gave the girls a tray and they played with these cards for several minutes.
Crayola Mess Free Markers: Grab a couple of clip boards and load some mess free coloring pages on them! This makes it easier for your little one to keep her coloring pages in one place. Then I just filled a pencil case with the mess free markers, and we were good to go! This was another activity that kept the girls entertained for the better part of an hour.
Lacing Toys: These are great for keeping little hands busy! This two pack was especially perfect for us, one for each girl!
Magnetic Wooden Dolls: We have the Disney Minnie and Daisy dress up dolls by Melissa and Doug. The girls love these! Again, Instead of bringing all the tiny pieces and risking them getting lost forever in our car, I took just Minnie and Daisy with two outfits for each that the girls could mix and match.
Plain Notebook and Crayons: Sometimes, I find my kids just want a blank slate. So just grab any old notebook and throw it in your fun bag!
Dolls: We brought a few Disney Princess Dolls. These Barbie-style Princess dolls are always good for imaginative play.
Pipe Cleaners: Just trust me on this one. Give a toddler a pipe cleaner, and you give a toddler endless creative opportunity. They love pipe cleaners.
Tablets: This one seems obvious. Give up on your screen time limits because this is the real MVP of keeping toddlers entertained on a road trip. You have got to get yourself one of these bad boys. We have the amazon kids fire tablet (Currently 50% off!), and it works very well for our needs. I also strongly recommend getting a car headrest tablet holder. This keeps your toddler from touching the screen and accidentally exiting their show. This particular tablet holder is also very cool in that it can be repositioned so that all of your back seat passengers can see the show.
The last things to add to your fun bag are the good old faithful toys. The ones that are always a hit with your toddler. You know what ones they are.

The Prize Bag

Toddler Road Trip Prizes — Road Trip Prizes

The prize bag is full of little trinkets which you may have lying around your house. Ours consisted of stickers, animal masks, tiny notepads, squishy toys, and special crayons. These I handed out about every hour or so. My three year old was especially excited to learn that there were only x amount of hours left to our trip.

The Trash Bag

The trash bag got to be my best buddy! It sat next to my feet, and I transformed from Mommy to trash girl. I was the honored keeper of the trash. Wet diaper? I’ll dispose of that! Snack wrappers? Toss ‘em up. Yes, I was the trash queen. We lucked out in that no one threw up on our road trip, but I packed extra plastic bags for that very reason. My one year old has been known to get carsick.

The Emergency Bag

I have always wanted to implement the emergency bag in our car. This trip finally gave me the push I needed to create one. Our emergency car bag contains everything you could possibly need. Tampons? Obviously. Baby Powder? Of course. Bandaids? Absolutely. Here’s a master list to give you some ideas for your own Emergency Car Bag:

Baby Powder
Pull Ups
Wipes
Change of clothes (including underwear and socks) for each child.
Child Window Sun Shades
Toddler Travel Tray
Tampons
Pads
Razor
Bandaids
Towels
Fleece Blankets
Plastic Bags (trash, dirty clothes, vomit, so many uses)
Children’s Tylenol
Adult Ibuprofen

The Portable Potty

The portable toddler potty is a lifesaver. We have had this in the car since our oldest began potty training. You may be thinking… ew. The mess, the smell! Trust me, these are non-issues. Wrap a pull-up around the removable potty bucket and the pee and poop can be disposed of just as you would a diaper. Of course, if you are near a trash can, throwing the pull up out is your best shot at avoiding smell. However, there are times you have to pull over and there are no trash cans in sight. Obviously, you are not going to throw a dirty diaper on the side of the road (Major side eye.) So your best bet is tying that bad boy up in a plastic bag and sticking it in the trunk until you reach the nearest trash can.

Other Helpful Road Trip Tips

1. Cut Your Trip In Half

Stop at a dang hotel, Momma! Why? Why drive 12 hours in a single day with toddlers? I’d recommend taking even a few days to do 12 hours. However, we were pressed for time. My husband’s vacation time was spent and we had to a wedding to get to! Two days was all the travel time we got, so one hotel stop it was. The stop was absolutely well received. It was past bedtime when we arrived, but the girls were thrilled to have a nighttime swim in the hotel’s heated pool. They earned it for sure!

2. Ultimate Toddler Playlist

Whatever your kids’ favorite songs are, create a playlist of them! This was life saving and fought through some of their boredom without gluing their eyes to a screen for 12 hours. We used amazon music through our prime subscription and it worked like a charm. It was like a Bluey vs Elsa sing off in our car, and the girls loved it! Another little tip: create a lullaby playlist. If you are driving overnight or through nap times, I highly recommend compiling a list of lullabies also. We used the Disney Junior lullabies. The girls listen to those at home every night before bed, and continuity can really work miracles for sleep.

3. Clean Up Kit

Life with toddlers is undoubtably messy. You do not want to find yourself unprepared for that mess on a road trip. It doesn’t need to be anything too fancy, just a roll of paper towels and some disinfecting wipes should do the trick. Then, of course, do not forget the trash bags!

4. Pit Stops

With toddlers, there is simply no driving for 12 hours straight. If you thought that was on the table, I am so sorry. Yes your 12 hour trip is going to look more like 16 if you make good time. Plan to stop every 2-4 hours for potty stops, meals, and even a simple play break. Find a grassy rest stop and let those kids run wild. They have so much pent up energy from sitting still in the car all day. What’s even worse to imagine is that they are strapped into a 5-point harness. They can’t even adjust the position in which they are seated. No thank you, poor babies.

5. Backseat Buddy

If you have a single toddler, you may want to have someone sitting in the back with them for at least part of the ride. It gets lonely back there! We lucked out in that we had two toddlers on this trip. (HAHA is that luck?) So they kept each other company well. Note: If you have toddlers who tend to squabble on long car rides, do not seat them right next to each other if possible. Everybody likes personal space!

6. Departure Time

Take your departure time into consideration. Many recommend driving with kids overnight. We honestly could not imagine that going over very well for us. Our kids are not great car sleepers. Don’t ask me why, I could sleep forever in the car. However, they seem to fall asleep for 30 minutes and then wake up miserable most of the time, yes even when driving at bedtime. I just had this great image of sleep deprived toddlers screeching in the back of our car for 12 hours, while we were also sleep deprived. It was not a pretty picture. If you know your kids sleep great in the car, this is a totally valid option. For us, early morning departure was better.

7. Blankies and Stuffies

Keep your toddler’s favorite blankie and stuffy up front for easy access. When sleep time rolls around, you are going to want those key players. Also, your toddler may just want their comfort items on this big, unusual trip you are taking them on. Who can blame them?! They have very little understanding of where you are taking them and why in the world you would do this. Let them have as much comfort and familiarity as possible.

8. Car Sleep

Here are some quick toddler car sleep tips!

Turn up the air or open the windows. This works like white noise to drown out other noises and put little ones to sleep.
Put on soft music.
Give your toddler their blankie and stuffy.
If your toddler is still using a pacifier, give it to them when you want them to sleep. (Kinda wished mine used them for this trip…)
Put sun shades on their windows to keep it as dark as possible.

Conquer Your Family Road Trip

Now you have all the information you need to have a successful, and even possibly pleasant road trip with your toddlers. You know your kids, you know what keeps their attention. Use your mommy super powers and pack all the essentials and place them strategically in the car so you can reach them when you need them! You’ve totally got this, Momma! Have a great trip, and let us know how it goes in the comments below!