Road Trip Tips: How to Keep the Kids Busy

The idea of a South African road trip is sure to put a smile on most people’s faces. You immediately revel in the notion of lots of bonding time with your loved ones, breath-taking scenery, and plenty of enthralling pit stops. It seems to be a wonderful way to rest, unwind, and explore our country’s many treasures – until, of course, you remember just how quickly the kids tend to get bored. 

Luckily, there is no need to let boredom, restlessness, and echoing ‘are we there yet-s?’ ruin the experience! Here are some road trip survival tips for parents, guaranteed to help keep the kids entertained for longer periods of time. 

Relax screen-time restrictions 

Everybody knows that children should be encouraged to spend more time outdoors and to steer away from screens as much as possible – but desperate times call for desperate measures! A few hours of extra screen time while on the road is very unlikely to negatively impact your kids’ development, especially if you ensure that what they are watching or playing is educational in nature. 

Make an Engen Wimpy pit stop

Engen Wimpy has been a part of memorable road trips with friends and family for over 40 years now. Use this particular pit stop to give the children time to stretch their legs, breathe in some fresh air, and fill up on a mouth-watering Kids’ Combo Meal. This festive season, every meal comes with a set of free World of Animals AR cards. Simply download the complimentary new app and the kids can watch the animals come to life before their eyes. The app is both interactive and educational, it boasts low data costs, and it takes up just a tiny amount of space on mom’s phone. Find an Engen Wimpy on your travel route here. 

Start a singalong 

Everyone in the car should get a turn to play ‘DJ’ and pick a song for the family to sing together. Save on data costs by downloading a few of the kids’ favourites when you have access to free Wi-Fi before embarking on the journey. 

Pack a special gift bag 

When the boredom eventually creeps in, and you no longer have any tricks up your sleeve, save the day by whipping out a specially packed gift bag. This gift bag should contain plenty of little treasures to suit each child’s interest – think yummy snacks, activity books, small toys that they haven’t played with in a while, affordable toys from shops like The Crazy Store or Dis-Chem, etc. Better yet – wrap them up individually and hand one over for every hour that passes. 

Road-trip games 

Most people know of the classic road-trip games – think ‘I Spy’ and the licence plate game. But, what about Road Trip Bingo or Car Counting? In order to play the former, simply create your own Bingo cards, including the names of common sights that you might come across during your family road trip – such as cows, aeroplanes, trucks, toll gates, etc. Car Counting is also really easy. Just pick a specific type of vehicle, like a motorbike or a red car, and compete to see who can spot 10 of these vehicles first. 

Happy travels!