Road Tripping with a Toddler: Tips and Tricks

Long road trips with a toddler are much trickier than road trips with an infant.  Babies don’t mind sitting around a lot, because that’s all they can do.  Toddlers on the other hand, need frequent breaks to stretch their legs. Before Charlotte, Daniel and I would sometimes drive 14-16 hours in a day to visit our parents in other states. When Charlotte was a baby, we started splitting the drive into two segments. When she hit the toddler phase, however, we had to split up the drive even more. In my opinion, six hours is about the maximum you can comfortably drive with a 1-year-old in a day.  Of course more is possible, but not comfortably!

If you’re going on a road trip or long drive with your toddler, there are a few things you can do to significantly improve the experience.  First, plan your drive carefully with naptime in mind. Most children at this age still take two naps a day, and naps are your best friend on a road trip with a 1-year-old. In the morning, make sure your child has some time to burn a bit of energy before you get into the car. Then, ideally, plan to start your drive about an hour before the morning nap usually starts. There’s a good chance that your child will fall asleep in well under an hour, but even if he doesn’t, an hour is a manageable amount of time to entertain him with toys, songs, and books before naptime strikes. Normally you can get in a good 2.5-3 hours on the first leg this way.

Next, plan a long lunch break between naps. If everything goes smoothly, you should have a planned stop within about 30 minutes of the time you expect your child to wake up. If your little one wakes up much earlier than expected, it’s a good idea to pull over as soon as possible for at least a short break, even if your “long” break stop is only 30-45 minutes away. For one thing, immediately after waking up most kids REALLY want out of the car seat.  For another, most kids will need to go to the bathroom as soon as they wake up. Even if your child isn’t potty trained, that means a diaper change is in order immediately following nap!

A good two-hour stop is worth it.  If the weather complies, try to find a park on the route where you can stop for a good picnic. I like to scan google maps for parks in advance, so that we’re ready. If the weather isn’t nice enough to visit a park, a mall or shopping center will do. The main thing is to get out of the car long enough to eat, stretch, and burn some more energy. Nothing makes my kid crabbier than trying to shove her back into a car seat after a too-short stop!

In the afternoon, avoid driving for more than an hour at a time, except during naptime. If your little one starts getting cranky, it’s a good idea to pull over at the next available stop and give him a break. If you don’t have a planned stop, remember that even tiny towns usually have parks (and sometimes they are awesome!), and if you need an indoor spot, grocery stores can also serve as comfortable, spacious places for a “walk.” Below are some sample schedules for driving with a toddler who is still taking two naps, or (if you’re a bit unlucky) just one.

Packing Tips

• Diapers and wipes. For more on this, see my post on road tripping with an infant—the diaper information still applies!
• Clothing. The clothing you bring for your destination will obviously depends on the weather, but since you probably have climate control in your car, your “driving outfit” doesn’t need to match the weather outdoors. The most important thing is picking outfits that will keep your child comfortable in her car seat over an extended period.  Here are our favorite choices:
  • Although we do not regularly dress our toddler in a bodysuit, we like to use a onesie as an under-layer for drives because it helps contain things better in the event of a blowout. Cleaning poop off a car seat in a hotel bathroom is the actual worst. Believe me. We’ve been there.
  • When it is hot, it’s tempting to put the little ones in cute dresses or short ensembles, but these can create issues with the seatbelt chafing between the legs. Even in the summer, we put sweatpants or comfy leggings on our toddler so that the seatbelt doesn’t chafe. We can always swap out for shorts when we arrive.
  • Depending on your car seat, chafing may also be an issue in the neck area. When Charlotte was very little, we always put her in a hoodie for long drives so that the hood would provide a layer of material between her neck and the seatbelt. When she got a bigger, we move her into a car seat that came with neck protectors, so this stopped being an issue. You can also buy neck cushions to add to your car seat.  
  • Before you pack the kid’s whole wardrobe in a suitcase, make sure you pull out a change of clothing (or better yet, two) to keep in the diaper bag or another easily accessible spot. The last thing anyone wants is to dig through a suitcase on the side of the road.
• Toys and accessories. This is probably the reason you came to this page in the first place.
  • Car shades, to keep the sun out of sensitive young eyes
  • Books, especially touch and feel books.
  • Stacking cups (yep, these are on our list for infants, too!)
  • A clipboard, to use as a hard surface for coloring.
  • A notepad, coloring book, or paper.
  • Stickers. Stick them on paper, the car seat, hands… these can keep a kid entertained for quite awhile!
  • Crayola extra-washable crayons. They really are totally washable… a wet wipe or damp paper towel is all you need to clean up scribbles on a hotel room wall.
  • Melissa and Doug Water Wow! books. We love these! No mess, and they are great for little ones who are big enough to hold a crayon (or in this case, a fat water brush) and scribble, but not old enough to color inside the lines. Plus, they are reusable because the color disappears when they dry.
  • Melissa and Doug ColorBlast! books. These are slightly less convenient than the Water Wow! books because they are not reusable, and if you lose the markers you are out of luck. However, they’re still a great, no-mess activity in the car. I usually pull one sheet out at a time and attach it to a clipboard so that vigorous coloring doesn’t bleed through or rip other pages.
• Snacks.
  • Horizon milk single-serving boxes. No refrigeration needed! My daughter loves milk, and I love not needing to keep a cooler in the car just for her milk habit.
  • Gerber Puffs and Gerber Lil’ Crunchies. These won’t fill your kid up; they’re pretty low-calorie. However, they will keep him occupied for a bit in the car. When my daughter was between the ages of 1 and 2, we could immediately cure almost any car meltdown with Mild Cheddar Lil’ Crunchies. They were an absolute necessity on any road trip!
  • Fruit puree pouches. Don’t let the packaging fool you, these can be messy! However, they’re a healthy snack and much easier to handle in the car than an applesauce cup.

For more tips and tricks, see my post on Road Tripping with an Infant!