My husband and I have driven from Chicago to Miami with our four young kids several times, so you could call us road-trip experts. Yesterday our family drove 6 hours to my youngest sister’s college graduation, so road trips are top of my mind right now!
As a Catholic mom, there are a few things that absolutely save the day on our family’s road trips. If you’ve got any long drives planned this summer, don’t miss these great items for a smoother ride.
1Character-building audiobooks
In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher Socrates argues that the stories we tell children are one of the most powerful ways to shape society. Stories affect kids for life.
Socrates made this point before the time of Jesus, but his ancient wisdom is just as true today. The stories we tell our children shape who they become. If we want our kids to become saints, they need to hear stories of saints, of holiness and virtue.
That’s why we love to listen to great, character-building audiobooks as a family on all our road trips—and really any time we’re in the car for more than 15 minutes!
Holy Heroes has an incredible collection of Glory Stories about the saints, and you can find the whole set of downloads here so you can start playing them right away on your next road trip.
Keeping the kids happily engaged in the car while building virtue through saint stories has to be one of the greatest parenting hacks!
If you’re looking for a fictional listen instead, check out some of our favorite wholesome and fun audiobooks here.
2Quick, fun games that are easy to pack
I love packing a small game for down time when the kids need an activity. The Holy Heroes Catholic Name-it Game is tiny enough to fit in your purse, and a great tool for kids to memorize the names of Catholic objects and symbols.
I hear good things about these Catholic card games too, and we’ve also enjoyed packing Sleeping Queens and Flip 7!
3Water reveal books
"Water reveal” painting books are a great mess-free car activity.
We usually pray a family Rosary in the car on long drives, and my kids get a kick out of these Rosary water reveal books that give them a helpful visual for each mystery.
4Sticker books
Sticker books are such great parenting tools. They sure came in handy on the long drive and at the graduation ceremony yesterday! We love the Pray by Sticker books from Catholic Family Crate, as well as PaperPie’s Build Your Own series and Sticker Dolly series.
5Seek and find books
Search-and-find books always feel like the quintessential road trip activity to me. Who remembers being a kid in the pre-internet days, when screens in the car weren’t even an option? Our parents took us on road trips on a wing and a prayer, with nothing but a Where’s Waldo book to entertain a car full of kids for the next 4 hours.
Parents today have a lot more options, but search-and-find books are still just as fun! My kids love a good I Spy or Where’s Waldo, but their favorites are these delightful seek-and-find books that show scenes from the life of Jesus, the Bible, the saints, and noteworthy Catholic sites.
Those are my top five car activities for kids. Now I’d love to hear what your family’s favorites are. I could use some ideas for our next summer road-trip adventure!
