Creative Kids Activities for your Impromptu Memorial Day Weekend Road Trip

5. Pack a fun surprise box

Nothing keeps a little one engaged like surprise after surprise after surprise! Pack up a few new toys, tchotchkes or craft activities, each in a small cloth bag. Wrap them all in a larger box, and dole them out throughout the trip. For additional fun, tie a tag to each smaller bag with a picture of a landmark they have to look out for (ie. an airport, farm or certain colour of car). When they spot the corresponding object or landmark to their tag, they can unwrap that package!

4. Engage in some car co-play with Sago Mini World

A few creative apps are a road trip must, but this doesn’t mean your kid needs to zone out in the back seat! Keep them thinking creatively by engaging with them as they play Sago Mini World, or give them a few prompts to shape their experience.

Ask them to build you a travel-ready robot in Robot Party, or see how high they can stack their animal friends in Zoo. Road Trip is a natural fit – ask them questions as they play, like ‘Where are the characters headed?’ or ‘Are they making any stops along the way?’.

You can even combine a few games for a fun, travel-themed game: start with Planes, then ask your child to choose where they’re going next (it may be to a Big City, off to a tropical island in Vacation, or as far off as Space Explorer!) When they arrive at their destination, ask them to narrate how the trip is going: Are the Sago Mini characters having fun? Where are they off to next?

3. Choose interactive music to get toddlers moving

It’s hard to be bored when you’re moving & shaking in your carseat! Barring parental intervention (we know there’s a limit to how many times you can hear ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat), interactive tunes that will keep toddlers moving, engaged and listening closely.

Here are a few suggestions to get you going:

-Magic Feet Follow the Beat (have them stomp their feet along with the music – helps to build gross motor skills and early rhythmic abilities!)

-P’tit Poisson (a music & movement classic – have them act it out with arm movements as the fish gets bigger and bigger, and learn a bit of French while they're at it!)

-Simon Says – this musical adaption is perfect to catch kids up on the rules, and will (sorry!) have them begging you to put it on replay.

-Shake your Sillies Out - perfect for that point in the road trip when the ‘sillies’ are dangerously close to becoming the ‘screamies’.

2. Build-a-Story in the backseat

This build-a-story activity is perfect for teaching slightly older kids how to adapt to their surroundings, and pay attention to what’s around them! Start by telling a simple story. Going in a clockwise motion, when the first player snaps their fingers, the next player has to add to the story, and must include something they see out the window (this could be a cow on the side of the road, an airplane flying overhead, or a giant structure on the side of the road). Keep going like this until everyone’s had a turn – or until you all dissolve in fits of laughter!

Here’s an example:

Once upon a time, three friends decided to go on a weekend road trip. They packed lots of snacks, like apples, oranges, bananas and ...

snap as you’re passing by a corn field

... lots of corn! They brought so much corn that they needed to bring a ...

snap – there’s a tractor trailer in front of you!

... tractor trailer to fit it all in.

And on, and on, and on!

1. Walk and Play puppets

Bring your best Sago Mini pals along for the ride, and build your kids’ storytelling skills while you’re at it! Finger puppets are super portable and perfect for backseat play. Removable stickers stuck to the back window make it even more fun; a car means Jinja and Harvey can ride along with them, and a plane gives them a sky-high view of whatever they're’re seeing out the window.

Brainstorm with your little ones how else you can turn the backseat into a playground: do skateboard tricks off the car seat, take a nap in the backseat pocket or reach the summit of Mount Headrest.

Looking for more fun activities to do with kids? Check out 6 Cool Ways to Stay Creative During Spring Break.