DIY “Are we There Yet” Kid’s Travel Map

The kiddos and I are gearing up for another long road trip soon, and as it approaches I am trying to find new ways to keep them entertained and to keep me from getting frustrated.  I’ve shared my top tips and tricks for road tripping with kids before, but I want to add some fresh ideas to the mix as well.  So when I sat down to brainstorm about what is my number one pet peeve when driving cross country, the obvious answer is that the kids ask me twelve gazillion times if we are “there yet.”

Ugh, no we are not and it is just more annoying when you look at the GPS and realize that there are still twelve hours of driving left for the day.

So I created these super simple kid’s travel maps so that my little ones can plot the course and be able to see how far we have to go before stopping for the night.  I’m calling it the “are we there yet” kid’s travel map.

I’m lucky enough to have parents who beg to keep my kids for a couple of weeks each summer, but unlucky enough that they don’t own a vehicle large enough for all of my monsters and their booster seats.  So instead of just flying the kids out and back, we drive.  Truth be told, I usually prefer to drive, but when it is back and forth for me it gets a bit tedious.  Normally I would drive the kids out and fly myself home and then back out to pick them up, but there are crazy circumstances this year that are leading me to drive back and forth, back and forth from NC to CO.  It’s a 26 hour drive each way, and I am doing all of this in the span of three weeks.

I might need a map for myself.  Yikes!

To make this map, I used handy dandy Google maps to create the route that we are taking and printed it out (I actually made three maps.  One with the entire route, and then one showing the first day’s route and one with the second day’s route).  This way, when the kids see a landmark or when we stop, they can know exactly where we are on the route.

I chose to laminate mine and give the kids a dry erase marker to use so that they can reuse it every summer, but if it is a one time trip for you I would just do pen and paper.

I’m hoping that this will help them feel a bit more responsible, learn about maps (such an important life skill that is being pushed aside as phones and GPS take over) and keep them from pestering me.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Because I will be spending 8 out of 21 days cooped up in a car, let me know if you have any other tips or tricks or favorite ways to enjoy road tripping. And pretty, pretty please share any podcasts that you love…I’m on the hunt for new ones.