Aren’t summer road trips the best? Every parent loves making memories with the kids that will last a lifetime. Disneyland, the beach, national parks. Whatever your destination, one thing’s for sure: getting there is half the battle.

Let’s be honest, depending on the number of children in the car, seating arrangements, and hours on the road, the drive can sometimes feel like this:

via GIPHY

No fear! I have you covered. Here are several ideas to avoid a lengthy trip with miniature Harrys and Lloyds.

These are eight simple road trip activities to occupy your kids in the car. They are also screen-free, simple, and no crafting required.

Auto Bingo cards. 

I put these in my kids’ stockings each year. I mean, Santa does. They don’t hold up a full year because they get used frequently, even driving around town. At only about $2 each, they’re well worth the investment.

Alphabet game.

In case you haven’t played this classic game, it’s just searching your surroundings for words that begin with the consecutive letters in the alphabet. If your people are cool with group searching, as in, everyone is looking for each letter together, more power to you. If simultaneous searching and shouting answers causes more drama than a middle school dance, here’s an alternative version:

For competitive players: We’ve reworked the original game because a lot of the folks in our backseat can get, ahem, competitive. (Okay, fine, it’s me. I’m the problem.) Each person takes a turn with their letter. So, the oldest searches for a word on a sign or a car that begins with an A. After she finds one, the person next to her takes a turn to find a word that starts with a B, etc. If you shout out a letter when it’s not your turn, your next turn is skipped.

Accessible snacks.

Apples, individual bags of carrots, celery sticks, bags of shelled nuts. Car trips are a great opportunity to get in the extra healthy snacks, because the kids are often more bored than hungry. And if they are hungry enough, they will absolutely go for healthy. We like to include healthy and fun, so in order to unlock the Goldfish crackers, one must first consume their apple or tofu sticks (if you’re mean), or whatever.

Stack of fresh library books.

Pick up a stack of quality books on your way out of town. These are hand-selected picture books and other fun reads that mom has already researched and placed on hold a week prior to the trip. You can check out books that are relevant to where you are traveling, or just quality books in general. Read Aloud Revival has some of our favorite book recommendations.

Memorize a song together.

I can hear you rolling your eyes but I’m totally serious. This can be fun and worthwhile. Share a slapper from your youth, a silly kids song, a hymn. Memorize scripture set to beautiful music. Check out King Things. Our kids have memorized large sections of scripture this way.

We’ve also found songs to help us memorize states and capitals, all the presidents in order, multiplication facts. Challenge each other and see if anyone can do it without the music. Make it fun!

Audiobook.

Try a classic kid’s story. In fact, add it to that library holds stack. The library has oodles of audiobooks. You can pick it up in person or stream audio versions via your phone’s bluetooth on free apps like Overdrive. Instantly check out audiobooks no matter where you are. How cool is that?

My kids have enjoyed BFG by Roald Dahl. If your kids are feeling chatty, maybe combine the snack time with the audiobook time. Chewing mouths are often too busy for talking.

Progressive story.

This is one of our family’s favorite games. Mom or dad begins a story with a simple sentence or two. Then the next person adds a sentence or two. And so on. Prepare for silly, creative, and hilarious.

Rotating DJ.

Each child takes a turn choosing the song for the car ride. It’s kind of adorable to hear which songs the kids select. Sometimes our littlest ones enjoy grown up music. Learn a little more about which kids prefer rock, and which like country, or pop. Plus if they choose something awful (Baby Shark, anyone?) it’s only one song.

Hope you have found these eight simple road trip activities helpful! Share your favorite road trip game or survival tactic below.

For more tips and tricks to make summer a little easier and more enjoyable, check out the Summer Survival Guide and 100+ screen free activity ideas.