*Thank you Amazon for sponsoring this post. Regardless all thoughts are my own and I only recommend items I truly love.
It’s that time of year again! You know – the most wonderful time, where everyone has to figure out where to go and when to go and who to go to in order to celebrate the holidays. There’s a good chance that you are traveling for the holidays, and if you’re reading this post you probably have toddlers. We all know that car trips with toddlers are not ideal, but at times necessary, especially during this season. We road trip regularly (albeit only around a 5 hour trip) to Savannah to visit my family, so for us it’s become somewhat the norm and something we are used to. Some trips definitely go better than others, and through trial and error we’ve learned tips that work for us and our kids to have the smoothest road trips possible. Top thing I’ve realized? Thank goodness for technology. Specifically the Amazon Fire HD8 Kids Edition Tablet that has been a lifesaver for us on long trips!
Our kids don’t do great in the car. Our best bet for an easy trip is to travel during their sleep time. This means waking up super early and packing them in the car so that they fall back asleep while we drive, driving in the afternoon during their nap times, or even waiting until night to hit the road. But the most important thing for us to have an easy trip is to make sure all electronics are charged, especially the Amazon Fire HD8 Kids Edition tablets. In fact I make sure to have these charged and ready to go when driving anywhere outside of 10 minutes from our house. These tablets are amazing and I tell everyone who asks about them that they are a must have. They come pre-loaded with FreeTime Unlimited, a program perfect for toddlers that is intuitive and pulls up age appropriate programs for your child when they log in. When connected to WiFi your kid can browse books, games, and videos, and now you can also easily download any of these to be used when offline as well, making the tablet perfect for on the go.
Amazon is constantly adding new videos, games, and books to the FreeTime Unlimited program (there are some fun holiday ones!) and the Fire HD8 comes in a colorful bumper that has withstood all the abuse from my children perfectly. Undoubtedly these tablets get thrown a lot on every road trip. But don’t worry, the tablet also comes with a two-year worry free guarantee where if your kid breaks it you can send it back for a new one, no questions asked. I also love that there is a parent dashboard that shows me what my kids are doing on their tablets while also allowing me to set time limits and manage educational goals.
A few other tips for easy travel? Have easy access to extra outfits, a little potty for potty trained tots, and more snacks than you think your kid can possibly eat. Road trips can be scary but I promise with the Amazon Fire HD8 Kids Edition Tablet it’s do-able and well worth it for a fun holiday trip!
Luckily for us (especially with how pregnant I’m going to be) we aren’t road tripping again this year and are staying put at home and letting others road trip to us. It’s hard not going to where I consider “home” for this amount of time but it’s for a good cause. Our next road trip will involve 2 toddlers and a newborn. Woah!
I’d love to hear more about your holiday travel plans and whether you have any tips you would add to this list below!
This is how my husband and I go traveling all the time with our toddler. When we go for a trip I always make sure that we carry out tablet for our toddler. Our 14 years old she is have her cellphone so they are pretty much entertain while riding.
My daughter was a toddler when these tablets for kids first came out. It made ALL the difference in how not-so-stressful our travels were!
Great tips! Our baby is on her way but this will be great for when we travel when she is older
We just got our kids Fire tablets for Christmas! I foresee a lot more road trips in our future.