This series of travel posts are long overdue. Back in May I put together a bunch of DIY’s and activities for traveling with kids. In early June I was one of two moms taking five children (ages 8, 7, 5, 2, and 2) on a TWENTY hour road trip (one way) all in one vehicle. Anticipating that trip was my motivation for this DIY Dollar Tree Travel Racetrack for Kids.
I am happy to report we survived the trip and I am here to tell the tale. My goal was to keep them busy without a ton of screen time. The kids did do many of the activities prepped and mostly enjoyed them. However, with two families merging and so many different personalities screen time was an activity we definitely used and I would NEVER advocate a trip such as this without it. Seriously, how did our parents survive!?
You can view a short clip of how it works here on my Lovensthelife Channel.
For more ideas check out my other posts from that trip below.
DIY Travel Entertainment for Kids
Tips for Travel with Toddlers and Early Grade-schoolers
DIY Dollar Tree Travel Tray and Supplies Caddy for Kids
Travel Racetrack
This DIY is simple and inexpensive to put together. I purchased nearly all of the items needed from the Dollar Tree. Each will cost roughly $4-6 to create depending on what you have on hand and what you need to purchase.
There are also multiple ways you could do this with things you probably already have lying around. I will share a few alternatives I considered as well.
Items needed
- Binder from Dollar Tree
- Pencil Case (Dollar Tree)
- Cars (Dollar Tree)
- Velcro
- Hole punch
- Cardstock, regular paper, laminated paper, or paper in binder sleeves
- Dry Erase Marker, Regular Markers, and/or Masking or Painter’s Tape
- Binder ring if using tape
Steps for Assembling the Travel Racetrack
First up is choosing if you will use •card stock with tape •regular paper and binder sleeves (or laminated paper) with dry erase markers •paper with regular markers or •another combination not mentioned.
Cardstock and tape is what I chose as it was inexpensive, on hand, and I thought it would be a nice break from markers since many of the other activities were centered around that. I added a binder sleeve in the back in case one of the kids really loved it they had a surface that the tape would peel off of.
Next, I used a three hole punch on the cardstock paper. Before placing it inside the binder I cut a slit in the bottom hole. I wanted it that way so that it could be folded up when on the right side of the binder where the car case would be or down when on the left side of the binder.
Next, I used velcro dots to attach the pencil case to the bottom right of the binder. I used three of them spaced across the back.
Then I added some cars to the pencil case and attached the tape inside the binder with a binder ring.
Finally, I added a piece of velcro to hold it shut.
For the little guys I just taped some roads using Sharpie for the lines. The older kids saw the nicely cut tape and wanted scissors to cut their tape. Go figure.
Super easy and great for on the go.
I would love to hear if you gain inspiration from this post and put together your own DIY Dollar Tree Travel Racetrack for Kids.
HAPPY TRAVELING
