Nothing derails a family drive faster than the chorus of “Are we there yet?” repeated several times before you even hit the midpoint.
Keeping children occupied on long car rides is essential, but it doesn’t require buying a pile of new playthings or hauling a portable DVD player along. Below are 11 no-cost apps that can help make your upcoming road trip more peaceful.
11 Free Road Trip Apps for Kids
Load a few of these onto your phone or your child’s tablet to stave off backseat boredom. Don’t feel guilty about the extra screen time — each of these apps is also educational.
1. Hoopla
If your community library supports the Hoopla app, you can borrow audiobooks for free. There are hundreds of selections for youngsters and teens, including children’s audiobooks in Spanish. Hoopla also provides access to music, TV shows and movies — but you don’t have to tell the kids that.
2. OverDrive
OverDrive is another service that many public libraries offer at no charge. It’s comparable to Hoopla (and also includes streaming video). Check with your local library to see if it partners with this platform.
3. PBS Kids Games
For fans of shows like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts or Peg + Cat, PBS Kids Games is an ideal way to keep little ones amused. Kids can pick from numerous games featuring beloved PBS Kids characters and subtly build math, science and creative skills along the way.
4. Khan Academy Kids
The Khan Academy Kids app is built to make learning enjoyable for children ages 2 to 8. Kids can listen to stories, play interactive games, watch educational videos and complete activities to boost literacy and math abilities.
5. Duolingo
The Duolingo app gamifies language learning for kids (and adults), offering instruction in more than 25 tongues. It even features a Klingon course for Star Trek fans. This can be a family learning activity, since even with headphones on, kids may repeat words and phrases out loud.
6. Stories by Gus on the Go
This language-learning app leverages classic children’s tales to teach Spanish, French, Greek or Hebrew. Created as a follow-up to the original Gus on the Go app (which costs $3.99), it’s helpful for kids who already know some words in another language. It’s available only through Apple’s App Store.
7. Mad Libs
Parts of speech? Adjectives? Adverbs? Kids can practice choosing the correct word forms with the digital version of the classic Mad Libs game. The silly stories they produce will spark plenty of giggles in the back seat.
8. Money Pieces
This app from The Math Learning Center helps budding Savinliers grasp the value of various coins and bills while reinforcing basic math like counting and addition. The Math Learning Center also offers other complimentary apps for more advanced topics, such as fractions and geometry.
9. Geo Touch
A road trip is a great chance to teach kids some geography. Young explorers can learn about U.S. states, capitals, state flags and countries worldwide with the GeoTouch: Learn Geography app. This app is available to download via Apple’s App Store only.
10. Toontastic 3D
Kids can tap into their storytelling skills with this free offering from Google. With Toontastic 3D, they can sketch and animate characters, devise a storyline and narrate the dialogue.
11. ScratchJr
ScratchJr enables kids to build their own stories and games using introductory coding — no prior experience required. Rather than passively watching a video game, they get to direct the action themselves.
Nicole Brown is a senior writer at Savinly.
