Packing screens for every family trip can feel like the easiest way to keep the peace, but it isn’t the only option, and it often isn’t the most memorable one either. Anyone who has tried to shepherd young children through an airport or a long car journey knows that travelling as a family almost never goes entirely to plan, as plenty of parents will attest. However, with a handful of simple strategies, you can keep children engaged without reaching for a tablet and often lead to far better holiday memories.
1. Turn Exploring Into an Adventure
Children tend to switch off during sightseeing that feels like an adult itinerary, but the same walk or ruin can become exciting once it turns into a game. Setting a challenge, spotting a certain bird, counting how many different doors a street has, or hunting for a particular colour gives them a reason to look properly at what’s around them instead of trudging along behind the adults.
2. Choose Destinations With Plenty of Outdoor Activities
Time spent outdoors doing something physical tends to pay off well beyond the holiday itself. A 2025 study published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living found that children who spent more time on outdoor activities such as hiking reported better overall wellbeing and more consistent sleep than those who stayed largely indoors. Picking a destination with beaches to explore, trails to follow or water to splash about in gives children an outlet for their energy and makes the days feel shorter for everyone.
3. Encourage Creative Play
Not every activity needs equipment or planning. Building a sandcastle, collecting a pocketful of shells or scribbling in a travel journal can occupy a child for a surprising amount of time, and these small, low-key projects often end up being the moments they remember most fondly once the holiday is over.
4. Make the Most of Family-Friendly Facilities
Some of the pressure of keeping children entertained can be handed over entirely. An all-inclusive holiday can be particularly useful for families in this respect, since many resorts run children’s clubs, organised sports and treasure hunts that keep younger travellers busy for large parts of the day, leaving parents with a genuine chance to relax as well.
5. Let Children Take the Lead Sometimes
Handing over a small decision- which excursion to book, which pool to swim in first, and which ice cream flavour to try- can make children feel like active participants in the trip instead of passengers being dragged along. That sense of involvement tends to translate into far more enthusiasm for whatever comes next.
Travelling with children will probably never be entirely stress-free, but it doesn’t have to mean handing over a screen the moment things get quiet. A little structure, a lot of outdoor time and the occasional small decision left in their hands can turn a potentially tricky trip into one everybody actually enjoys.
DISCLOSURE – This is a collaborative post.
