Thanksgiving marks the start of holiday road trips for my family. As much as I love traveling with my children, I’ve learned that road trips, short or long distance, can be stressful when children are “bored” in the backseat.

Thankfully, though, there are plenty of kid-friendly “on the road” boredom busters. Here are a few ideas:

1. Check out MomsMinivan.com, a site with 101 Car Travel Games & Road Trip Ideas for kids of all ages. This site even has free printable bingo cards!

2. Purchase your child a lap desk, like the Alex Desk to Go (a travel must-have in my family!).

3. Pack a bunch of small toys (preferably ones that encourage quiet play!), but don’t let your child play with them all at once. Along the way give your child a “new” toy, and swap out the old–this way you get more play mileage out of each toy.

4. Bring along movies. If you don’t mind allowing your children to watch a video or two along the way, portable DVD players have really come down in price and may be well worth the investment.

5. Load up on Music CDs. There’s nothing quite like driving with happy, singing children!