Decorate a Road Trip Travel Binder for Tweens
Are we there yet? How much longer until we get there? Mom! He’s squishing me!
Not your idea of a fantastic road trip? Me either. That’s why I do my best to head off the whining before it has a chance to start with a road trip travel binder for tweens.
I’ve told you why we (mostly) don’t use electronics on road trips and try to use more old-school games and fun instead. Today, I’m showing you how we keep all our individual tween gear from spreading all over the car never to be found again.
It’s as easy as a 1/2″ white binder, a 3-hole punch, and some craft supplies.
How To Make a Road Trip Travel Binder
Start with an 8.5×11″ piece of cardstock and some flat embellishments. Travel-themed stickers, die-cut pieces, washi tape, and markers all work well for this project. They can be travel themed, or whatever extra supplies you have on hand.
I used pre-made travel cardstock cut-outs and washi tape for my example, and hand-cut the title from patterned paper. Have your tweens decorate their binder covers, and set the cover aside to dry if necessary.
While the cover is drying, the kids can 3-hole punch and fill the binders with travel activities. Include:
- printable travel scavenger hunts for long road trips.
- travel bingo and other travel games,
- blank paper for drawing.
- travel journal pages for each day of travel and vacation.
To contain maps, brochures, and other small souvenir doo-dads picked up along the way, hole-punch an 8.5×11″ manila envelope and add to the back of the binder.
If you have an artsy tween, adding a zipper pouch in the front of the binder to hold colored pencils is super helpful.
Don’t want to mess with crafting, but still want the functionality of a travel binder? Try this travel themed 3-ring binder that’s ready to fill.
With 15 minutes of craft and prep time, your tweens have a set of activities for your road trip to keep them busy and entertained without spending the entire trip connected to a screen.
Travel Binder Instructions
You can print these travel binder instructions, or save to your favorites by using the buttons in the instruction card below. The best part about this craft is that it can look however you want!
How to Make a Travel Binder
Make a travel binder to hold printable travel activities like scavenger hunts and contain memorabilia.
Materials
- 1/2" white 3-ring binder with front clear pocket
- travel themed craft supplies (paper, die-cuts, stickers, etc.)
- washi-tape
- cardstock
- clear 8.5x11 page protectors (optional)
Tools
- paper glue
- scissors
- 3 hole punch
Instructions
- Cut cardstock to 8.5x11 inches, or desired size.
- Glue die-cuts, or other travel embellishments to cardstock
- Use washi tape to add decorative elements.
- Punch holes in printable travel games (or use clear page protectors) and add inside binder.
- Punch holes in manilla envelope and add to binder.
- Slide decorated cover into front pocket.
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Until next time…
Carla
I love this idea! Thanks for joining!
I love this for older kids… but I could probably make something similar for my little guys as well!
Absolutely! They may need a little more help making a cover depending on their ages, but it works well for littler ones too.
This is such a great idea! Long rides can get boring very quickly, even with smartphones and tablets to keep us busy. Using a travel binder like this to prevent that from happening while keeping the activities relevant to the trip helps to keep your child involved in the journey and maybe even help boost their interest in the trip itself.
Thanks for this great resource. We are headed to Denver the day after Christmas and it’s an 8 hour drive. I think I’m going to make these for all my kiddos (age 13 down to 7) and wrap them up as a Christmas gift!
What a terrific idea! I’m going to try this on our next trip.