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Kids Road Trip Playlist (that won’t drive parents crazy)

Welcome to this month’s Blogorail Peach Loop. Today we are exploring fun you and your family can have on a road trip and a few tips.


It’s that time of the year again. The Cameron family is about to hit the road for our annual summer road trip. Our family has road tripping with kids down to a science. We’ve perfected the right kind of gear to take along.  We’ve made sure to stock the car with plenty of activities for our kids to do. Each time we head out on a new trip we try to add a little something extra. This year, we’re stepping up our music game by creating the ultimate Kids Road Trip Playlist.

Not Your Average Kids Music

Music for kids doesn’t have to be only Barney and Kid Bop. No disrespect, but 3 hours of “Old McDonald Had a Farm” is enough to drive you batty. Road trips are about spending time as a family and enjoying the journey together. Road trips were made for singing along and busting out your best car dancing (seated of course). With parental digression, it’s possible to find a ton of kid-friendly mainstream tunes that are fun for the whole family.

When building our family’s road trip playlist, I kept a few things in mind. I wanted to have songs my kids could sing along to, so I included songs from their favorite movies. I also wanted to choose songs that brought back good memories for James and me, so I included some throwbacks and retro tunes. Of course we had to include some Disney favorites as well.

Kids Road Trip Playlist

Kids Road Trip Playlist

Here’s are some song suggestions for your playlist that your kids will love and won’t drive you crazy.

  • Life is a Highway- Rascal Flatts (Cars Soundtrack)
  • Try Anything- Shakira (Zootopia Soundtrack)
  • Purple People Eater- Sheb Wooley
  • Good Time- Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
  • Happy- Pharell
  • Starfish and Coffee- Prince
  • Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride- Lilo &Stitch Soundtrack
  • Can’t Stop the Feeling- Justin Timberlake
  • What Time Is It?- High School Musical 2 Soundtrack
  • September- Earth, Wind and Fire
  • Roam- B52s
  • Better When I’m Dancing- Meghan Trainor
  • On Top of the World- Imagine Dragons
  • Party Rock Anthem- LMFAO
  • Strangers Like Me- Phil Collins (Tarzan Soundtrack)
  • Best Day of My Life- American Authors
  • When Can I See You Again- Owl City (Wreck It Ralph Soundtrack)
  • You Might Think- Weezer (Cars 2 Soundtrack)
  • Moving Right Along- The Muppet Movie Soundtrack
  • Holiday- Madonna
  • Party in the USA- Miley Cyrus
  • Don’t Stop Believin’- Journey
  • All Star- Smash Mouth
  • The Lion Sleeps Tonight- The Tokens
  • Walking on Sunshine- Katrina and the Waves
  • We Go Together- Grease Soundtrack
  • Celebration- Kool and the Gang
  • Funkytown- Lipps Inc
  • ABC- The Jackson 5
  • Keep Your Head Up- Andy Grammer

Kids Road Trip Playlist

In the days leading up to your road trip, play the compilation a few times. That way the kids are familiar with the music and are ready to belt it out. These tunes will be sure to help the miles fly by.

Like the songs you see here? I built this awesome playlist (with a few more songs included) over on Spotify.

What are your favorite road trip songs?

For more family road trip ideas,
check out the other great posts from the Blogorail!

Here is the map of our Blogorail Peach | Family Adventure | Road Tripsl

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Jennifer Kaufman

Saturday 1st of April 2017

YES YES YES! If I could like this a hundred places I would. From the time you could burn CDs I have made very intentional road trip (or event) playlists, and as you alluded, there's no way we were having Raffi and Barney on hours-long trips :) I think your list is great!

Lisa Cameron

Monday 3rd of April 2017

Thank you! Even when my kids were little, we didn't resort to traditional kids music (we loved the Rockabye Baby CDs). So they've grown up listening to a wide variety of songs, many that are on this list.

Family Adventure | Road Trips - The Blogorail

Thursday 30th of March 2017

[…] Kids Road Trip Playlist (That Won’t Drive Parents Nuts) with Adventures in Familyhood […]

T.M. Brown

Wednesday 10th of August 2016

Love this list! I'll have to take a lot of these songs into serious consideration for our travel playlist (though we have older ones, so Old MacDonald hasn't been an option for years).

Kiz

Tuesday 9th of August 2016

This is amazing! Thank you!

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