We have just been on a 4 week camping/4WD holiday to Central Australia with our 3 sons aged 6, 8 and 9 years. The only electronic equipment the boys had were their music iPods and they rarely used them as we shared the music in the car. I had an iPhone but only used it for communicating with family & friends or for the weather.
We did 7,350km in the four weeks so there was a fair amount of driving but the boys looked out the window at the amazing wildlife and landscapes. They also had diaries to write and draw in and some puzzle books. Some of the visitor info
places had activity books free for children with the theme on that area such as spot an eagle, etc (
Coober Pedy was one of these).
I had a few car games we used such as I spy, and memory game: I went camping and took a ….. We had one audio book. I had made them
seat organisers so they had their treasures at close hand. Due to limited space they took only a small ‘monster truck’ and 2 small soft toys each as
well as drawing/ activity stuff.
We had some fruit, snacks and their water bottles in the car for when they got hungry.
They explored all the sights we visited, learned about the history and did lots of walks. When we arrived at a camping spot, they played with their friends or each other having a race to collect fire wood, creating a ‘
shop’ that sold bark and berries etc, climbing and sliding down sand dunes, collecting rocks, playing with their cars in the dirt. I don’t think I ever heard the phrase ‘I am bored’. I have since heard them talking about all the things they saw and learned – they took in a lot more than I thought they would – overall a great experience for them.