Road Trip!

This Labor Day weekend, 31.4 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles to reach their destination, according to the AAA. If you're one of them, take steps to avoid saying, "Don't make me stop this car," or hearing, "Are we there yet?"

Chat. It's old-fashioned but fun. "Car rides can be great experiences for families who use the time to actually talk with one another," says Dr. Elizabeth Berger, a child psychiatrist and author of Raising Kids with Character. Before your trip, make a box of "conversation starters." Fill it with slips of paper containing questions. ("What place would you most like to visit?" "Which historical figure would you like to meet?" "Who would you rather eat dinner with—Taylor Swift, Betty White, Barack Obama, Snooki, or Kim Kardashian?") Then passengers can take turns giving their answers.

Bring up the history of Labor Day. Don't groan! Hold an informal family discussion about the struggles involved in the U.S. labor movement or about the reason you chose your job, says Berger. "This conversation is not a scripted curriculum or lecture." To bone up before the trip, look at the U.S. Department of Labor's guide to the history of Labor Day. (In 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday.) Ask your teens what they think about labor unions.

Crank up the tunes. Before your trip, get someone to check the Billboard top 100 (No. 1 is Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie") and the iTunes sales chart (No. 1 is Tiao Cruz's "Dynamite"). Take turns being the D.J. and getting the rest of the passengers to play name that tune with the songs you "spin." Or you could listen to driving-related songs: Radar Love's "Golden Earring" ("I've been driving all night, my hand's on the wheel"), Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55," Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again," and Neil Young's "Long May You Run" (a love song to his car, with its "chrome heart shiningin the sun"). If the gas tank gets low, play Jackson Brown's "Running on Empty." For more ideas, see NPR's list of 95 songs for driving on I-95.

Play car games. Compete to find license plates for all 50 states. Do "20 questions." (Someone comes up with an object, and the others ask, "Is it bigger than a watermelon?"). Or play the "alphabet game," and shout out letters, in order, as you find them on road signs. Try the word game "ghost." Or try the "geography game." Someone says a place name ("Kansas"), and the next person says another place that begins with the last letter of that word  "San Francisco"). (You can do versions of this game with songs, movies, and famous people, not just places.) Bring along Trivial Pursuit. If all else fails, remember that both younger kids and teens like to wave at truckers to see if they'll honk or wave back (or at least smile).

Listen to audiobooks. Stock up on CD's or tapes. Good ones: the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series. (Last week Scholastic released the final Hunger Games title, Mockingjay, in print and audio editions.) A variation: you can take turns telling classic or made-up stories.

Take hourly breaks. Stop to go to the bathroom—or to get a cone at DQ. "Teens are not wired like adults," says Berger. "They are more likely than adults to feel at the end of their rope during sedentary activities."

Plan some unusual longer stops. For dinner, branch out from fast-food chains. To find winners, check out Jane and Michael Stern's roadfood.com. Or try an off-beat museum. If you're driving by Independence, Mo., check out Leila's Hair Museum. And if you're passing Austin, Minn., stop by the Spam Museum.

Bring along small, inexpensive presents. Fill a pillowcase with wrapped "gifts"—Starburst, a pack of sugarless gum, Mad Libs. Each hour, on the hour, a different passenger gets to reach in and pick something to open.

Talk about your destination. Don't oversell it, though. Remember Walley World, the amusement park in National Lampoon's "Vacation"? Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold) spent the whole movie raving about the place, which is closed when the family arrives.

Get your kids to track gas mileage. Teens can do the math with paper and pencil. Or they can use the AAA's fuel cost calculator. Mention how you get the best results if you don't speed.

Change seats. Stop the car and get everyone (including the driver) to move clockwise to a new spot in the car.

Bon voyage.

For more stories about good family activities, read:

Get Lost (in a Labyrinth or a Maze)

14 Fun Family Fitness Activities

How to Make Like Bono and Volunteer

Road Trip: Beyond iPods and DVD's, How to Survive Long Family Car Rides