It may be a cliché, but my kids really do start asking if we’re there yet about ten minutes into every road trip. One of the best ways to keep them quiet is to let them watch one of their favorite shows or movies on a tablet. Netflix has some great options that keep my kids entertained for hours.
The problem is that there’s no Wi-Fi in the car on a long road trip, so it requires a little planning ahead. Netflix lets you download shows and movies, but there’s only so much you can fit on a tablet. These are the shows and movies my kids simply couldn’t be without.
Is It Cake?
It’s way harder than it sounds
You’ve got to love a show that so boldly covers the entire premise in the title. Contestants compete to make cakes that look like realistic objects, and then a celebrity panel tries to answer one question. You guessed it: is it cake?
The show is hosted by Mikey Day, the SNL alum who deserves his place in history for co-writing the sketch that introduced the world to David S. Pumpkins. He wields a scarily large knife, which he takes to the collections of objects to see if they really are cake or not. My kids love the show, but it’s one that the adults can get a kick out of, too.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s underrated animated musical
Everyone raves about the music from Encanto, which was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame. To my mind, however, the music in Vivo is far superior.
Vivo is a Netflix original animation that tells the story of a kinkajou (a tiny raccoon-like mammal) called Vivo who befriends a young girl and helps her make a perilous journey from Cuba to Miami to deliver a love song to the old flame of Vivo’s now-deceased owner. The story is so-so, but the music is absolutely off the charts and includes vocal performances from Gloria Estefan that prove that she’s still got it.
Floor Is Lava
The lava may not be real, but the thrills are
We’ve all played the classic children’s game where you have to get from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor. Floor Is Lava is a show that recreates that game, but with adults instead of children, and real lava instead of a floor.
Okay, maybe not actual lava. Instead, the show uses a room filled with bright red gunk that’s deep enough for the contestants to really fall into. The rooms that they have to traverse are full of challenges and secret shortcuts, and it’s honestly highly addictive to watch. This is another show where adults are likely to have as much fun watching it as kids.
KPop Demon Hunters
The awesome music makes it a great rewatch
Even if you don’t have kids, you’d have to have been living under a rock not to have heard about KPop Demon Hunters. The Netflix Original animation has officially become Netflix’s most watched film of all time, with the combination of great animation and insanely catchy K-pop tunes proving to be a real winner.
My kids both love the movie, and each has their favorite song from the soundtrack, which we’re often forced to listen to in the car. I honestly don’t mind that much, because some of the songs are genuine classics. The great music makes up for the slightly bizarre plot and makes KPop Demon Hunters a movie my kids can watch over and over.
Henry Danger
My kids are obsessed with this superhero comedy
I have no idea how many times my kids have watched the entire run of Henry Danger from start to finish, but the fact that I’ve found them watching the same episode at least four times indicates that it’s probably too many to count.
The show follows a young boy who gets a part-time job as a superhero sidekick to the brilliantly named Captain Man. The plots are usually just an excuse to cram as many gags as possible into the show, and to my shame I’ve found myself laughing at them on more than one occasion.
There’s even a Henry Danger movie that came out in 2025, with the imaginative title of Henry Danger: The Movie. It’s currently streaming on Paramount+, which is an app they don’t have on their tablets, so this is one movie that they won’t be able to take with them.
The show ran for well over 100 episodes, so I don’t have to worry about them running out of stuff to watch. The real challenge is choosing which episodes to download for the journey.
Downloaded shows and movies can be a lifesaver
Not having Wi-Fi is every parent’s nightmare, but thankfully, by downloading shows and movies onto your kids’ tablets, they can watch their favorite Netflix shows on a long road trip without any kind of network connection. I don’t think my kids could go a day right now without watching at least one episode of Henry Danger, so that’s the first thing I’ll be adding.
