I developed the concept for this iPad app to address the needs of parents with young children looking for things to do on long road trips. Mobile technologies are making it easier to get a child to sit still by staring at a screen playing Angry Birds, but it doesn’t feel very good to the parent who would rather their child engage with their surroundings.

Along for The Ride is an all-purpose road entertainment hub, which promises to turn lengthy car rides to grandma’s house into the nostalgic road trips of yore when kids looked out the window rather than down at the latest single player game. It combines classic road trip games with photo and trip documenting, journaling, fun facts, music, and social sharing, and provides parents with an iPad app they can feel good about buying for their children.

The home screen provides the logged in passenger with the trip information from the other sections of app, including counting stats, results of games played between riders, and photos and videos each member has taken.

The “car count” page helps keep track of anything passengers choose to count during their travels. Seeing the numbers go up and up is magically motivation enough for adults and kids alike to pay close attention to their surroundings. Everyone wants to be the one to spot the next hay stack.