15-07-2025
The Wiggles launch Backseat Brainiacs to combat children screen time on road trips
Road trips with children can be tough at the best of times, with parents usually resorting to screen time to occupy restless kids on the road.
However, Australian parents have revealed their children now spend a staggering amount of their time on tablets and smartphones, prompting children's music group The Wiggles to push for change.
'We live in a digital world,' mum and red Wiggle, Caterina Mete, told 7NEWS.
'So children need to be familiar with that, but it shouldn't be everything.'
Mete said she didn't know what to anticipate when it came to navigating screen time as a new mum after giving birth to her twin girls, Dolly and Gigi, in 2024.
'I didn't know what to expect,' she said.
'I know it can help a lot for parents to have a screen.
'Especially if they need to have a shower. I know that helps me.
'But I think also just making sure that you monitor it, and it's a healthy amount, and it is not overdone because children love to play.'
Most Australian children spend more time on screens than is recommended, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Estimates from primary research suggest only 17–23 per cent of preschoolers and 15 per cent of five-to-12-year-olds meet screen-time guidelines.
In an attempt to curb the screen time trend, The Wiggles has partnered with car rental company Thrifty to launch Backseat Brainiacs, a screen-free car game aimed at reducing the amount of screen time for kids on road trips.
'There's a staggering amount of screen time used in cars, and it's nice if we can just get away from that a little bit and just look at the beauty of nature,' Mete said.
'(Backseat Brainiacs) makes car rides more engaging for the children in an interactive and fun family way.
'Children have got the best imaginations. They come up with such wonderful things, and being able to do that in a car ride is pretty special, I think.'
The Wiggles activity pack includes memory card matching games, a road trip scavenger hunt, and the listen-along Backseat Brainiacs audio quiz read out by The Wiggles.
'There's a scavenger hunt where children can tick off things they've seen on the car ride,' Mete said.
'It might be, you know, a kangaroo, and they can tick that off, and it keeps them looking out the window and looking at the Australian landscape and beautiful of always relying on screens.'
Mete said her favourite road trip game as a kid was 'I spy'.
'It's still a great game for children. You know, it's a game that will last forever.'
Damien Shaw, Vice President at Thrifty Asia Pacific, said they wanted to create something that turns the car ride into a shared experience for the whole family.
'As a parent, I know how tough it can be to keep children engaged on long drives,' he said.
'With Backseat Brainiacs, we wanted to offer something that goes beyond the usual screens and snacks.'
Backseat Brainiacs and the accompanying The Wiggles travel packs will be available from July 14 at participating Thrifty Car Rental locations across Australia and New Zealand
Non-Thrifty customers can head to or to download and print off the road trip scavenger hunt or access a link to the Backseat Brainiacs audio quiz.
