This summer we have taken a few long road trips and we have a couple of more coming up. Keeping the kids at peace in the car is a primary goal. They're older now, it should be easier you say - not quite - they tend to be fidgety, fight with siblings more, sleep less and not amused when you sing to them. I'm passing on to you some words of wisdom and a couple of games, I hope will help you on your trip.
ROAD TRIP - who's ready?
Games, yes they are primarily word games. I do not like games where there are pieces, with one exception, that can get lost in the car:
StorytellersSomeone says a sentence, "Once upon a time there was a boy with green hair." and then another person in the car adds a sentence, "He had a pink Turtle named George." Continue this way and you may get some interesting or funny stories. Warning: You may have to prepare your kids that the story may not go the way you planned, they must allow the story to take twists and turns. At first, my daughter thought she set up the story to take a natural turn, however it did not.
3-wordsYou can modify the Storytellers game above by telling participants they can only say 3 (or 2 or 4 or whatever) words instead of a whole sentence.
License PlatesEach time we take a trip - for that trip we keep track of the license plates we see. My kids usually say don't want to play but I keep track and they say, "oh hey mom there's Hawaii" - yes we found Hawaii once. They'll even read off the list for me while driving or write it down for me. It's also a great way to learn or remember the state's abbreviations. At the end of the trip we count up how many we found. If we found more than half, then it was a good trip :)
A my name is AnnieYes, we still play this classic game although this one is if they are really bored. For those of you not in the know it goes like this - you pick a letter, usually we take turns alphabetically and say our name, who our boyfriend is, where we come from and what we sell, all starting with the same letter. something like this ....
A my name is Annie and
my boyfriend's name is Al
we come from Alabama and
we like to sell Apples
StorytellersSomeone says a sentence, "Once upon a time there was a boy with green hair." and then another person in the car adds a sentence, "He had a pink Turtle named George." Continue this way and you may get some interesting or funny stories. Warning: You may have to prepare your kids that the story may not go the way you planned, they must allow the story to take twists and turns. At first, my daughter thought she set up the story to take a natural turn, however it did not.
3-wordsYou can modify the Storytellers game above by telling participants they can only say 3 (or 2 or 4 or whatever) words instead of a whole sentence.
License PlatesEach time we take a trip - for that trip we keep track of the license plates we see. My kids usually say don't want to play but I keep track and they say, "oh hey mom there's Hawaii" - yes we found Hawaii once. They'll even read off the list for me while driving or write it down for me. It's also a great way to learn or remember the state's abbreviations. At the end of the trip we count up how many we found. If we found more than half, then it was a good trip :)
A my name is AnnieYes, we still play this classic game although this one is if they are really bored. For those of you not in the know it goes like this - you pick a letter, usually we take turns alphabetically and say our name, who our boyfriend is, where we come from and what we sell, all starting with the same letter. something like this ....
A my name is Annie and
my boyfriend's name is Al
we come from Alabama and
we like to sell Apples
S - Stop
Another Alphabet gameAs we look outside the window, we try to look for words that start with the different letters of the alphabet on signs, bumper stickers, billboards, etc. Our rules (you may modify as necessary) are:
we have to go in alphabetical order - so you have to find a word that starts with D before you can look for a word that starts with the letter E.
The word has to be outside the car.
Board games without the boardTake trival pursuits cards with and read the questions, have everyone give an answer and then see who's correct. No competition, just answer questions. If you are looking for something different, try taboo - just bring the cards with you.
we have to go in alphabetical order - so you have to find a word that starts with D before you can look for a word that starts with the letter E.
The word has to be outside the car.
Board games without the boardTake trival pursuits cards with and read the questions, have everyone give an answer and then see who's correct. No competition, just answer questions. If you are looking for something different, try taboo - just bring the cards with you.
