Easter: Games To Play In The Car
 Kids
and car travel aren't always the greatest combination but with a little
imagination complaints and bored youngsters on the back seat can be tempered
with a variety of solutions.
Here are just a few ways you can keep kids busy
and interested and actually make it fun to travel as a family.
- Games
Playing games en route helps to pass
the time and amuse kids.
Twenty questions
One person thinks of a famous person, place or thing. Everyone else
is allowed to ask the player 20 questions which can only be answered
'yes' or 'no'. Whoever guesses correctly gets a turn to think up something.
- Counting cows
This can be played as individuals or in teams. First, decide on a destination
where you will stop counting. Then, count the cows on your side of the
road. The winner is the person with the highest number of cows once
the destination has been reached.
- Geography
Think of a place in the world, England for example. The next player
has to think of a location with the last letter of England, Denmark
for example.
- Rock, paper, scissors
Both players put their hands behind their backs. After counting to three,
both turn their hands into a rock by making a fist, a piece of paper
by holding the hand flat or a pair of scissors by making a scissor shape
with their fingers. The scissors beats the paper because it cuts them,
paper beats the rock because it can wrap it up and rock beats scissors
because it makes them blunt.
Getting wired
Taking videogames and a couple of stereo walkmans
will combat boredom and restlessness and make the journey time a lot smoother.
Although parents shouldn't encourage their children to get addicted to
videogames, an hour in the car will make the journey seem quicker. Kids
generally love music and a couple of personal stereos will allow each
of the kids to listen to music of their choice. Audiotapes are also an
interesting and educational companion to journey time and books and stories
will feed their imagination en route.
On the road play stops
Try and make service station stops every so often
so the kids can expend any pent-up energy. Taking a football or frisbee
with you in case you stop near a park or large space and playing with
them for half an hour should relax them and make the remaining journey
time easier.Planning the trip with your kids
Get your children involved in planning the trip
with you. Ask them to research destinations and include sights/places
that they would like to visit. Showing them the route on a map and asking
them to point out places you have discussed should also make them feel
a lot more involved in the journey. Show interest in what your kids want
to see and make sure you allot time on the itinerary to visit their places
of interest.
Spot the city
Ask the kids to make a list of cities
between your home and destination. Get them to tick off each city as you
pass it. This will make the journey time more interesting and help them
to see how close they are getting to the final destination.
Presents in the car
For younger children, wrap a few presents up as
a reward for good behaviour. These can be anything from a T-shirt to a
travel game or a disposable camera that they can use to take photos of
the trip.
Scrapbooks and postcards
Buy them a scrapbook and encourage them
to write or draw pictures of anything they see on the journey. Buy them
a postcard and ask them to write about what they find most interesting
on the trip. These will make lovely momentos for friends and family.
Drinks and snacks
Pack a cooler with fun snacks for children
like juice boxes, string cheese and fruit snacks. Carrying little snacks
and drinks along the route means you don't have to stop every time they
are hungry or thirsty.
Clothing
Children get restless and hot during road
trips and often take off layers of clothing. Bring along an empty bag
so that they can put their shoes and sweaters in when they have shed them.
This will ensure items are easy to find when it's time to make stops along
the way.
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