Long road trips can be trying on both children and their parents. Children can become very restless and may start acting out as a result. This can become such a problem for the parents, especially while driving, it can also become unsafe. So what is a parent to do? Why not play games with your children to keep them occupied, so the time passes for them? There are a lot of great games that you can play with them, and it makes the drive a lot less stressful. Not sure what to play? Try some of these games.
1) Story telling. This is one of my favorites. My kids really enjoy this one you start off by saying a few lines, and then everyone in the car takes a turn in contributing a few more lines to the story. What makes it so fun is that it encourages the children to use their imagination, and you get to see how silly of a story you and your children can make up. It truly is a lot of fun. My kids even play it when we are just running errands.
2) Alphabet Game. This game is very versatile. depending on the age of your children you can adjust how you play. If you have children that are middle school age, and are good with names, states, cities, food, different types of jobs, you can play like this: “My name is Anna, I live in Alice Springs Australia, I like to eat apples and apricots on airplanes.” you can choose how you play but going through the alphabet. If you have younger children you may want to use animals, or have them find things out side of their window that start with each letter, billboards and signs count.
3) The License Plate game. The object of this game is to see how many different states you can see. If you have a pad of paper you can keep score and each person can look for different states, or colours. The person with the most wins.
4) Collect Cars. This game is more for older children. See how many makes and models of cars that each person can find and write them down. The person with the most wins.
5) Find It. This is a great game for young children of ages 2-6. You the parent come up with an item, and have the child find it as you’re driving, road signs and billboards count. So if you tell your child to look for a McDonalds, and they see the restaurant itself or the arch on a road sign, then they found it and you give them a item one to find.
6) Scavenger Hunt. This game is great for all ages. You can give them a list of things to find as the drive continues, for example: 1 cow, 1 church, 5 birds, and a lake.
7) I spy. This is a great game for the young kids, as long as you keep it simple.
8) Thinking of an Animal. Another great game for the younger children. You simply describe an animal until they guess what animal you are describing.
All of these games are a great way to keep your children occupied and making your drive a lot more pleasant. This will help keep boredom at bay while you continue your drive making it pleasurable and safe. Happy travels!
We would love to hear your ideas on fun games to play with the kids so please feel free to comment below …
Written by the School Mum Team
