Summer is here and with that comes holidays and days out; these trips can often involve long car journeys and ideas to keep the kids entertained as you travel are like gold dust!
Here are some of my favorite road trip activities and some of them provide a great opportunity to learn and develop new skills.
1. The Classic Game – Eye Spy
Eye spy is a great game for more than one person and is based on observation.
Players take it in turns to spy items and objects and the others try to guess this object based on the first letter.
It can sometimes be tricky, some objects might not be around too long if you’re in the car, but it is great fun and you’ll see the excitement with the kids as they try to guess and find something to spot!
Perfect for sunny or rainy weather, it’s probably not the best game to play in the fog though.
It will help develop observation and logic skills, as the kids spot an object and provide the letter-based clue and the other players have to use this clue to find the right answer.
2. Drawing
By remembering to pack a pad of paper and some drawing pencils you can keep the kids amused for hours.
I would recommend avoiding the use of felt tip pens and crayons (crayons have a habit of snapping and bits going everywhere) to limit the mess in the car; drawing pencils are my favored options.
Set your kids challenges by asking them to draw objects they see as you travel or just let their imagination run wild.
3. Road Trip Journal
A great new product I have seen for kids is a road trip journal.
This book has a number of different sections providing space to keep a holiday journal, a section of fun and games as well as coloring pages.
I like the idea that these can be provided for kids at the start of the holiday and they can update it, play the games and complete the activities over the holiday period.
A great option in my opinion for adults for are looking for road trip activities for kids across the holiday period.
4. Road Trip Bingo
This is a great game for kids to play as you travel; the game has a grid containing objects to look out for during the car trip which can be crossed off as they are spotted.
You can print off bingo sheets online or you could also make your own road trip bingo game and with a little forethought you could prepare a game that is relevant to the route you are taking!
5. Stories & Songs
Everyone loves a good story and many can now be bought on CD or even downloaded to MP3 players.
These can be great for very long car journeys and with a good selection of audio books now available you should be able to find a story suitable for all age ranges and tastes.
Sing-a-long CDs and MP3s are also great fun (the adults may soon find the attraction drops) but they are great for getting the kids involved and many of the songs that are available can also be educational – songs for developing alphabet and number skills are very popular.
6. The Modern Age
With so many kids computer literate (with skills that would shame me), smartphones and computer tablets such as the Leappad Ultra XDI tablet can be an option for long road trips.
Games, movies and music can be downloaded in advance and they can provide hours of entertainment and amusement.
I like to mix these activities up with others such as Eye Spy so that there is some interaction between everyone, as a kid on a smartphone can quickly become immersed in the technology!
I hope you find these ideas useful and if you are going on holiday this summer have a great time and I hope the sun is shining.
