Monday, July 2, 2012

Are we there yet? Keeping kids amused in the Car

Are we there yet? Keeping kids amused in the Car is a Guest Post by Francis Lawson.

Summer’s finally here and it can only mean one thing – road trip! Families everywhere will be taking to the motorways in the next few months to enjoy some short breaks while the weather’s good, but if you’re dreading the repeated questions of ‘are we there yet?’ from your kids, here are some fantastic ideas for keeping them amused.

1. Draw!

All kids are creative and most jump at the chance to do some colouring in or drawing. You should buy some colouring books for the journey and stock up on crayons, felt tips and pencils, or you could just supply your kids with a wodge of A4 paper to draw on. If you want to save money, you might even want to create your own colouring in by printing out some of the free kids’ colouring pictures you can find online.

2. Play word games

My sister and I are word game champions, and it all stems from the many family car trips we made as kids. I Spy was a favourite of ours, as was creating words out of the last three letters of vehicle number plates. Another one we loved was an alphabet game my dad showed us - you had to go through the alphabet and name something that started with the same letter, except you took it in turns to have a go and had to reel off every other word that had already been said. Suffice to say we never made it to Z.

3. Bring travel board games

Nowadays you can buy miniature board games that are designed for use when travelling. We used to have a mini Snakes and Ladders, Connect Four, and Guess Who? If you haven’t the money to buy travel board games, you could just set your kids to playing Noughts and Crosses or Hangman, or you could design a word search for them on the computer.

4. Take books with you

If your kids are old enough to confidently read by themselves, consider bringing some of their favourite books on the car journey. You should encourage your kids to read as much as possible as it’s a key skill for later life, and if it keeps them busy during long car journeys it’s definitely a plus!

5. In-car entertainment

If you’re planning on taking a fair few car trips in the future, investing in some in-car entertainment for the kids could be a great idea. You can now get in-car DVD players that your kids will love – they’ll be able to watch all of their favourite films and they’re sure to be kept busy for the entire car journey. Handheld games consoles like the Nintendo DS and the PS Vita would also do the job of keeping your kids quiet.

How do you keep your kids amused on long car journeys?

Francis Lawson is a freelance writer specialising in holiday hints and tips such as wonderful holiday parks throughout the UK and amazing weekend breaks.



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