Are We There Yet? Activities to Keep Children Occupied on Road Trips

06/19/2013

Guest Post:

Are We There Yet?

Summer has always been known as the season for road trips. Whether you’re moving across the country, or heading out on a family vacation, there are some things you can do to make the trip enjoyable for everyone involved.

Travelling with children is never easy, but being in a car together for a number of days is certainly trying on everyone’s patience. Knowing that many of you may be planning a road trip with the children this summer, we thought it might be helpful to offer you some ways to keep the kids entertained.

Some simple games can help keep children interested in the environment outside, rather than them playing hand-held video games or watching movies. While games and movies are entertaining, it’s great for children to see the different scenery outside, especially if you’re travelling somewhere new.

I Spy

The game “I Spy” is a classic. This one doesn’t need any introduction, and it is a game that everyone can participate in.

Rest Stop Athletics

Being cooped up in a car for hours at a time can wear people down quite quickly. If possible, when stopping at a rest stop, or to fill up with gas; play a quick game of catch. If you don’t have the room to bring a football or baseball with you, organize races from one point to the other. As incentive for participation, perhaps the front seat is awarded to the winner until the next stop.

Scavenger Hunt – Travel Edition

During long road trips, its guaranteed that snacks or stops at recreations places will happen. As a way to provide the children with some spending money at these places, put together a checklist of items to watch for along the trip. Each item or thing would have a monetary value to it. You decide the value. For example, being the first one to see an eagle could be worth $.25. Being the first to see a Northwest Territories license plate could be worth $1. You decide the things to look for and the value associated with each one. Money would be spend on snacks anyhow, so this is a great way to teach children the value of money, simple mathematics, and also keeps them alert during the trip. The next time the children want a snack, have them pay for it themselves with the money they earned through this game. It also adds a bit of healthy competition to the trip.

I’m Thinking of an Animal Guessing Game

This game can be simple enough for young children or complicated enough to entertain teens. The first person gives clues of an animal they are thinking of and continues to give clues until someone guesses the animal. The person who guesses correctly takes the next turn.

There are plenty of other simple games to play in the car like “20 Questions,” “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” and “Thumb Wars,” to keep children entertained and help prevent the dreaded question that always happens in the car… “Are we there yet?”