Do you have a long trip coming up, and are worried about your kids having no activities to do?? Don’t worry, my brothers and I have definitely been bored before, especially with all our plane flights and bus trips!! Here are a few activities you can do to entertain your kids with on long trips.
1. Contest Marathons
Activity: Hold a contest between your family, eg. a spelling bee, trivia contest or maybe a contest to see who can see certain items during your trip (like cows, trucks, birds, etc.). Winners could earn stickers, small toys, food treats, money, or maybe more stay-up-late time.
What you need:
Paper, pencils / crayons
Prizes for the winners of the activities you do (optional)
2. The Alphabet Game
Activity: Pick a topic, or have your kids pick a topic (If you have older kids, try something tricky like countries, but an easy one for younger kids is animals.) and then pick a letter (lets say we picked C for the animal category) and then everyone has to name animals that start with that letter, like cat, chameleon, crocodile. If you get stuck and can’t think of any more, change the letter or the topic and start again. Try letting your kids take turns on picking the topic, as doing this will make it more fair and entertaining when they get to pick a topic of their interest.
You could modify this by bringing paper and pencils, and instead of calling it out, they could write down as many things as they can that fit that topic / letter and whoever has the most in each topic / letter wins that round, and you could possibly include a prize. You could even take this further and have your kids keep tally of how many rounds they have won and include a grand prize for the big winner at the end.
What you need:
Prizes (optional)
Paper and pencils / pens (optional)
A cheat sheet that has some category ideas, animal names, countries, etc. if you get stuck (optional)
3. Travel Journals
Activity: Give each of your kids journals, and get them to write down what they feel, think and see along the trip. You could even give them spending money and stop at a few roadside shops to get postcards, souvenirs, pictures, etc. to go with their journal.
You could modify this in several ways. If they have a device they could get an app and keep their writing in there. Another thing you can do is to get them to take pictures or record videos of interesting things along the way to keep a record of the trip. Also, you could get them to start a collection related to the trip. It could be anything; coins, postcards, souvenirs, etc. These are great activities for children who love writing and/or collecting!!
What you need:
Any of the following – Journals and pens, an electronic device or laptop, a camera (could be a cheap camera, or one with a film that you can get printed out later).
4. Magnetic Activities- Who Ever Thought of it??
Activity: These are easy activities and typically cheap. Get a few of those small magnetic board games from the store. They’re normally small, compact and easy to use. Some examples are magnetic chess, magnetic checkers, magnetic tic-tac-toe, etc. The best thing about these is, if there’s a bumpy road or flight, the pieces won’t get knocked over, thanks to the magnets!!
What you need:
A few dollars
5. Window Drawings
Activity: Grab some washable window markers at the store, along with an old rag or cloth and maybe a spray bottle filled with water. These will keep kids occupied for a long time, and they are washable so they will come off without any problems. They make great activities for any creative child. Just tell them to keep clear of the back window and the windscreen then you’re done! Just note, this activity is best for private vehicles, so steer clear of these on planes, trains and buses…!!
What you need:
Washable window markers
An old rag or cloth
A spray bottle filled with water (Recommended… not needed, but just to make clean-up easier).!!
6. Group Storytelling
Activity: Have someone in the family create an interesting sentence to begin with. Then, you could go to the next person and they would continue the story from the first sentence, with a rotating order so everyone gets a turn. (It should be like this, for example: One day, a boy called john went to the zoo … His parents brought him a chocolate ice-cream … Then, John fed the ice-cream to the lions!! … You would never guess what happened next! … etc etc.). If you like you can mix it up a little by getting whoever’s turn it is to point to a random family member to continue, just to randomise it more.
What you need:
Pen and paper (optional, if you want to write it instead of tell it)
7. Silence, Sweet Silence!!
Activity: If all else fails, play the classic ‘See who can be the quietest for the longest’ game. It is a real winner with loud, noisy trips and most kids enjoy the challenge of trying to be the quietest. You can set your own boundaries and rules with sounds and noises, eg. purposeful noises count, sneezes don’t, etc. You could even turn it into elimination game, so whenever someone breaks the sound rules you set, they are out for that round and can come back in the next round. For extra motivation, throw in some prizes for the winners of each round. You could even modify these quiet activities like for example if you’re in a pool, play this game, except make it a competition to see who can make the least splashes. These sort of activities are endless to recreate!!
What you need:
Prizes (optional)
Do you know any more fun family activities you can do while travelling?? Share them in the comments as they may be helpful!! You could also check out THIS WEBSITE for more fun activities.