Fun Ideas That Will Keep Your Kids Amused On A Long Journey
The summer school holiday will soon be upon us and for many families here in the UK, this often means a vacation with the kids. Argh!!!! That was probably your first thought as a parent, especially those of you with young children. You booked the holiday with excitement but as the date approaches, your joy is fast turning into dread as you imagine the hassle, stress and worry of travelling with kids.
Anyone with kids knows how hard it can be on a long journey – the same questions coming from the back every 15 minutes such as “Are we there yet?”, “I need the toilet!”, “I’m hungry!”, “I’m thirsty!” or “I’m bored!” can make you feel stressed and wish you’d never set off in the first place.
According to a report carried out in the UK last year, around 25% of parents avoid booking a family holiday because of the stress of travelling with kids, whilst 6% of families made it the their destination only to return home earlier than expected.
Read our Top 6 Best Car Games For Kids – ensuring a happy journey during the summer holidays for everyone!
With this is mind, the secret to a successful journey with kids is to be prepared. That means parents need to think ahead and pack as much as they can for all eventualities. Buying drinks and snacks in advance is a good idea and means you don’t have to keep stopping, plus you can buy them cheaper at a supermarket instead of paying motorway service prices.
To reduce the amount of times they ask the “Are we there yet?” question, the one which parents dislike hearing the most on a long journey, make sure the kids are kept entertained for as much of the journey as possible. You could let them carry a few of their favourite toys to play with or books if they enjoy reading, or as many of us are tech savvy these days and so too are the kids, why not browse the app store before the journey to find ones that will keep the kids amused.
Of course, this means you have to remember to charge up their hand-held devices before you depart and to prevent them from running out, make sure you take the charger with you or face the consequences!!
There are also many games you can play as a family on a long car journey that don’t rely on keeping a charge – they’re fun, amusing, highly entertaining and most of all, they make the time go quicker whilst allowing peace to remain.
To help all you parents or grandparents out there who’ve got a holiday with the kids or grandkids booked this summer, we’ve complied our very own Top 6 Best Car Games For Kids to play that will surely help keep the elders in the front sane and the kids in the back happy. Good luck!
Our Top 6 Best Car Games For kids:
1. I Spy – an old trusted favourite that’s been played by families for years. The rules are simple – one person starts by choosing an object they can see and then says, “I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with…” stating a letter of the alphabet.
Everyone else in the car must look around to try and guess the object. The one who guesses correctly is the next to choose.
2. I Went To The Shops… – a fantastic memory-based game that will test everyone in the car. The person who starts the game says, “I went to the shops and I bought…”, and then chooses something that begins with the letter ‘A’. Every one else then takes turns but must go through the alphabet in order and has to repeat the person before them’s choice first and then their own.
Each person must do this for every letter of the alphabet. See how long you can go for before hilarious confusion sets in!
3. Restaurant Race – each person chooses a restaurant such as Burger King, Kentucky, McDonalds, Pizza Hut etc.. players then earn points every time they see their choice off the road, on a road sign, food/fuel sign, exit markers or hear them mentioned on the radio.
Limit the game to say half an hour, then add up the points to see who’s won. Maybe the winner gets to go to their chosen restaurant for lunch – yummy!
4. Counting Cows – an easy game but fun for all the family. Simply shout out “cow” or “moo” every time you pass a cow in a field and the first person to shout out gets a point.
Set a time limit and count up the points at the end to see who the winner is.
5. Number Plate Game – first of all, every one looks for a registration plate on another vehicle. Each player must then try to make a word using these letters. The longer the word, the more points you get.
To make it more interesting, parents only score points for words of more than six letters – kids are very competitive remember, so they’ll love this rule!
6. Yellow Bellies – you don’t see many yellow cars on our roads, so this game can last for a while! When you do see one, shout out “Yellow Bellies” and the first one to shout out scores a point, plus you get a point for every passenger in the yellow car. The winner is the first one to ten.
So there you have it, plenty of ideas to keep the kids entertained on a long journey – happy, contented kids and as a result, very, very, very happy parents or grandparents!
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