I can’t add to the “traveling with kids” thread as it’s archived so I thought I’d put a post up here for anyone who might be interested in how our family copes with the long car journeys – and also to find out about games you and yours might play in the car, or when
camping.
Our two are aged 12 and 9.
Here are some of the games we play.
“Spotto” (of course!)
Before the trip I make up extensive written lists for each person to “spot”.
Each has to be different or else arguing ensues as to who spotted it first.
Even Richard likes to have his own spotto list and becomes quite competitive.
For long trips more than one lot of spotto lists has to be made during the course of the journey so I make notes as we drive of future things to be added to lists.
In order to motivate them to keep looking – including Richard -after five things have been spotted and ticked off the list then a lolly is given as a reward.
Oh there are some rules we have had to make.
-No “spotting” while the car is stopped.
-It doesn’t count if something has been spotted while stopped and then when we start driving the person calls it out.
-No cheating by alerting someone else of something on their list.
It is however ok to gloat and point it out after the thing has been passed, but only if this doesn’t cause sulking and bad tempers. (Richard!)
“Three in a row”
Better for drives where there is some form of civilization.
A decision is made by each person as to what three “things” they want to choose.
For example – “Three white cars in a row” (Note – white cars are the easiest to spot three in a row of we’ve found!)
Or “three 4 wheel drives in a row”…etc
You can make it as complex as you like.
A lolly reward can be given for whoever wins, or a point system can be set up.
“The shopping trolley game”
This is a favourite of ours and by far the most competitive and “noisy”.
Better for if you are passing through towns as there are not many shopping trolleys to be spotted in
the desert.
We have a list of things needed to be spotted.
These are things we have often (or rarely) seen while on our journeys.
You could make up your own though but as a rough example of some of the things on our list…
A dead animal – 10 points
A shoe on the side of the road – 20 points
Undies on the side of the road – 50 points
A shopping trolley – 100 points
A lounge on the side of the road – 500 points
A cabbage on the side of the road – 1000 points (Yes we really did see one)
Once we hit a town the game goes into full swing with screams of “SHOPPING TROLLEY!” turning bystanders heads as everyone in the car becomes highly excited.
Richard screams the loudest.
Rules
– A smear on the road doesn’t count as a “dead animal”. There has to at least be bones and fur.
-Other people have to verify that the person who has seen something on the list really has!
-Shopping trolleys all grouped together in shopping car parks don’t count. They have to be being pushed along the side of the road or abandoned.
The tyre game.
Richard doesn’t really like me doing this but on our last trip I used a permanent marker to draw arrows around the car tyre with each of our names written next to them.
When the car stops the name that is closest to the bottom of the tyre (or top – whichever you please) wins a lolly.
(Note- this can sometimes create controversy as to who’s is REALLY the closest.)
Town initial game
Another easy one.
If you pass through a town and the town name starts with the same initial as your name you win a lolly (or point)
Too bad if your name is Xavier.
The “quiet” game
Our favourite and surprisingly (because of the competitive nature of our two kids) it does sometimes work!
Whoever can NOT make a sound – not even a giggle or a grunt, until the next stop, wins a lolly (or maybe a handful!)
Rule- I do not accept written notes or interpret hand signals.
What (or who) am I?
You would all probably know this one.
Someone thinks of an animal or famous person and the rest try to guess by asking questions to which the person can only answer yes or no.
No rewards given for this game – the winner gets the next turn.
Collecting treasures game.
Not so much a car travel game but a game for a long trip where you’ll be stopping to
camp etc.
A list of treasures to be found… (and kept as souvenirs)
Examples ;
An emu feather.
Eagles feather
Bright coloured feather
A rock that looks like crystal
Beautifully coloured rock (competitions on who finds the prettiest can follow)
A piece of old broken crockery with patterns on it.
An old horse shoe (if you’re very lucky – but not to be taken from any historic site)
An old hand made nail (same)
An animal (dead animals!) tooth ( we do tend to turn quite feral eventually)
A piece of old purple glass
A bullet shell/casing
Trivia games and riddles/brain teasers
I always scour the net for Trivia games and brain teasers prior to a trip and print them out to be used while traveling or round the campfire at night.
I also sometimes compile questions related to printed information that I have gathered for each place we will be visiting so the kids can absorb some of the facts/history of a place.
Activity book
I found this free downloadable activity book for the kids just the other day.
They seem enthusiastic about it.
http://printables.familyeducation.com/puzzles-and-games/travel-games/52125.html
Animal tracks
Another activity for when
camping.
I did a search on the net and found various drawings and photo’s of different animal tracks and printed them out for the kids to be able to look at and (hopefully) identify any animal tracks we might see around campsites and lunch stops etc.
Of course there are other old standards (but not I spy! That game is banned from the car!) – the memory game – “I went
camping and in my bag I packed a………..” etc and the various alphabet games – names of colours, foods, countries etc.
So if you have any other games to share – perhaps ones your family has made up, or modified along the way,
well we would welcome some new additions to our repertoire! :)
PS – for this next trip my kids have requested a set each of cowboys and indians along with farm animals and jungle animals - you know those small plastic figurine things you get from any $2 store?
In the past they have played for hours at campsites with these in the dirt building elaborate “camps” using twigs and rocks etc - with invasions and animal theft etc….
So simple, but amazingly amusing to them, even at this age!
With lack of space in the trailer a container each of these is quite reasonable – as long as they don’t end up in the sleeping bags!
We take no electronic games, MP3 players etc at all. Mean aren’t we! ;)
The only technology my kids are allowed this trip is the use of our Standard Definition video camera, which they will be using to film their OWN footage and make a “documentary” out of it when we get home.
We are taking our new High Definition camera, so by them being involved with their own filming it will hopefully stop them from becoming so bored when we are constantly stopping to film.
Even having their own camera to take photo's with is a good way to keep them involved with appreciating the scenery and something they can then show their teachers and school friends when they get home.
Tracy