How to Keep the Kids Entertained on a Long Car Trip
You may have already planned long ago for your kids to visit their grandparents who are living hundreds of miles away from your place, or your kids may have been asking if you can go to some out of town attraction that they may have heard from their schoolmates who had a fun time there. Thus, you and your kids packed all of your things and get yourselves in your car. But only 30 minutes has passed, and your kids are already pestering you with this question: Are we there yet? To make your kids stop from asking that question, here are some tips on how you can keep them entertained while you’re all embarking on a long car trip:
1. Have your kids play License Plate Lingo
It’s License Plate Lingo – not Bingo. So in case you mistakenly bought a set of bingo cards to bring along with you on your car trip, you would want to save that one for another time as License Plate Lingo simply involves deciphering the meaning behind all those letters in the license plate of the vehicle in front of you.
● Your kids’ creativity and imagination is put to the test once they play a few rounds of License Plate Lingo as they have to come up with the most original or funniest meaning behind a fellow driver’s license plate letters.
● To make License Plate Lingo more challenging for your kids, you should ask them to play this game without using the Internet on their smartphones. You might even find yourself surprised at how expansive your kids’ vocabulary has become.
2. Bring some books for your kids to read
If your kids aren’t that fond of playing games, you can ask them instead to read a bunch of books that you also brought along for your long car trip.
● You should make sure though that the books that you’ll be bringing along are those that are within your kids’ current vocabulary and reading comprehension level.
● You might want to ask your kids for input as well on what books they feel like they could confidently finish as fast as they can so that you know which ones you should buy for them.
● But in case your kids easily fall asleep while in the middle of reading a book, you can download some kid-friendly audiobooks on their smartphone and ask them to listen to those.
● Your kids’ school textbooks don’t count for your long car trip, sorry.
3. Create a scavenger hunt checklist
You would want your kids to enjoy the various sights and sceneries that they’ll be encountering while you’re all on your long car trip. To accomplish that, you can make a scavenger hunt checklist where your kids are supposed to look for certain items that they might come across during your entire travel.
● You should make sure that the items listed in the scavenger hunt checklist that you made are those that your kids can easily spot.
● The scavenger hunt checklist itself should also be easy to complete so that your kids can feel some sense of accomplishment if they found all the items you’ve listed there.
4. Print out a set of “Would you rather” cards
The word “dilemma” originally referred to a situation wherein a person has to make a choice only between one and the other option. You can let your kids learn the original meaning of the word “dilemma” too by printing out a set of “Would you rather” cards, each card containing a question in the form of “Would you rather (option A) or (option B)?”
● The author behind the educational blog “The Measured Mom” has come up with the idea of making a set of “Would you rather” cards for her kids after a game that she and her sister had played while embarking on a few cross country trips of their own.
● The Measured Mom had originally prepared 100 “Would you rather” cards for anyone who has kids aged two to eight years old. However, you can expand on it and add some “Would you rather” questions of your own as long you make them interesting enough and appropriate for your kids to play.
The attention span of kids between the ages of two and ten years old typically lasts less than a full hour. Unfortunately, it may take more than an hour for you to drive from your house to either your relative’s place or some other faraway destination depending on factors that are out of your control. While you can most probably handle the boredom that comes with driving, your kids may not be able to cope with it. Before you know it, they’re already throwing tantrums at you for tagging them along. You would, therefore, want to start doing the things listed above that can keep your kids entertained while on a long car trip so that they can enjoy traveling with you.
If you and your kids are involved with any type of accidents while on the road, you can check this website to know what you should do legally.
Sabrina Wright
Sabrina Wright is a vibrant young law writer currently writing her next big project. Her modern outlook on the law field is reflected on her informative pieces. Sabrina loves cooking and often invites her friends over for barbecue.