March 12, 2014

How to survive a long car journey with kids

Lets face it, kids can often be hard work especially when going on a long car journey. The familiar phrase “Are we there yet?” can often get irritating when its repeated by children what feels like a million times. Children’s attention span is not the same as an adults so in order to avoid this you need to keep them entertained. There are a few of ways to keep children entertained in a car whilst on long journeys, here are some of our favourites.

In-Car DVD Player

This is a simple concept in which a small screen goes in the backseats of your and plays dvds, it all depends how many and which DVD’s you get of course but the best thing to do is stock up on as many as possible. This option is quite expensive but great if you travel regularly as its a long term solution.

I Spy

Great little time waster, playing eye spy with kids keeps them surprisingly entertained for a little while, and it costs nothing. However it can become tedious and the kids can quickly get bored of the game but it will buy you a possible 30 minutes.

Backseat Bingo

Print off some bingo sheets, bring some pencils and put some numbers in a hat. Not too difficult to prepare and kids can be entertained with a small game like this for hours at a time, every games different even bring along small prizes which will make them want to win more making the game more popular with them.

21-Card Game

Often called hit or twist its a great game and all you need is a pack of cards. You can also play different games with cards but the most simple is probably 21, it will also keep the children entertained for a good amount of time as its quite competitive.

Board Games

Some board games are good to bring in the car as long as they dont contain too many small pieces that can easily be lost due to a bumpy ride, there are tons of board games kids can play like draughts or battleships.

Hangman

Hangman is another great game that keeps the kids guessing, it can keep them entertained for a good while as you can change the word and different things that will keep them enticed.

Or for the modern families among us, how about downloading a few games onto your tablet or mobile. If allowed, my son will spend hours trying to get a minnion to run and jump over obstacles or get a racing car around the track as fast as possible.