"Are we there yet?" As parents, you probably remember the bonding experiences and lasting memories from your own childhood road trips. You may not remember exactly
how your own parents dealt with the inevitable boredom that children can experience on long car rides. You also don't want your kids to spend the entire holiday road trip with their heads bent over their tablet computers or phones. These non-electronic travel games can make your car rides as memorable as the people and places you plan to visit when you stop. With just a bit of preparation, you can make the car ride fun and engaging with these 3 road-trip games for your family:
The License Plate Game. If your children are old enough to read, they can have fun and even learn a bit of geography with the kid-tested license plate game. You can find printable maps of the United states at The National Map, a government website. Give the players a crayon or marker to mark out each state as they spot a license plate. In the end, your family can reinforce their knowledge of state locations within the United States and have a lot of fun.
Pig Latin. Isn't it time that your children learned a classic language? Have them describe the scenery, buildings, and animals that they see in Pig Latin. In case you have forgotten, Purdue has published a handy cheat sheet. Of course, now you and your spouse will have to find another way to communicate when you don't want your children to understand you, but they were bound to figure it out eventually. Ave-hay an ice-nay ip-tray!
Never-Ending Stories. This fun game can help develop creativity and even pre-school children can play. Have somebody start a story with one or two sentences. The next player adds to the story with a few more lines, and then it continues until somebody concludes the story or you arrive at your destination. Your family may create stories that they will remember as long as they remember the real adventures they had on the trip.
With just a bit of advanced planning, you can keep your kids engaged. At the same time, you'll help make the trip more fun and less frustrating for adults. Bring along some healthy snacks, drinks, or even picnic lunches, to reduce your unplanned expenses.
