So, you're going on a long drive, eh? Going to spend a few hours (or maybe a few days) all packed together like sardines in your family roadster? Is it going to be fun or a nightmare on wheels?
Keeping your children occupied and involved in something fun (and even educational) may be just the ticket to maintaining your sanity and theirs. You may even be able to avoid a few dozen recitations of classic family travel poetry including, "Don't make me come back there!" and "Do I need to turn this car around?"
Stereophonic Sound
Listen to a wide variety of music, from the Nylons to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, from classical to ethnic folk, Kids love all different rhythms and meters.
Books and scriptures on tape are a wonderful alternative. There are many children's music and story tapes as well.
Take a scan through your radio dial. But beware! NPR and talk radio can drive the kids bonkers!
Letters & Language
See who can be first to find each letter of the alphabet from a-z, in order. Or make it a cooperative effort.
Instead of looking for the letters themselves, look for objects that start with the letters. A is for aurora borealis (assuming you're traveling through Alaska). B is for battering ram (assuming you're travels take you to... the middle ages?) Well, you get the picture.
Go through the whole alphabet, thinking of three words that start with each letter. To make it tougher, confine the words to a specific category. For example, in the "animals" category, A is for alligator, antelope, anteater. B is for buffalo, bison (hey, they are different!), boar.
Chant "I'm going on a trip and I'm going to take a..." The first item starts with an A. The second person adds a B word, and restates the A word. The third player adds a C word and repeats the B and A words, and so on. Alphabet and memory work in one.
Rotate through the family with each person saying a word that begins with the letter the previous word ended with. This can also be made more difficult by requiring the words to fall in into a defined category, a specific syllable count, or even a rhyme scheme.
Chant "The minister's cat is an [adjective] cat," over and over with each person taking turns at filling in the adjective. In the first round all the adjectives must start with an A, i.e. "an anxious cat," "an average cat," "an articulate cat." Continue adding words until someone misses the rhythm. Then you move to the letter B, as in "a beautiful cat," "a babbling cat, " "a balding cat," etc.
Pick an object that everyone can see. Begin by describing the object in one word. Each person, in turn, adds one more descriptive word to make a clearer description of the object. It may progress something like this: cow; brown cow; big, brown cow; spotted, big, brown cow; shiny, spotted, big, brown cow; etc.
Marvelous Mapping
Check out the license plates of the other cars on the road. When you identify the state the car is from, try to name the capital. To make the game more challenging try to identify the state's nickname, tree, flower, bird, etc.
Predict which states you will see most and least often. Catalog the number of states or countries are represented on the license plates you see. You can even graph out the resulting statistics.
Watch the road signs. Have the kids identify what road you are traveling on and which roads to take to reach your destination. Figure how long it will take to arrive at a number of the posted cities or attractions along the way.
Having a few fun ideas up your sleeve can help make time fly while traveling.
Dad, are we there yet?
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