Keep the children entertained on long journeys

Travelling with children can often be a stressful event, they just want to get there, YOU just want to get there but sadly we haven’t learnt to teleport yet and as far as I’m aware the floo powder in Harry Potter is just fictional too so until someone makes a great discovery it’s planes, trains and automobiles!

Try some of these to make your journey with children as stress-free as possible;

1. If you’re travelling by car take along a couple of CD’s which the whole family knows and enjoys, pop the stereo onto ‘random’ and see who can guess the name of the song first. Then sing along at the top of your voices!

long journeys

2. Mixed-up people drawings. Take a couple of pieces of paper and a pencil in the car with you. Fold the paper concertina-style into four. The first person draws the head of a person at the top of the page and then folds the paper up and passes to the next person who draws the top half of the body and then folds over to pass to the next person who draws the legs of the person and finally to the last person who draws the feet. Just look at our beauty above!

3. Play memory games like the Picnic Basket game. The first person starts with “I went on a picnic and I took a picnic basket and blanket“, the next person then says the same as the previous person and adds another item to the picnic basket “I went on a picnic and I took a picnic basket and blanket and some apples . . .“. You keep going and see who has the best memory, perhaps there can be some prizes for the person with the best memory?

Keep the children entertained on long journeys 1

4. Something I remember from my childhood is the Michelin I-Spy books. I didn’t even know they still made them but then we were sent a couple for the children to try out. There are lots of different titles to choose from so you can select the title for your child’s interest. As they spot items in their books they tick them off and add the dates with each ‘spy’ earning them points. When you have completed the book you can even apply for a Certificate. The books also tell you a little bit about each ‘spy’ you are looking for so they get to learn a little too. The I-Spy books are just £2.50 each so they won’t break the bank and they are pocket-sized too so you can take them anywhere with you.

5. Make up a funny story by each person saying one line of the story. Someone starts with “There once was a young lady from . . . ” and then the next person adds in their line. See how crazy you can make the story sound.

Failing all that, you could just resort to in-car DVD and gaming consoles but it does them good to have a little downtime from screens and it’s more likely to develop their creativity and memory skills as well as getting them interacting with the family. If you have any other tried and tested ideas for long journeys, I’d love to hear about it so drop me a comment below.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided with three Michelin I-Spy Books for the purporse of this post. All words and opinions are my own and may not be copied without my permission. I have not been instructed what to write.

 

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