Planning travel activities before heading out of the house is one of the keys to a successful and enjoyable trip.A list of games to play, especially if you are on a holiday that includes lengthy road trips, will be a great thing to do. It will save the day when the inevitable whining “we are bored”, “How long” and “are we there yet?” questions are raised.Make a ‘travel treasure bag‘ to increase the curiosity and fun and more importantly to keep them screen free.
Here is an age wise list of some easy, mess and screen free travel activities for kids:
Infants
- Keep small safe hand toys like rattle, teether,musical toys,soft picture book handy.
- Read picture books and correlate them to the real world Like trees, animals, flowers etc. as you travel.
- Sing nursery rhymes or songs. Making your own songs with your baby’s name would be fun too.
- Show them colours ,shapes and introduce them to the natural beauty that they can see from the car.
Toddlers and preschoolers
- A pocket/small drawing book and crayons is inevitable to carry in your toddlers travel bag.
- Show them the traffic lights and tell them to name what each light means like say Green light -now we can GO!. Also tell them what the road signages mean.
- Describe the colors and shapes that you see while driving.
- Talk about the numbers and alphabets that the signages and hoardings read.
- Carry some mess free puzzles, toys and books.
- Play sing along songs or stories to keep them engaged.
- Talk about the weather, day of the week, month of the year, the changes you see in the weather like dry, hot ,cold, windy weather etc.
School age kids
- For school age kids, travel bag can include crossword puzzles, books, rubik cube, kindle, kids magazines, colours and drawing paper etc.
- Tell them to observe number plates and teach them how the number plates differ according to different states.
- Play communication builder games where they have to describe a certain place that they have observed on the go.
- Show and teach them about the signages, emergency numbers on the highway and the services offered to travellers. If you communicate with your kids about things that are new for them ,they would be curious to know more, ask questions and not get bored.
- Talk about the weather and tell them to observe the changes if any.
- Play ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’. Each participant is given an alphabet by a team member (or you can write the alphabets in advance on chits and ask team members to pic one) for which he/she has to say the ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’.Example: Alphabet E- Elaine (name), Egypt (place), Elephant (animal),Earrings (thing).
- Play the game of ‘opposites ‘ and ‘synonyms’.
- Storytelling, poetry, sing along songs, made up songs could also be great entertainers.
The above games and activities can help you enjoy your trip with your kids without depending on screens (mobile phones, tablets etc.). Meaningful conversation would also improve your bonding with your child.So head out with your ‘treasure bag’ handy.