Travelling is always exciting, but if you’re traveling with your whole family and bringing kids with you on a long trip, you’re going to be feeling apprehensive. It’s exciting to show kids different parts of the world, but it’s not so exciting when you’re the one that has to keep them entertained when you’re on the road or in the skies.
It’s easy to entertain kids once you reach a resort or destination, or if you’re road tripping when they get to their camping or caravanning spot. Preparation and planning in advance as well as a healthy dose of patience, you’ll be able to keep the kids calm, keep yourself calm and have quite a stress free experience. There are activities and ways that you can keep your kids entertained and help them to survive on a long trip, but more than that, it’s about helping yourself to survive the trip too.
Let’s take a look at some of the best ways that you can keep the kids entertained while you travel so that everybody can enjoy themselves no matter how old they are.
Keep the Conversation Going
Depending on the age of your kids, you will know from a very young age that kids love to ask a lot of questions. As a parent, you have the opportunity to swap roles and ask them the questions for a change, especially as they get older. If you’re bringing a whole group of kids with you on holiday with different ages, you can start asking them what makes them happy or who their favorite cartoon characters are. You can ask them whether or not they know how to play chess or solitaire. You can plan accordingly for what games will keep them entertained on the way. You want to do more than just awaken your child’s imagination and creativity, but you want to give them some space to share with you so that when those quiet moments happen on road trips, you have time to fill the space.
Compile a Playlist of Driving Tunes
If you’re going to be piling into the car and getting on the road, then you need to work with the kids to come up with a playlist. This is more fun when you have older kids because they’ll be able to give you ideas of what artists and songs that they like so that you can make sure that they are on the list together. Yes, some kids do like to listen to Eminem! While travelling, a good sing song is always helpful to help blow out some cobwebs and de-stress. So make sure that you make a playlist of not only your favorite songs but their favorite songs too.
Play Hide and Seek, Yes Really
Even if you’re stuck on the highway in a car, you can still play hide and seek, but the way to do it is in your head. Your kids choose a spot inside your house to hide and pretend to be there. They can picture themselves hiding in any room of the house, regardless of the size. The key for this game is to get the kids to write down which room they’re hiding in and keep it in their laps. This way you don’t have to risk anybody cheating and moving their hiding spot if they get found. The other passengers in the car can ask open-ended questions and all they need to hear is a simple yes or no. When somebody correctly identifies where the hiding place is, the game is over and it all starts again.
Don’t Forget to Bring Some Lego
Whether you’re on a plane, a train or you’ve stopped overnight in a hotel, bringing Lego is a great way to keep all the kids entertained. When kids are bored, a Lego set doesn’t just cheer them up, but it allows for everybody to sit and actually have fun together. There are Lego kits out there that come with magnetic attachments too, which are great if you’re traveling and you hit a bit of turbulence.
Learn How To Read a Map
We may heavily rely on GPS software and our phones to help us map our routes, but we don’t have to do it that way. Bringing maps and giving the kids an Atlas in the back of the car can help them to learn how to find their way from A to B. You can even use atlases and maps when you stop at your destinations, especially if you’re planning a hike. Not only are you going to teach your children a very valuable skill about how to use the sky to teach them where to go, but you’ll be able to mark the highways and other landmarks along the way so that they find the journey itself far more interesting.
Pack Some Activity Books
Coloring books, dot to dot and word searches have long been a favorite pastime for traveling families. You keep your kids hands busy, their brains busy, and they’re distracted long enough to be able to foresee a game through to the end. Not only will this help them to keep quiet in the car, but it gives them a creative outlet. Purchasing colouring books that come with pencils rather than pens is a good idea because pencils and crayons can be used in a car without anybody drawing on the furniture or even on a plane seat. It’s always preferable to give coloring pencils as markers can cause issues.
Listen To a Podcast
If you have teenagers, getting them to choose their favorite podcasts to listen to in the car is a great idea. There are several fantastic ones for teens that range from funny to thought provoking, so you can try some of these if your kids are older. Younger children may not be too interested in hearing podcasts, but your teenager certainly will be, especially if they are into certain sports.
Bring along the word games. Did you ever play Mad Libs as a child? It’s still a popular game among children and especially teenagers who have a great imagination. Playing it in the car is a fun activity that you won’t be able to let go of because you can really have a good giggle coming up with your own Mad Libs. Everyone can have a good time and a laugh by completing several of these crazy little stories, and it’s something that becomes family vacation lore.
Don’t forget the iPads
Of all the games and coloring items you can do when you are traveling. Bringing an iPad is a good idea if you want your kids to have fun but not be stuck on screen time all the time. You can fill these with games and preloaded movies and it is a robust approach, but it’s a great way to distract the younger ones. You can get headset splitters too so that if you get your kids listening to the same thing, you don’t have to worry about fights in the back seat.
Snacks. When you’re traveling with children, food is one of the best ways to keep them entertained. Have an alarm go off every time there is a snack time and they’ll be able to understand when they’re able to eat. Sugary foods can cause restlessness, so be very careful about what times of the trip you give them something too sweet. Keeping fruit in the car along with a rubbish bin so that they can discard any peel is a good idea too.
Keep everybody calm. It’s easier said than done sometimes, but if you want to keep the kids entertained while you travel, you just have to make sure that you keep them calm. Even if this means stopping off more regularly in a car, or it means going for a walk around the plane if you’re up in the sky. Keeping everybody calm keeps the trip in a stress free zone. Allow yourself to channel your inner child and have some imagination and fun with your kids and enjoy this moment as much as possible because the travel ends always justify the means.
READ MORE TRAVEL GUIDES FROM WANDERLUSTERS
