Travelling with the Kids
It all sounds so magical - a road trip around New Zealand with the kids. Introducing them to new places, taking in the major sights as well as adventuring off the beaten track. And so it can be, but somewhere between ‘are we there yet’?’ ‘I’m hungry’ and the best of all ‘I’m bored’ , travelling with the kids can take its toll.
And when “Who can be the quietest for the longest?” fails to fly, your head may begin to pound. So here are a few simple ideas for maintaining harmonious in-car relations when you are travelling with the kids.
- It’s an oldie but a goodie, but it’s hard to go past ‘I Spy’. Try adding a few variations like multi-words, eg. P… P… (power pole) or a theme, eg. Things/people found in Harry Potter, eg. H (hippogriff), L… L… (Luna Lovegood), etc.
- Letters of the alphabet – go through the alphabet and for each letter everyone in the car has to come up with the name of a country starting with that letter, then an animal or a made/model of car, etc
- Give the kids a piece of paper and a pen each and they choose what they are going to count and see who gets the most. For example, one might choose to count how many red cars they see, another one yellow, to see which is the most popular colour. Or, count the Fords vs the Holdens, the buses vs the trucks, etc.
- Guess how many bends in the road there will be till you get to the next intersection, then count them to see who wins. Or till you can see the sea, see a cow or a horse, a snow-covered mountain, whatever you choose.
- Turn on the radio and play the ‘who, what’ game. Who is the artist? What is the name of the song? Bonus points for the year or the album. But make sure you get to choose the station!
- Make up a story about anything you like – you start and when anyone sees a yellow car you have to stop talking and the next person has to take over. Obviously yellow car can be subsitituted for a sheep, a horse, or any other item of your choice.
I hope these ideas have been helpful. If all else fails, mobile wi-fi!