Entertaining the kids

The Morley family have three Children – Finley (12), Isla (6) and Livvy (4). Kate has a background working in ‘The Early Years’ and below they share their top-tips for a hassle free trip.

1. Dough Disco – A firm favourite in our car, even Finley joins in. Crank up your favourite tunes on the car stereo and roll, pat, poke, squeeze, and pinch your playdough in time to the music.  Not only is this great fun, it also helps to develop your little one’s fine motor skills and sense of rhythm.

2. I Spy – Another family favourite ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with…’ Obviously, this is easiest when the things that you spy are in the car, particularly with younger children who may need a little extra time to work out what it is! You could take a small bag of items in the car with you, name them together placing emphasis on the initial sound and then play the game using only these objects. I spy helps young children develop their understanding of initial sounds, an important start to early reading.

3. Strip Bingo – Not as rude as it sounds, there is no need to take your clothes off during this game! Each player has a strip of paper separated into five or six sections. Each section has a different colour on it (each player’s colours should be in a different order). Decide which vehicle you are looking for e.g. cars/lorries or motorbikes and then each time you see your chosen vehicle in a colour that is on your bingo strip you can rip it off but only if it is at either end of your strip.  If it’s in the middle, you must wait.  The winner is the person to tear off all their colours first.  You could also play this game using makes/models of cars or caravans.

4. Top Trumps and Top Trumps Juniors – A good game for older kids, Top Trumps cards promote learning through teaching the facts on the cards and enhancing memory and maths skills by comparing the data. There are many versions of this game available in shops from Wildlife to Disney Princesses. There are also Top Trumps Juniors suitable for younger children aged 3/4. The junior cards promote number recognition to 10.  Both games provide entertainment and can be played by two or more players.

5. Travel Trays – Such as Loori Baby Car Trays, our girls absolutely love theirs as everything they need is on hand in the 16 mesh pockets. They use them for colouring, crafting, sticking, and modelling playdough. The edges ensure that everything is contained, pencils and pens stay put and don’t roll off the tray. Better still, the tray folds flat for easy storage.

6. Memory Games – ‘I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing…’ The first player starts off with something beginning with ‘A’ e.g. apples. The next player continues ‘I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples, and a banana.’ The next player continues adding something beginning with C.  A fun game that promotes memory, in turn promoting concentration skills.  It also continues to develop awareness of initial sounds and the alphabet.

7. The Preacher’s Cat- Another memory game to test/extend your vocabulary. Play starts using words beginning with ‘A’ and youngest players go first. ‘The preacher’s cat is an angry cat named Alfie.’ The next player continues ‘The preacher’s cat is an adorable cat named ’ The first person who can’t think of a word/name beginning with ‘A’ is out. Those still in play continue with words beginning with ‘B’ and so on.

9. DVD’s – DVD’s are always a winner, particularly when you’ve played more ‘I spy’ than you can bare! Each summer, when we travel abroad, I always purchase new DVD’s to add to our collection. Last year, this was a life saver as Livvy had just started to get bored when she found The Greatest Showman, which she watched twice in succession allowing us to complete the journey in peace! Fantastic headphones for little ears, are Groov-E over the head headphones that we purchased from Tesco. Ours were on offer for approximately £6 each and a Bluetooth version is also available. These headphones are easy for the girls to put on independently and they stay on their heads and don’t keep sliding off.
10. Food – Obviously healthy snacks, limiting the sugar intake when your little ones are confined to the car for long periods of time are definitely recommended! Bread sticks, veg sticks, fresh and dried fruit, such as the BEAR pure fruit Yoyos are all winners in our car peppered with the occasional treat.

We hope this will help see you through your next long journey and that you are able to take some ideas from us.

The journey to site is part of the holiday and this should also be enjoyable and relaxing. Travelling with an open mind and that you might get held up is part of the experience, with a little pre-planning we hope this can also be as stress free as possible.  Please share your experiences or other ideas you might have to help pass the time on a long journey. Happy Touring.