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Road Trip Entertainment

BEIRUTSeptember 4, 2017

Scared of being stuck in the car with your kids? Terrified of those anger tantrums, juice spillages, and whine crazes that happen while you are confined in this small vehicle? Well, Summer is still here, and in Lebanon, many schools won't open their doors till end of September. In the meantime, don’t let anything stop you from exploring your country, not even your kids! Grab your family, get in the car, and use these tips to entertain your kids as you go on those long family road trips.

1- The naming game: Explore your kids’ knowledge of names! Pick a category, name an item or a person in that category and go in turns naming another item or person in that category whose name starts with the last letter of the previous name. Here is an example of how the game is played.

Category: Food- Fruits

Passenger 1: Fig

Passenger 2: Grapefruit

Passenger 3: Tangerine

You can also make things more interesting by making it a contest and seeing who names the next person or item first.

A Piece of advice: don’t use plural nouns since you will most likely end up playing a game of naming items that start with the letter “s”.

2- “I spy”: You can resort to this game whenever you want to distract your kids, especially when you are stuck with them for 5 hours on a roadtrip. You can choose something inside the car, in the sky, or far ahead. Just make sure whatever you choose, you won’t pass in a matter of seconds. In that case, the game turns into attempts at guessing the same thing that the other passengers passed and most likely did not even see.

3-  Car Spotting: Similar to “I spy”, this game allows your kids to focus on the road outside instead of on the long hours they still have in the car. Choose a certain car and have your kids on a lookout for it. The kid who spots the car first or names the first five( you choose the number) cars wins.

4-Sing Alongs: If your children happen to love singing, then why not put it to good use? Choose a number of songs that you and your kids enjoy and have them sing the time away!

5- Audiobooks: This one is great if your children enjoy stories. It is hard in the car to read a story, especially if you get dizzy or roadsick. This makes audiobooks such a great solution to entertain your kids without needing to do anything yourself.

6-Snacks: Snacks are a great way to calm down your kids, especially when the hunger hits. Bring with you some compartmentalized tupperware for each child and place a variety of their favorite snacks in the compartments. You can also use plastic cups and bowls.

7-Map Tracking: Give each of the kids a map of their own and have them check off each city you pass by. Reward the kid with the most number of correct cities with a certain prize. This will keep both your kids’ eyes and attention on the road. You can also add some stickers to the game, having the kids place a golden star sticker on every city you pass on their maps.

8-Making Stops (if you have the option): This can be a reliever for both parents and kids. You can even explore a bit the area where you made your stop.

9-Electronic Games and Films: We are not trying to advocate using technology to distract your kids, but sometimes you might need to do just that. Download some applications that your kids enjoy or bring with you some DVDs that they like to  watch (if you happen to have a portable screen or a screen in the car).

10-Toys and Puppets: This one might be the easiest hack of all. Just grab a bunch of your kids’ toys and have them tag them along with you on the trip.