Tips for trips
by Will Nichols

Don’t you hate the whiners… When will we get there? How much longer? I’m bored, etc. Sometimes it’s enough to turn a fun vacation trip into a marathon from hell. It’s understandable as the kids are bored with nothing to do and by the time you get to where you are going you are frustrated and looking for rest, not fun. Here are a few tips to keep the trips fun. Most work best in a car but can be adopted for air and water travel.

Creating a Travel Journal for Kids

Help your kids make their own travel diary or journal. This activity that will not only keep your children busy in the car on a long trip, but it will preserve their memories for a lifetime. It’s easy and fun. It doesn’t need to be fancy or complicated. In fact, the simpler the better. The only thing you need is a big spiral bound sketch pad and a pen and a box of crayons or markers for each child. Each day of the trip, or for each event along the way, have your child draw a picture of what they did that day, and write about it. You can also paste in souvenirs such as brochures, ticket stubs and other items.

Travel Scavenger Hunt

Give each child a list of items to watch for while driving. The list can be made up ahead of time and adjusted for the scenery. For a younger child who can’t read, you might draw a little picture of each item next to the word so they will know what to look for. You can even assign points with a reward at the end of the day.

Here are a few examples of items to hunt for:

CITY LIST: flashing red light, bus, signs in foreign languages, dog, food store, railroad tracks, billboard with a child on it, cop (really useful sometimes), license plate that starts with “Q,” person with tall boots, person talking on a cell phone.

SUBURBS LIST: School, flashing traffic light, food store, someone on a bike, statue, church, playground, flower garden or snowman (depends on the weather), pickup truck, Canadian Tire, dog in a car.

RURAL LIST: Silo, railroad tracks, post office, cows, pond or lake, police vehicle, dirt road, tractor, gas station, horses, oil pump, barn, bush camp, deer, moose, caribou, fox, partridge (even if it’s beside the road!).

Let your children have a map

Give your kids an opportunity to have their own copy of a map of where you are going. Show them how far you have come, how much further there is to go and let them mark it with a crayon. Every time they ask “How much further?” have them take out their map and see for themselves. You might also like to get a compass and show them how it works along with the map. You can buy wall maps, travel maps and travel guides, or, for more fun, you can also print driving directions with a map when you click “get directions” at RandMcnally.com.

Mystery Writing

One child holds out his hand and closes his eyes while the other child “writes” on his hand with her finger. The first child has to guess what the second person is writing. Start with just letters, and if it gets too easy, play with two- or three-letter words, pausing between letters. There’s no winner or loser with this game. It can go on and on, just like the road trip.

License Plate Game

Spot a license plate and call out the letters on it. Then everyone tries to come up with a different phrase using the letters in the order they appear on the license plate as the first letter of each word. For instance KEW could be “kittens eating watermelon” or “kiss every Will.” When you can’t think of any more look for another license plate.

Magnetic Board Games / Wipe Clean Games

Some of these are an all-in-one kind of game pack; others are just classics by themselves. The car versions are nice because they are small and compact, and have easy ways to store the pieces so they don’t get lost. They are usually really cheap so you can buy a few. There are some that are 10 games in one.

Counting Cows

Count the cows you see on your side of the car. If you pass a field full of lots of cows, you’d better count fast! If you pass a cemetery on your side of the car, you lose all your cows, but only if the opposing team calls “your cows are buried!” This game gets interesting when distraction tactics are used to either cause your opponent to miss cows on their side of the road or to miss a cemetery on your side of the road. The team with the most cows wins.

Write or Collect Postcards

Get postcards at your stops to document the trip, and to write back home to friends while you are gone. Bring stamps so you can drop them in the mail on the road so they will arrive at their destination before you return home.

Rest Stop Athletics

Keep a ball, frisbee or jump rope in the back of your van, along with a picnic blanket so when you stop at a rest area, everyone can run and be free and stretch their legs. This helps keep you limber and lessens the tension.

I Spy

The classic. Look around and pick an object you can see either in the car or along the road. Then give others a clue such as, “I spy with my little eye... something green.” Or, “I spy with my little eye... something brown and furry.” Continue to give more clues until they can guess what it is.