Car Games For Kids

Are your children good travelers? My kids are not too bad. Leaving the house for us is like going on a road trip. It takes us about 40 minutes to get to PJ. And because it's not economical for us to be driving into town so often, we try to do as much as we can when we're out. So, driving here, driving there, doing this and doing that usually takes a few hours.

Sometimes the kids will sleep. But when they're awake, they need something to keep them occupied or else World War III will break out. You'll hear stuff like:

• "why are you taking up so much space?"
• "don't cross this line, ok?"
• "Mommy, he stepped on my feet again."
• "Why you always get to sit in the middle?"
• "Can you stop singing, or I'll ask Mommy to turn off the radio."
• "Mommy, he punched me so hard."

The kids will usually bring stuff to do like books, doodling paper or a mini white board. But that doesn't guarantee peace in the car. They'll end up fighting too e.g. "But I want to use it", "It's my turn, you've used it for so long already" or "Mommy, he snatched it from me."

Car games is a good way to keep them in good spirits. Here are some ideas:

• How many diggers can you find? This one works for my little one coz' he looooves diggers. Plus, there's plenty of construction going on in this little part of the world to supply him with diggers to spot.
• Guessing game. You think of an object or animal and then give clues for others to guess what it is. This is really good for their language skills. It'll help them learn how to use adjectives.
• What word starts with the letter... To make this game more interesting, we ask the children to give words that are related to the gospel. For example, words that begin with the letter "A" could be atonement, Aaron, Almighty or apostle.
• Rhyming game. Give a word and find what other words rhyme with it. If you can, make up a silly poem with the words given.
• Road trip Bingo. Make up a bingo card like the one below. Use items that your children will see along the road. If they spot an item, give them a sticker to place on their card. The winner would be the first person to complete a row either horizontal, vertical or across. This is more fun then the usual Eye Spy game.

Chinese New Year is coming up. That means "balik kampung" (traveling back to hometown). I better get ready my list of car activities if I want a pleasant journey. So, what sort of car games do you play on your road trips?