You know the deal. It's holiday time and you can't wait to get away. But before the joy of your destination becomes a reality a great challenge stands in the way. Hours in the car with kids.
Now you could throw them their devices and be done with it but its kind of laying down before the fight has even begun. Furthermore, here's an opportunity for you as a family to spend quality time together. No one can run into their rooms, no one can even walk away. They are trapped for the duration of the trip. So what can you do to make it a memorable one? What can you do so that it's not just the destination that is enjoyed but the journey as well. We'll here's a few ideas I've used in the past. Some are old time favourites but others are newbies. I hope you can use some of them. Please respond in the comments below to any further ideas you might have for the car trip. I would love to hear how any of the activities I have suggested have worked for you too.
1) 20 Questions
Decided on a category you want to play. This could be famous people, movies, animals, countries, objects, etc. One person starts. They think of something relevant to the category they are playing. Once decided anyone can ask questions to try and discover who they have chosen. Questions can only be answered Yes or No and guesses can be made at any time. Every question or guess is counted and the players have 20 attempts before they lose. if they have guessed correctly before 20 they win and the person who guessed right takes the next turn.
2) I spy
As old as it is, it still gets regularly played by kids and teenagers alike on camps and in cars. One person simply says "I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter" (and chooses the first letter of the object they are looking at). So if it was a Tree they would say T. All players throw out guesses of words starting with that letter. Whoever guesses correct has the next go.
3) Follow the letter
This is a simple game that can be lots of fun and laughter. Somebody starts by saying a word starting with A. It can be A. The person next to them must now carry on the sentence with a word starting with b. The next person c and so on. When the story breaks down or a word can't be found at all to continue the thread, that person starts from where they got up to with a new story. The challenge is to try and beat your record of the number of words you could string together.
4) Ultimate Spotto
We have all heard and probably played Spotto at some stage in our lives. Ultimate Spotto just adds more categories making it far more interesting. Don't worry, the Yellow Spotto car is still there, but it's joined by 11 others, making it a fun and fast paced game of trying to see as many of the categories as possible. Each category is worth a certain amount of points.
Shotto (red car) 1 point
Snotto (green car) 2 points
Spotto (yellow car) 3 points
Cotto (Baby on board) 4 points
Lotto (Motorhome) 5 points
Hotto (sports car) 6 points
Grotto (Dirty car) 7 points
Otto (Emergency vehicle) 8 points
Plotto (Car driving slowly) 9 points
Forgotto (Old classic car) 10 points
Motto (Car with motto on windscreen) 11 points
Blotto (Car driving badly) 12 points
Download the attachment below for the player sheets and rules.
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