Whether your car trip is going to be only a few hours, or whether it's to be twenty-four hours, some planning and preparation needs to go into finding activities to keep your kids occupied and entertained. Use some of the following ideas below for tips on keeping your sanity.

There are so many activities available to purchase, if you have the money, but there are also many you can accomplish with little or no budget. Here are some examples of each, guaranteed to relieve the boredom on long car trips.

*Eye Spy: Is a great game for children above eighteen months. For children aged eighteen months to four, you can play eye spy using the following.
Eye spy with my little eye a tree, a red light, a green light, an ambulance.
For children who are older and can spell or read, you will play it using letters, for example eye spy with my little eye something beginning with A. For children who are older, aged eight to twelve, you can try and make up words from the license plate letters of other vehicles on the road.

*Books: If your kids are readers, don't forget to pack some new titles for them to peruse while in the car.

*A-Z game: This would be mainly for children aged five and above. Try and complete the letters in the alphabet from A-Z by using signs, billboards, license plates viewed outside the car. All that is needed is a pen and paper to keep score.

*What Song: A person begins to hum a tune or nursery rhyme and the other players are to try and guess which song it is.

*Add the Sound Effect: An adult or older child makes up a story but some words are exchanged by using a sound effect. Everyone else playing the game has to copy the sound used.

*Spelling Bee: Mainly for older children but those younger can say what the word begins with or sounds like. In conversation each child has to substitute some words by spelling them out instead of speaking the word.

*Portable Board Games: You can purchase at your local stores miniature versions of popular family board games. Connect Four and checkers are a couple that come to mind.

*Trivial Pursuit: If you have the children's version of trivial pursuit, take the questions out and ask each child in turn some questions.

*Activity Books: Available at supermarkets and newsagents, there are many age appropriate activity books for children. Coloring and drawing, alphabet and numbers, dot to dots and crosswords.

*Audio Books: Purchase an audio book through your local book or music store and play the cassette or CD in the car. A great way to share books and everyone can listen to the book instead of reading it.

*Portable DVD Player: A huge convenience in this generation. Portable DVD players can be purchased fairly cheaply, choose DVD's that the kids all agree on watching and set it up in the back of the car.

*I-Pods: An older child's best friend. Make sure they have all their favorite music ready and prepared before the trip.

*Portable games: Such as PSP or Nintendo DS. You can buy portable car chargers for these games and can keep the kids entertained for a long time. If your kids happen to have one of these each, many games allow for multi players and tournaments.

*Stop Frequently: For a long car trip make sure your stop frequently. Have everyone stretch their legs and use the opportunity to look around some local bush or parkland, or tourist site.

I hope some of these activities help alleviate the boredom on your next road trip.

Learn more about this author, R.L Hanlon.
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