Travel Games for Young Children
Keeping young ones entertained in the RV doesn’t have to mean turning on another DVD. For an amazing variety of travel activities young children will enjoy, our favorite site is MomsMiniVan.com. From that website and our own travel experiences, here are our favorite RV travel activities for little ones:
The Animal Noises Game: Record on your cassette or Mp3 player different animal sounds toddlers will recognize and see how many they can guess. Another variation: have each child make their own animal sounds and let everyone else guess the animal.
Preprinted Games: For kids old enough to read, keep them busy with games you can print from sites like Disney Family. You could even create your own to teach kids about where you’re going on the trip, and give stickers or treats as prizes.
Spelling Games: Help youngsters learn to spell even on vacation by playing Verbal Scrabble. Start the game by calling out a letter and then asking each person to either spell a word that starts with it, or add another letter until someone can spell a word. Another variation is “Alphabet Soup,” in which the leader starts with a sentence such as “I went to the store and I bought…” and the players must fill in the blank alphabetically until they reach the end of the alphabet (an apple, a bear, a car, etc.)
Rolling Scavenger Hunt: If kids are seated where they can see outside, it’s fun to challenge them to find, for example, the first animal, a green car or a yellow house and call out as soon as they see them. Make a list of things likely to appear and keep track of who sees them first.
Travel Games for Tweens and Teens
Keeping older children occupied can be a challenge without turning them over to digital pursuits. To keep them connected to the rest of the family, try involving them in games like these:
Camera Scavenger Hunt: Give older kids with digital cameras (or camera cell phones) a list of items to photograph before reaching each destination. Don’t forget to bring along prizes!
Name That Tune: Play snippets of songs on a cassette player or mp3 player docking station and award the person who guesses the most tunes. If your kids are techies, have them build their own playlists to contribute.
Twenty Questions: This classic travel game has helped many a family survive long trips. Ask each person to think of a person, a place and a thing. Play three rounds in which each player gets to ask the leader one question per turn about their “item” until someone guesses what it is.
Improv Poetry or Storytelling: Start the game with an intriguing sentence such as “It was a dark and stormy night…” and call on each player in turn to keep the poem or story going. You may be surprised at how creative your kids really are!
Family Travel Journal: Create a family travel journal in a three ring binder with a section for each family member. Each person can write and even illustrate their vacation memories as you travel. Borrow a page from scrapbookers and provide stickers and other small decorations for kids to add to their pages. It’s usually surprising to go back later and read how differently each of you experienced the journey.
Prepackaged Travel Games
If you’re not sure you can keep the kids occupied full-time on a long RV road trip, there are always prepackaged games to fall back on. To avoid scrambling for lost pieces, we recommend these RV-ready games:
Card Games: Little ones love anything with pictures that can be easily matched, like Go Fish and Old Maid. A tip for helping younger kids play cards while belted into their seats: give them each a shoebox lid to hold cards on their laps. Shoeboxes are also great for keeping track of small cars, action figures and other toys. Older kids enjoy Uno and hearts and may even create wild card games of their own, given a little boredom!
Magnetic Car Games: Discount stores are a good place to buy magnetic bingo, or mazes that can keep kids from declaring boredom too soon. Let's not forget the old standbys: Chess, Checkers and Backgammon are all family favorites.
Whiteboard Games: Give each child a small whiteboard and markers to create their own games like tic-tac-toe and hangman.
Sudoku or Brain Teasers: Print Sudoku puzzles for brainy kids at TheDailySudoku.com. If young passengers enjoy brain teasers or crosswords, inexpensive books full of puzzles can be bought at most dollar stores.
Other family favorites are the License Plate game: Create a list of all US States, DC, and the Canadian Provinces. See how many you can "collect" on your vacation.
And, another fun game: Rubberneckers - A great car game! Players look out the window to find objects described on the cards. Points awarded for each found object vary.
You may not keep the entire trip non-digital, but if your goal is to keep your family engaged as well as entertained, try these tips for travel games that don’t require batteries. Our goal here at El Monte RV Rentals is to help families have the best RV camping experience possible. Contact us today and let us help you plan a trip that your family will always remember!