Keeping your kids entertained in the car

When I received an email from Chevrolet telling us about their best small car and asking us to blog about how we keep the kids entertained in the car, my immediate reaction was "piece of cake" ! As we quite regularly undertake an 8-hour drive down to Brittany to see the grandparents, we certainly have a few tricks up our sleeves !

First of all, there are a few things to avoid. Reading, for example, often causes travel sickness so is best avoided. Eating chocolate is also another thing prone to bring on travel sickness and leaving drinks in the back of the car for the kids to help themselves to will result in unwanted "Mummmmm I need a weeeeee" stops ! (I'm not suggesting you keep them dehydrated - just don't leave a 2 litre bottle of water in the back "for the journey" - trust me on this, we know !!)

Now, one thing that we have invested in that cost a fair amount but has made the journeys much less arduous is a portable DVD player, so the kids can watch a film in the back. This would also work with a laptop or iPad, if you have one.

Many other ideas are much cheaper though so don't panic if you're working to a tight budget. One of the kids favourite travel games is my now legendary travel treasure hunt, which keeps them amused and giggling in the back for literally hours but does take a lot of effort to prepare. As we have three kids to keep amused, I come up with three sheets of items to spot on the way - some easier than others (orange car, open topped bus, man in a red coat, bike on top of a car, lorry carrying bread, etc ...) and some just plain silly, such as someone picking their nose, a dog doing a poo, roadkill, ... The sillier/yuckier they are, the more the kids love it ! Each item to be spotted has a number next to it and the kids have a carrier bag full of numbered little gifts so they have to rummage through and find the corresponding prize each time they tick off an item. It doesn't have to cost much at all for the prizes because you can wrap up silly things - penny sweets, favourite trinkets from home that they thought they'd left behind, a lone grape, 2p coins, ...

An easier version of this game that is still pretty cheap and takes much less work is the collection of I-Spy books which are brilliant too.

Other collective travel games are trying to make phrases using the letters on car registration plates as the initial letter of each word ; trying to spot every letter of the alphabet in order on adverts, number plates, etc ; first person to see ... ; pub cricket; and the old classics such as I-Spy and "Mrs Brown went shopping and she bought ...". 

Older kids also love marking off the route on a map so either buy them a cheap road map (or give them an old one) or print off the whole route online so that they can look out for landmarks and road numbers on the way. Map-reading is actually a great skill for them to learn. For a slightly easier version, print out the itinerary from Mappy and let them mark off the steps as you go. They'll see the remaining journey geting shorter so it doesn't seem as long for them and this avoids endless "are we nearly there yet ?" calls from the back.

While I don't like mp3 players for teens/tweens on a day-to-day basis, they can be a Godsend on a long journey as it avoids a lot of squabbling in the back ! Headphones for the DVD player also work well and avoid distracting the driver. Audio-books and CDs for everyone to share on the car stereo can also be good but may get on your nerves after a while, depending on what your kids like listening to !

Buying a tube of tiny sweets like midget gems, jelly tots or jelly beans and telling them to share them out but make sure everyone gets the same number and the same colours will keep them busy for a while too !

Crossword books for older kids and activity/colouring books for smaller kids can be a good idea too but be warned that they'll end up dropping their pencils/felt tips on the floor and want to unbuckle their seatbelts to go and retrieve them, which is a definite no-no.

And finally, make the most of your time in a confined space together to really catch up with each other and talk. In our hectic day-to-day lives, we often don't have (or take) the time to really sit down and have a good heart-to-heart so make up for lost time. Come up with a series of questions that you wouldn't normally think to ask - what job would you love, where would you go if you could go to any country in the world, if you were a millionaire what would you buy, what's your favourite and least favourite thing about every member of the family, etc ... Be prepared to let the kids pick your brains too ! It can bring up some surprising questions and answers ! You can actually buy decks of cards with conversation-starter questions too, if you're lacking in inspiration.

Happy travelling !

Other blogposts you may be interested in :


Our fabulous Christmas Shopping Day Trip with P&O Ferries
Meet The Cuties and Pals – the latest must-have in children’s luggage for kids
Wired Kidzgear headphones for kids review