Many people travel during the holiday season. By car, by bus, by train, by plane. Regardless of how you go, you are stuck “inside” something until you reach your destination. I consider that a place to entertain children indoors. Oddly enough, we’ve carried these travel games to our kitchen table, to our living room on family night and even at bedtime we sometimes play a game.
We aren’t traveling this holiday season, but many times even just for a trip to the mall or somewhere else in the car we play these games.
The best part? They cost nothing, are fun and can be played by kids of all ages with modifications. How much more frugal entertainment can you get than that?
Some travel games can sometimes last the length of the whole trip or can be played continuously while still playing other games. Some are short, and some might lose attention rather quickly. Bring backup ideas just in case!
The Cow Game
I don’t know why, but this has been one of my children’s favorite games since they were really young. I’ve seen other versions, but this is how we play it. As you are traveling, begin counting cows that appear on your side of the road – this of course depends if you are riding on the drivers side, or the passenger side. Collect cows as points. Five cows in a pasture, five points. If someone passes a cemetery on their side of the road, they lose all their points and must begin again. This is one of those games for us that is ongoing. I think it’s funny how all of a sudden my kids will shout out, “Ryan you just lost all your cows!” because we passed a cemetery on his side of the road and he wasn’t even “playing” the game. But then they start all over and go at it again. Strangely it keeps them occupied. I recently saw this game played with a school rather than a cemetery, but you can make up whatever you want it to be.
The Alphabet Game
This is another favorite. Begin looking for license plates, buildings, billboard signs and anything else you want for the alphabet. Begin with A. You pass a sign that says Yuma Road. There’s two a’s – so you have a out of the way and can move on to B. The rules that we play with are that each sign can be used only once. For instance the word TAXI CAB has A B and C in it. You can only use one of those letters until you see another one. You can also do this by finding an object that belongs to that letter. For instance, if you are on the letter d, and you pass a ditch, there’s the D word, now move onto E and look for something beginning with that letter!
I’ll give you one last game:
The Where Am I Hiding Game
One person begins by choosing a place to hide. No you won’t really be hiding, you’ll only be hiding in your mind. They then provide clues to the others to see who can guess where they are hiding. Others can ask questions like “Are you in a house?” “Are you in the sky?”, or “Is it light or dark where you are?” This is so much fun because there are so many places one can “hide” in their mind!
Be safe this holiday season, enjoy your special time and get a little closer to your family!
Visit the frugal living blog to get more ideas for family time and indoor things to do!
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