road trip

In the last week I have spent about 36 hours in the truck with the kids. About 5 minutes into the trip we heard the famous line, “Are we there yet?” Knowing the long trip ahead of us I felt a little nervous about how the kids were going to do. We were driving on roads that literally went hours between any towns or even signs of life. No restrooms, gas stations, coffee shops, etc for HOURS between stops. And lucky me, I have a kid who gets motion sick so no books, leap pads, games, etc. Shane and I had to get creative with how to keep the kids happy (or let’s be honest, QUIET!)

Name That Tune– Just hum a tune and see if the kids can guess what song you are humming. Let them take a turn humming, too. A couple times I couldn’t guess William’s. His answer would be something like, “It was supposed to be that song from that movie but I couldn’t remember it so I made up my own.”
I Am Thinking of a Number Between…– Exactly how the title sounds. I would say I am thinking of a number between 1-5. I slowly worked my way up to a number between 1-15 and he did really well with it. He got a turn to think of a number, too. This one is his favorite I think.
What Color Am I Thinking Of– This game is the same as the number game. One person thinks of a color and the other tries to guess what it is.
Alphabet Game- This game is a little trickier and it requires the child to be able to recognize alphabet letters. It is pretty much the same as the traditional alphabet game that everyone played as a kid. The only difference is we all work together as a team to find the letters on the signs outside.
Number Game– Pretty much played the same way you play the alphabet game. Just start with #1 and work your way up finding the numbers on signs outside of the car.
I Spy– I think everyone knows how to play I Spy and it’s as good as it was when we were kids.
Storytelling- I LOVED hearing the kids tell each other stories. The way they used their hands and changed their voices had Shane and I both laughing out loud. A really fun way to do this is we each get a turn to tell one sentence of a story. Our stories were so random and hilarious. One story had a little boy named William living in the wild west fighting the bad guy for the ingredients to bake cookies.
Singing- Not exactly a game but really fun to do. This was great especially when Pepper was getting upset. The right music can calm a child down so well. It’s fun to make up songs, too.
Scavenger Hunt- Have a list of things to find: 1 cow, 2 trees, 3 flowers, 4 horses, 5 clouds, 6 cars, 7 signs, 8 people, 9 birds, 10 lights.
Guess the Bible Character- For this game William and I took turns thinking of a scenario and we had to guess which Bible character that happened to. Sometimes we would switch it and name a Bible character and we had to guess what happened to that Bible character.