A few tips how to keep a kid entertained while traveling in the car

Travelling is always a pleasure.  New places, new people, new experiences.. But if you’re travelling by car or by plane, you kid has to sit for along time, and he can’t move as he would like to. So it’s difficult for him to sit still, especially if he is buckled up in seat-belt.  Then parents have to be especially creative to occupy their kid. Therefore, before going on a trip, put in a bag a few toys, a pair of finger puppets so you can play a dialogue, a player with recordings of stories and songs. Also, take some unusual or a new toy for a kid, to get his attention.

Often during long trips in the car children become hungry, so think beforehand so that you could have something to offer a child for a snack.  As soon as kids start whining or saying that they feel tired, offer them some food, but it would be better if you could offer them a snack bag with dried fruit, nuts, raisins, cheese, crackers or breakfast cereals instead of candies or sweets.

Travelling in the car provides for an excellent opportunity to observe the surroundings. Ask kids to think of stories about people traveling in other cars, to make up stories about where they can go. You can also offer them to notice something new and extraordinary. For example, you can spot and count only gray cars, and the child – only green. Who counted more? If the child is tired of looking in the window, offer him or her some games to play.After all, if a child is interested, a long road trip will end up quickly.  For example, you can come up with some words that start with the letter A, for example. Who will come up with more of these words? This game is good for the kid’s vocabulary. One more game – guessing famous songs known to all participants. First you sing a line from the song, and your kid guesses the song and sings it with you, and then it’s your turn to guess.  You can even sing a song all together, it’s very uplifting.

If the traffic is too busy, and you can’t talk, ask your kid to do something by himself. It would be nice to have a plastic tray in the trunk, which can serve as a table for drawing, and a drawing kit. Almost all children love to draw, and they can spend a lot of time drawing.  But it’s even easier to install «How to Draw» on your iPad or iPhone and let the kid learn to draw funny pictures and paint them.Or he can sketch directly on the device screen what he sees from the window. And then you can send these pictures to your friends to keep the memories of this trip.

The road trip can be a good time to communicate with your kid, or a good opportunity to teach him something. Do not miss this opportunity. Invent, imagine and then you and your kid will get the joy of the trip, will not feel exhausted, and will remember this trip with a smile.