Now that we have kicked off the unofficial start of summer, we are planning ahead for road trips, vacations, and summer travel with kids. Travel with kids can be the perfect time to reconnect with them and to start meaningful, fun, creative conversations.
Our Portraits that Move Team put together three easy and fun road trip games that get the kids - and you - talking, sharing, and laughing. We know that every moment matters, and we are here to help you enjoy and document yours. Here's to good times, good talks, and a great summer!
I Spy a Story
Try this new take on a familiar game. Have each person in your car take a turn describing something they see.
The next step is where it gets really fun. In addition to describing it, have your child invent a story about it. When it is the next person's turn, have that person do the same, using the thing they spy as a new character in the story that you are creating together.
If I were...
This is another game that involves taking turns, using imagination and telling stories. Go around the car, to the right, starting with the driver.
Have the first person say to the second, "If you were a..." and pick a person, place or thing. The person whose turn it is then has to answer a series of questions from that point of view. Ask three or four questions to each player.
Example:
Mom: "If you were a monkey, what would your favorite food be."
Sam: "Banana ice cream!"
Mom: "If you were a monkey, what would your favorite color be, and why?"
Sam: "Brown, because it matches everything and it makes it hard to play hide and seek."
Mom: "If you were a monkey, what would your favorite song be?"
Sam: "Hmmm...."
Twenty Questions
This old favorite is a good way to build communication skills and to learn how your child understands the world around her.
Each person takes a turn thinking of something. The other players ask questions (up to twenty) to determine what that person is thinking of.
All of these activities do more than pass the time while you are traveling with kids. They help to connect you to each other by strengthening the bonds of communication. You are sure to laugh, to go on some wacky tangents, and to discover new things about each other. And isn't that what time away with family should be all about?