Planning a Caravan Trip – Part 3 Keeping kids happy in the car

We have three kids – 7, 5 and 3. When we go on our holidays they sit together across the back seat of our car. After the novelty of going on holidays has worn off (as it is bound to do on a long trip), the bickering will start unless we have planned a few activities or goodies to keep them occupied. We don’t have a DVD player in the car. Actually the one time we did borrow one it only kept the kids amused for an hour or so. In truth, I don’t like the idea of watching TV in the car. I think it’s the perfect opportunity for some quality time together, albeit enforced. Here are some of the things that we’ve found work well for us.

Limit time in the car
One of the things I can remember about my childhood caravan holidays is traveling all day, with just a stop for lunch. Mum and Dad must have seriously been going nuts traveling those distances with four kids. We try to limit our journeys to around 400-500km per day. That gives us plenty of time for toilet breaks and a bit of a run around to get rid of some energy along the way. It also means we’re all not so cranky when we finally get to our destination and still need to set up camp.

Travel games
We have a few games that are favourites with the kids. Some of them even get trotted out on shorter trips to the shopping centre.

• I spy – a perennial favourite. As our two younger children don’t know their letters at this stage, we alternate between the traditional game and spying colours (I spy something that is blue…)
• Places – this is another game with a couple of variations. Our usual version goes like this: The first person names a place in Australia (can be a town, river, mountain, desert, etc). The next person names a place that begins with the last letter of the first place. Places aren’t allowed to be repeated throughout the game.
• Paddocks – draw a grid of dots. Each play can join turn adjacent dots horizontally or vertically. The person that draws a line to complete a square takes possession of that square. The player with the most squares when all the dots are joined is the winner.
• Treasure Hunt – come up with a list of things to spot. Make sure some of them are easy to keep up interest, but throw a few challenges in there too. The number of items will dictate the length of the game. Alternatively you could set a time limit and the player with the most items at the end of the game wins.

Moms Minivan has an amazing number of car games for kids of all ages. Some you need equipment for, but many of them need nothing more than some imagination and a fun spirit.

Goodie bag
Sometimes our goodie bag has lollies and treats in it, sometimes it has little toys from the $2 shop. Great value for money can be had from cheap magna doodle type boards. Also fun are the mazes that you have to guide little balls through. I’m thinking about trying a Rubik’s Cube for The Engineer this time round. The items in the goodie bag are rationed throughout the trip usually when all else fails.

iPods
My iPod has my music (of course) as well as the kids’ music loaded onto it. I set it to shuffle and we generally get a good mix of music that keeps everyone happy. We’ve had many a sing-a-long together to the most unlikely songs – Christmas songs in the middle of the year, “You made me love you” with Shirley Bassey is a favourite at the moment!

When they’re ready for some quiet time, the kids all have a Shuffle each that I load up with their favourite music. I also include some audio books for them to listen too.

Maps and Drawing Paper
Each of the kids has their own clipboard where I put a map of our journey with some major milestones highlighted. I started doing this just for The Engineer as the girls are too little to read maps yet. But they wanted their own as well, so now everyone gets a map. I used to include some drawing paper as well, but found this made a huge mess in the back of the car. Now I get them a cheap exercise book each and a couple of pencils, which keeps them all happy for a while.

I’ve found the key to keeping the kids (and parents) happy when traveling long distances in the car is to listen to the cues. When things start getting a little antsy, don’t try to push for a bit further. Things will quickly escalate and the price will be paid. Mix up the activities with some quiet time and don’t expect miracles and your trip should be a happy one.

What’s your favourite tip for traveling with kids?

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Tagged as: family activities, family fun, Holidays, kids