On-the-go games to pass the time without needing anything. I love going on holiday with the family, but I always dread the long journey. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. Questions like:“Are we there yet?” or “How long will it take?” after 2 hours of driving and 10 more to go, my neck hairs are rising. I commend those who invented the DVD player and in-car tablets. Still, I don't want my children to be constantly on a screen during the holiday trip. That's why we also play games on the go. Simple games that don't require anything but your brain. Are you going on a trip with your family this summer? These 8 on-the-go games make a long car holiday or plane trip with children fun! And you don't even need a phone with games apps…
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Of course there are plenty of games on the go that you can do, but often you need something physical for that. The fact that our car is already overcrowded without that little plaything is actually a reason to come up with games that you don't need anything for. In addition, this is honestly even more fun.
That's why I'll tell you the games for the road that we always do. All you have to do is remember them 😉 .
Someone is thinking of an animal. The others guess which animal it is by asking closed questions. Whoever guessed the animal gets to think of the next animal.
This is our favorite on-the-go game and my kids are getting more and more inventive when it comes to imagining animals. Have you ever heard of an animal without fur that lives in the forest? Me neither, I thought. Until my daughter envisioned a baby bunny. I can tell you that we made a lot of kilometers back then 😉 . Incidentally, we quickly removed that variation.
Tips for questions (after all, you want to keep your kids busy)
This on-the-go game seems simple:the last letter of a word becomes the first letter of the next word. But make no mistake:you're cracking your brain! First choose the theme of the word. Are you going for animals, girl names, boy names or something else? The first to start says a word, for example "monkey". The next person then comes up with an animal that starts with a 'p', such as 'horse'. You continue in this way until someone can no longer think of a word.
You can also turn it into a competition.
Who doesn't know these on-the-go games? "I see, I see what you don't see and the color is…" is the sentence with which the number 3 of these on-the-go games starts by default.
Tip:Agree in advance that it must be something in the vehicle. If you're speeding on the highway at 130 km/h, that red car that passed you 2 km ago is not a well-chosen subject, I can say from experience.
You must have played this game once during your holiday trip, right? You start with the sentence 'I'm going on holiday and take it with me' and the first one completes it with something he wants to take with him on holiday, for example 'a football'. The second to act begins again with the sentence "I'm going on vacation and I'm taking… a football" and completes the list with another item. You continue in this way until someone can no longer remember the long laundry list.
(Psst.. you probably know what you can take with you on holiday, thanks to the holiday checklist you have made. Learn this by heart, then you will be one step ahead of your children 😉 )
During this game you will create a story together. You take turns saying a sentence that continues the story. Our story always starts with 'Once upon a time..' and together we have already made the craziest and funniest stories. This is one of the on-the-go games that are standard in our repertoire!
Turn down the radio, because you're going to make music yourself! One person hums a song and the others guess which song it is. Of course you choose something that the children also know. Whoever guesses the song gets to hum the next song. This game is guaranteed to bring laughter along the way.
Think about which word will become the 'forbidden word':a word that is not allowed to be said during this game. This could of course be 'yes', 'no' or 'uh', but maybe you can think of another word. Then you start a conversation with each other and of course try to get the other person to say the forbidden word. So nice to hear how your child tries to avoid the forbidden word. Hilarity guaranteed!
Actually, tunneltime is not really a game, but it makes a long car ride more fun. During the journey, agree on how everyone in the car should behave when the car is driving through a tunnel. Have fun swinging together, sing a sentence from a song or come up with something else. Anyone who is a bit slumped during the long journey will bounce back.
Tip:Do you still have a small space left in your car? Then take the game 'Ask me' with you on holiday. We recently wrote about it in the article 'Talk to children' and received the response from many readers that the game is so good!
The summer is coming. I look forward to the family time we have together. We don't know where we're going yet. We see where the weather is nice and where there is room. But if a long car trip or plane trip precedes it, then I'm sure that thanks to these games for the road (and the DVD player/tablet) we will again spend miles without hassle. If you still want to take some toys for the plane, then Gezinopreis has some good tips for you!
Image used via Shutterstock
