Summer is almost near. While we dream of the perfect family vacation, the reality may be long lines or long car drives. Sometimes it's hard to find ways to entertain the kids away from the comforts of home. I have come up with a quick list of tips that will help you keep your kids happy and occupied, whether you're in a long line, in the car or the kids are just plain bored.1. Teach your kids how to thumb wrestle. Remember thumb wrestling? It was loads of fun when we were kids. How to play: Wrap fingers of your right hand around the fingers of your opponents right hand, leaving your thumbs out; Chant "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war"; Try to get the opponents thumb pinned down under yours. No using your other hand.
2. Play “I Spy, with my little eye”. The easiest way to do this is to say the color of the object. If you are playing this with younger kids, you can come up with different variations that enhance learning. For example, you can "spy" something that rhymes with ten (answer: pen), you can give extra clues to help them figure out what you are spying.
3. A great grocery store game is to try to find items for each letter of the alphabet. This can also be played on car trips or while waiting in line as long as you are surrounded by lots of letters.
4. Rhyming Games (think of all the words that rhyme with “bee”), think of as many words as you can that start with a certain letter.
5. Alphabet Categories. Think of a theme like first names and take turns thinking of first names for each letter of the alphabet. Once while waiting in a long line to get into a zoo, we tried to think of animals that started with each letter of the alphabet. That was difficult, but fun. Not sure if we finished before we got out of line.
6. Bring a pad of paper and a pen or pencil. Draw a squiggly line or a shape. Have your child finish the picture by drawing anything they want out of the mark you made. Then they can draw a squiggle and have you finish the picture. When you've finished your picture that they started, you can ask them what they would have made from the squiggly line.
7. Start a story with "Once Upon a Time...". Take turns adding on to the story. Have fun listening to your child use his/her imagination.
8. Talk to your kids. Have a nice conversation asking specific questions about their day or their dreams. You may have to prompt them. Ask about their favorite thing to do with Daddy, Mommy or Grandma. If they still won't talk to you, kids love to hear stories about when they were younger. Tell them about time when they spit up on a family friend and everyone laughed.
If you need more fun games to play with your kids, here are another blogger's ideas:
http://healthy-family.org/caryn/161
Posts
2 comments:
If you have an iPhone or iPad check out "A Family Matters". Our family uses it all the time when we are at Restaurants or Traveling.
http://www.weinerfamilystudios.com/familymatters_itunes.php
We keep our kids busy with audiobooks. They're far more engaging than dvds and tv, and it gets them interested in tv. There's lots of great sites where you can download original stuff, instead of the same old public domain stories like Red Riding Hood. This is a good one where you can download original stuff for free. http://www.twirlygirlshop.com/stories-for-kids
Post a Comment