Keeping Kids Entertained While on Vacation

Family vacations are meant to be a way of spending time together having fun and relaxing. Many times though, kids begin to get restless while sightseeing or traveling in the car for long periods of time. Before long, a fun family vacation can quickly turn into a nightmare of whining and fighting. To help make your family vacation an enjoyable one, here are some ways to help you keep the kids entertained:

Create a vacation journal: Kids of all ages can enjoy making a vacation journal. You can draw pictures of the things you did, tape souvenirs to the pages, or write about the experience. A journal is lightweight to pack and will help them look forward to the activities planned for the day. Try to set aside some time each day for the kids to work on their journal so they will look forward to doing more things the next day and adding to it.

Bring your camera: Kids are naturally photogenic and love taking pictures. Purchase a few disposable cameras for the kids to take their own photos. You can also make it a point to see how many pictures of them in different places you can find.

Plan for a scavenger hunt: Before you leave, make a list of things you think you might see while on your trip. For younger kids, you can draw a picture list. Things you might want to include are train, plane, horse, boat, river, and any landmarks you'll pass by depending on where you are going. You can make some things easy, and others a little more difficult to find depending on the ages of your children.

Make binoculars: Sightseeing can be boring for kids sometimes. They don't understand things like natural wonders or historical significance. To help them feel more involved, have them make their own binoculars using empty paper towel rolls. Simply cut the roll in half and securely tape the two together. You can also tie a strap to them for your child to wear around their neck for older children.

I Spy: I Spy is a great and easy way to entertain kids anywhere. In I Spy, each person alternates taking turns by "spying" something and giving clues for others to guess what it could be. For example, I might say I spy something red. Then the kids would guess fire truck, stop sign, flowers, etc. until finally guessing I saw an apple.

Play the Alphabet Game: A long boring car ride can have new life by playing a game we called the Alphabet Game. Simply starting with the letter A. look on road or travel signs for all of the letters from A to Z. You can use road signs, license plates, store signs, or anything else that happens to have a letter on it.

Pack a few surprises: It's not a bad idea to head to the dollar store or other discount retailer and pick out a few low-cost surprises to give to your child along the trip. Bubbles, fancy crayons or markers, little notebooks, travel sized games, or other toys they might enjoy can instantly change a restless kid's mood around.

Designate Responsibilities: Kids like to feel like they are included and important. Designate a job each child will need to do while on vacation. It can be as simple as giving them a backpack for packing their toys in or you can have them make the beds each day or help out with other things. While not all kids will be jumping up and down to do this, it will keep them occupied and help you have a more restful vacation.

With these suggestions for entertaining children during a family vacation, you'll be sure to have a great time and keep whining, fighting, shouting and headaches to a minimum!