Consider occupying the children by playing a few kids' travel games while driving across the country or flying on a plane. Traveling with children can be wonderful or terrible, depending on the nature of your children and how bored they become while on a long road trip or airplane flight.
The Map Game
Buy your child a map and highlight your trip directly on the map. Paste the map into a homemade journal and encourage your child to draw pictures and write stories about the things you see and places you go as you travel. Buy a disposable camera and promise to let him or her paste his photos into the journal when you get home and get the photos developed.
Guess that Television Character
If your child has a favorite television program, take turns describing a character on the show and having the other person guess which character you have described. This is especially fun for television shows where there are multiple characters such as Sesame Street or Pokemon.
Read My Palm
Take turns writing mystery words with your finger on your child's palm. When he or she guesses correctly, let him or her write on your palm while you guess what word was written. This is a great travel game to practice your child's spelling!
License Plate Acronyms
Call out the letters on license plates you see and use the letters to make up funny phrases. For example, BEB could stand for "Boys Eat Bananas." See how many funny phrases each person can come up with for different license plates as cars go by.
Play With String
Show your child how to make a cat's cradle with a long piece of yarn or string and then set him or her loose to discover how many other pictures and tangles he or she can create.
The Alphabet Game
For each letter of the alphabet, have each person come up with his or her favorite person, place or thing that starts with that letter. You can change the rules as you go to be the name of your favorite animal or your favorite food or your favorite thing to do-just make sure the answers start with the appropriate letter!
Treasure Chest
Bring along a special box or backpack and fill it with memories of your trip. Encourage the kids to write notes about the trip and to stick them in the box along with memorabilia you collect as you go from place to place. They can sort through these treasures and write stories about their experiences as you drive or fly.
Interacting with your children through travel games can be just as fun as exploring the destinations to which you travel. Invest in your children with funny, zany games that will make you giggle instead of bicker along your journey.
 | Planning a family vacation won't be a hassle if you choose your destination wisely, pack well and are prepared to handle the inevitable sunburn, upset stomach or fever. |
 | Be sure to follow this list of must-dos when planning a family friendly vacation. |
 | Traveling with kids does not have to be the mind-alteringly nightmarish journey that it seems like it would be. |
You can prepare a standard emergency first aid kit with essential first aid supplies and leave it in your vehicle so you won't have to remember to do this every time you travel. However, you'll want to update the kit every so often to make sure expiration dates are not exceeded and supplies are not missing. |
When going on a trip, you want to make sure you have a travel packing checklist to be sure you bring the right travel documents with you. |
