Games to enjoy your children on trips

Traveling is one of the funniest activities we can do as a family when we have young children, but it can also become a nightmare if we do not foresee certain situations in advance, since having children "locked" in a small space such as a car, train or plane for several hours can generate conflicts. To avoid them, we propose you these games to enjoy your children on trips.

Trips with children: aspects to keep in mind

Important aspects to keep in mind when going on a trip with children:

1. There will always be moments of transition and waiting. In these situations is where there are more opportunities to create conflicts, so you have to be very aware of these moments to provide alternatives.

2. We must take into account the ages of our children and their needs. It is not equal a child of 2 or 3 years who needs to nap than one of 5 who does not need it.

3. The logistics have to be very organized.It is convenient to have at hand all the things that we might need (changes of clothes, medicines, sunscreen, caps, hotels, transportation ...), as well as everything necessary for possible contingencies.

4. Arm yourself with a lot of patience and desire to enjoy with the family.

Prepare a travel games bag

In times of transition is where, generally, more children can be bored, and for this reason, there are fights between brothers, tantrums ... and we as parents are more stressed. These situations are, for example: the queues of the places that are going to visit, the wait in the restaurants while the food arrives, the empty moments in the room while we make or unpack and move from one place to another. To survive successfully at this time, it is important to build a bag with all kinds of games and accessories to offer alternatives to our children. So they can channel that euphoria and energy.

What does a bag of travel games have to contain?

- Paintings and notebooks
- Small stories
- Questions, letters or travel games that do not occupy much, there are many commercialized and easy to find in bookstores.
- Small dolls or cars with which to play
- Beads or small sewing squares to make.
- Small music player and stories with helmets

Games that can be used that do not require material
- I see I see
- Riddles
- Tell crazy stories, each one is saying a part.
- Phone broken.
- Palm games with songs
- Chinese thumbs pulse

Tricks to calm children on trips

Going on a trip is an intense activity for children. It is normal that they get nervous during the journey or that they are already somewhat upset even the day before. On the other hand, it is also normal to find it difficult to adapt to a new place, since we usually change their schedules and routines a bit, and of course, they often miss the new accommodation: the bed, the pillow, the bathroom ... To minimize all this and collaborate so that its adaptation is more comfortable, this is what parents can do:

1. Give them information about the trip. It is important that when we are traveling with our children, before leaving or even during the trip. Let us explain and anticipate where we are going, what we are going to see and do. This type of information reassures them and predisposes them to a better collaboration.

2. Explain what you expect from them.It is very interesting that we explain to them what we expect from them in each place or situation, how we expect them to behave in each moment, for example, if we are going to visit a museum, it is important that they know that in those places they walk slowly, talking very short, you do not touch anything, there will be times when you get bored and have to communicate to find a solution.

3. Plan activities with children. When we travel with our children, involving them in the planning of each day has many benefits. By involving them in the decisions and planning of the excursions and visits as much as possible they will feel more responsible for them and will tend to behave better.

Eva María Díaz Sánchez. Teacher and child educator. Director of Learning as a family