Hi there mamas!
I'm usually pretty good at coming up with creative and educational ways to entertain my children. However, on Sunday we are getting on a train for a three day trip. We will be at our destination (my parents' house) for four-five days and then will get back on a train for another three day trip to get home. We're not flying because I think a cross country train trip is something everyone should do at least once in their life. What can I say? I'm the adventurous type. My kids are 8 and 2 (almost 3) and I will also have my 13yo brother with me since he flew over here just so he could ride with us. He's very close with my oldest and they are probably going to want to sync their PSP's and play their games for the whole trip. I'd like to NOT see this happen. Some PSP time is a must, but I'd like to see them do other things as well. I already have a handle on packing and snacks etc.. and I already have some ideas about way to keep them involved with the trip and having a good time while being mostly sedentary. I'd like more ideas if you great, creative mamas out there have any! I will be printing out the route brochures so we can read about the history that is passing by our windows and I will have my laptop, DVD's, iPods, portable gaming systems etc.. with us already, so I'm covered for electronics. I also plan to play that game where we all tell a story together (like one person starts it and then the next person adds to it etc..) but I'm going to be typing it up as we go, so we'll have a copy of it saved to look back on. There are a few more ideas too, but I want to hear what you mamas have to say about it!
Thanks in advance!
not a clue, i've always been terrible at thinking up this sort of thing. just want to say i LOVE that you are doing a train trip! it's one of things i wish most i'd have done when i was still homeschooling my lot. and what a lot of great suggestions you've got already. have a great time!
:) khairete
S.
I used to ride the train all the time and my favorite activities were crossword puzzles that we all worked on together, and I had a set of small flat wooden shapes that I'd use to create different pictures and my mom would have to guess what they were. Mostly I just enjoyed looking out the window the entire time in the observation lounge. I think it's important for kids to not get used to having to be entertained all the time. I hope you all have a wonderful trip. Have fun and I'm so happy to hear that someone else values a good train trip. :)
When I was 8 I took the train all around Europe with my mom and her boyfriend. Never three consecutive days, but frequently just a day or two someplace, then back on the train for a full day. I was an avid reader, so that helped, but we also brought a deck of cards and travel scrabble. I met lots of kids (mostly non-English speaking) and managed to have a great time and communicate pretty well playing card games. Might be nice to teacher the older two to play something they don't know (gin rummy maybe) that takes a while and has interaction with you.
You can make scavenger hunt lists. You could do this for on the train, in stations where you stop (Sometimes the train sits for like 20 minutes at certain stations) and for scenery you pass. They can be things like "Someone wearing a blue hat" or "A family with four children" or "the conductor" along with "the ticket counter" and "ten cows" or "a factory."
HTH
T.
How about a log book with each daylight hour written in it? The child has to write a short observation about what he sees out the window.
As far as the younger child, my son was 2 going on 3 when we traveled by train. He totally potty trained himself on that trip, because he loved using the "wiggle potty". We brought back an entire suitcase of diapers!!!
Grandma N.
How about some old fashioned pencil and paper games for the older two, like tic tac toe, hang man, and the dot sheet where you have to draw a line to close the boxes?
How about an "out the window scavenger hunt" - type up a list of things they need to spot out the window and cross off - a cow, a yellow car, pink flowers, a McDonald sign, etc.
I don't know how many you can see out the train window - would the license plate game work? There are sites on line where you can print off a list to check off with the pics of each states license plate, and kids tally them as they see them.
Mad libs? Or JR Mad Libs?
My 4 year old loves Eye Spy and you littlest can probably play a little too. Uno is a good card game. If you look at a comic or game store you might be able to find Fluxx, Nanofictionary or Once Upon a Time. All are card games good for 8 and up. Fluxx has rules that keep changing and the other 2 involve making up stories.
Have you ever played the game 20 questions? I love this thing! It is so cool. You think of something and the thing asks you 20 questions and it tries to guess what you are thinking of. It's a small round ball that you can find in the game section of either Target or Walmart. It runs around $10.
M
How about printing a map(s) of the route and have the older kids track your route. You could also have them keep track of the time it takes for the train to travel between stops and then they could estimate the time until the next stop. I love the idea of a scavenger hunt. My youngest (3) also loves I Spy so much in fact that he had an I Spy party for his 3rd birthday. For his age it might be better to play inside the train as the stuff outside might be moving too fast. How about making up a travel BINGO game? My kids have a wooden one made by Melissa and Doug and love playing on car rides. It has four different cards, country, town, vehicles, and signs. You could easily make one up. All the kids could play this and you could have a prize of some type (candy or snack). You could also try cloud watching from inside. How about Simon Says while sitting down? How about getting some books on CD and playing them on the computer? How about getting each child a disposable camera and letting them make a scrapbook of their trip? Maybe you could make or buy a blank scrapbook and they can draw or write about their experiences or cool things they see or happen and then add the pictures later. For the younger one, he can dictate to you what he wants to write. Well that is all I can think of right now. Have fun!!
Two thoughts...
A deck of cards, doesn't take up a lot of room and it's a break from the electronics.
Maps, you can track your trip. It also helps with the when will be there questions.
I learned a game when I was about 10, and still love it -- it's called "I'm going on a picnic" and it is a mind game that can be played with different ages. The rules: The leader for the round says, "I'm going on a picnic, and I'm going to bring a melon" The next person in the circle, says, "can I bring a melon?" and the leader says yes or no. So the point is to create a pattern. I said "melon" because my name starts with M. The second person can't bring a melon because his name starts with J. But he can bring Juice. and Sam can bring Sand and soda and sofas, and so on. You go around and around, each turn telling the group what you can bring. Then, once everyone figures out what they can and cannot bring, and figure out the pattern, the round ends and another leader comes up with a different pattern. You can get really creative, ie color shirt you are wearing, last letter of the last word that was said, words that have double letters, depending on if the kids can keep up with you. I can tell you that this game lasted 3 hours at a time on sports trips to New England when I was little. For the little one, if she/he wants to play, I would just make an arrangement with the big kids that everything that she says can be brought, so she doesn't get frustrated and the big kids don't get confused.
There is another game that I love that would be great for the older 2. It is orginally a board game, but I don't think you need the board & you can make up some cards in advance. Or take Taboo cards or something like that. So the idea is that you choose 3 totally random word cards, and you have to tell a story with those words in it. But the trick is that the others are listening for weird words, and if they pick the words out of your story, they win points. So, your story has to be wild and convincing, and the words have to placed very carefully so they don't draw attention. But if you get "unicorn" "payday" and "Montana" then you have to be very creative. And put a time limit on it so it doesn't drag on all day.
Also, I love the Fluxx series of games, too, And I would get Apples to Apples Junior. That is a great game, no board needed, just lots of cards, but easy to contain. And they can be used for the storytelling game, too
Ok, enough! Great question, though!
Have them bring a journal so they can write what they see (or draw pictures). Card games & Yahtzee are small to pack and can be hours of fun. I just picked up something for our next trip called "Chat Pack for Kids" which has conversation starting questions that engage your imagination and any age can do it. A book to read together is also fun. Have fun! I hope to do a cross country trip someday with my kids.
I agree with Jenn S.'s ideas. Mad Libs are always good for a laugh and Jr. Madlibs even your little one can 'help' with. Scavenger hunts I would plan two styles of. The out-the-window variety could include scenery you know is along the way. With your kids ages staying in their seats is probably a no-go so make up an old fashioned scavenger hunt too. You and the little one are one team and the 13 and 8 yr old the other. You make the first game and have a talk about politeness and bothering people first. It could be for items or pictures of items if you have digital cameras. A matchbook, a person from the Eastern time zone, make it a short list or have a time limit. The kids will probably make friends to devise their next hunt with.
