Family Interaction Game #1. “I Spy” – with variations
No road trip would be complete without a (many) games of “I Spy”.
This works well for younger kids especially. Take turns to look for something the other players have to guess correctly. You begin your turn by saying “I spy with my little eye something beginning with a (letter)_____”. The other player tries to guess it from the surrounding items or countryside. The person who correctly guesses gets to have the next turn.
Variations. How about I spy with my little eye something with a colour of_______, or I spy with my little eye something that is associated with_______ eg flying (bird, plane), milking, ploughing, riding (horse, bike, car etc)
Family Interaction Games #2. Geography Game
This is a great game for players (old and young) to brush up on their world knowledge.
The first player thinks of a place or country (say London). The next player has to think of a place or town or city with the last letter of the previous place mentioned. In this case it would be N, (for Naples), being the last letter of London, and so on. The game continues until someone gets stumped and cannot think of an appropriate place. Each place, town or city can only be used once.
Family Interaction Games #3. When I was Young / When you were born
From experience, kids love to hear about 2 things especially – when they were born and when their parents were young, like themselves.
The game is started by one or both the parents retelling stories of their childhood and events surrounding the birth of the children. Tales relating to the parents schooling, how they travelled to school, how far they walked to school and favourite/worst teachers.
Events at the birth relating to the dash to the hospital, first impressions at the birth, some major character traits and first words are all great conversation starters.
Family Interaction Games #4. Math – Number Plate Bingo
Good game for learning number recognition skills.
Each player lists out numbers 1-50. Then they are to look for those numbers on number plates. The one who completes their list first is the winner. To make this game spin out a little longer only number plates of a certain state or color can be used.
Family Interaction Games #5. My best, my most scary, my best…
Each child (and the parents) try to remember a certain event in their lives (or from their imagination) from the choices below or make your own: (each choice represents 1 round). Players agree on the type of event before each round.
My most scary moment My best time My favorite holiday My most stressful event
Each player then recounts the event in their life (actual or imagined). After each round the family members vote whose story is best, based on on originality and graphic detail The one with the most votes wins the round. The one with the most winning rounds after 5 rounds wins.
Family Interaction Games #6. Maths – Number Search
Each player (kids and adults included) lists 1 – 100 in a column and the winner is the first player that finds all the numbers on the list by finding the number words or symbols on advertisements, road speed signs and distance signposts. Write each occurrence against the item on your list as you find it.
Family Interaction Games #7. Car Make/Model Reversii
This will have the whole car in fits of laughter…guaranteed! If you see a Cadillac Eldorado (for instance) whiz past the players try and quickly say the make and model spelled BACKWARDS. So for this example the kids will be trying to say “Callidac” (Cadillac spelled backwards) and the pronunciation would be something like Call-i-dac.
Then for the model Odarodle (Eldorado spelled backwards) they would try to say O-dar-odle. Once people are trying to say these words quickly, as other cars zoom past, it quickly turns into a real laugh… you’ll remember this game for years. (I don’t know of anyone else who has played this game apart from our family – so you could say it’s exclusive.)
I sincerely hope that these games will help the whole family have a great holiday…
