Have you ever taken a long (2+ hours) road trip with your church kids? It can get pretty loud...and wild. You could pop in a movie however, I like my kids to interact with one another and disengage from electronics. One of my goals is to help children make life long friends...friends that will be there when times get tough. To tame the little rascals, create a road trip binder or "The book"...as my kids call it. Create fun scavenger hunt sheets, word search pages, find a picture, tick tac toe pages, etc. You can find a lot of free pages on the internet. I duplicate the pages and slide them into one clear sheet protector page per game. You can slide a lot of pages inside each protector sheet. When the kids start getting restless, pass out the scavenger hunt sheets. The scavenger hunt is for items that they will find outside the bus. The scavenger hunt may take up to an hour to complete...which means an hour of peace and quiet. Give a prize to the first person who finds all of the items. Allow the children to work as teams if you wish. Don't forget the pencils!
Note: We live in Arkansas...the upper N.W. corner of the state. We border the states of Oklahoma, Missouri...and not too far from Kansas. The scenery is completely different depending on the direction we travel. I create different scavenger hunts for each direction. For instance, you may see railroad tracks going in one direction but not in another. Be aware of the scenery and create your scavenger hunts to reflect what you will find in your area. The season is important too...you won't see many pumpkins in August but you will see plenty in October. Believe it or not, it took the kids a looooong time to spot a dog once. You can also play drawing games with dice by simply placing them inside a clear plastic container. Shake the container instead of rolling the dice. (1 set per team) I will add a couple samples in the comment area below. I have prayed for you this morning...prayers for strength and rest during this busy, busy season! Don't forget to STOP and remember what this season is all about. Make it special for you and your family as well.
Comments