OBX for the Kids

During the Christmas holiday, I took a 15 hour car ride up north to see my extended family.

My fam met up with my sister’s clan to caravan our way up the coast, and included in our two cars on this marathon road trip were SIX kids under seven years old!

Yes, 6!

I share this little tidbit with you so you’ll understand that I’m speaking from experience with this post. I’ve been in the trenches. I know what a full day of traveling can do to kids. I feel your pain.

So, let’s try to make your extended travels to the Outer Banks with the kiddos a bit less painful, shall we?

Enter our new blog series, OBX for the Kids.

We understand it is challenging to travel to the Outer Banks, and we appreciate your efforts (although being out-of-the-way is kinda the charm of the OBX ). So, we want to offer you some great travel ideas that may slow – I can’t promise elimination – the Frankenstein-like transition from loveable youngster to off-the-wall crazy person.

Stay tuned, we’ll be sharing some great kid-friendly material, and today we’ll start with Travel Games to make your Outer Banks road trip slightly less insane.

Road Trip Games

The car is packed and you’re about to set off on your Outer Banks vacation. The only thing standing in your way is hours in a crowded car – with kids asking, “Are we there yet?” How can you keep everyone entertained and maintain your sanity until you reach your Outer Banks vacation home? Some fun and easy road trip games just might do the trick.

The Geography Game
Help your kids refresh their geography lessons while on the road with the geography game. The game begins with a person naming any place in the world, London for example. The next person then has to come up with a place name that begins with the last letter of the first location. So in this case, the next place would have to start with an ‘N’, like Nepal for instance. The game continues on until someone gets stumped, and no place can be used more than once. The game can be played with any topic, so give celebrity names, movies, animals or anything else you can think of a try.

The Grocery Game
A good way to keep everyone in the car entertained and engaged is to play a memory game such as The Grocery Game. To begin, the first player names an object available at a grocery store that starts with the letter A. The next player has to repeat what the first player said and then add another grocery item that starts with a B. For example, if player one says “apples,” player two would repeat “apples” and then might add “bananas.” If you forget a grocery item, you’re out, and the game continues until the player with the best memory wins.

If groceries aren’t your thing, you can play variations of this game with anything from animals to sports to people’s names.

I Spy
To play I Spy, a classic travel game, one person in the car will choose an object around them. He or she then gives the other people in the car a clue by saying: “I spy with my little eye, something….” He or she then will state the object’s color, give the first letter of the name of the object or offer another clue.

Be sure that players don’t choose an object that the car will whiz by too fast. Instead, go for something that is inside the car or that will be in everyone’s line of vision for a few minutes. The person who guesses the object correctly is the next person to spy a new item.

Team Storytelling
Inspire your family’s creative side by creating a group story. Someone begins by creating one line to a story (for example, “There once was a prince under a curse…”) and each person must add one line to the story as you go. If simple storytelling is too dull for you, spice it up by making the lines have to rhyme, or by pointing at players out of order to come up with a line on the spot. You can extend the game by writing down the story and having your children create illustrations for it.

Travel Scavenger Hunt
Keep children occupied with a travel scavenger hunt. Compile a list of objects for each child to find along the road. For example, you could have things like “brown cow” or “water tower.” Anything that comes to mind that you might be passing will work, or you can use prepared lists. The winner is the first one to find everything on his or her list.

Treasure Bottle
You’ll need a little preparation ahead of time, but a treasure bottle can be a great way to keep younger children entertained and engaged. Use a 2 liter bottle or large plastic container with a lid. Fill it 2/3s full with rice or birdseed, then add small “treasures” from around your house like paper clips, bolts, pennies, Legos and any other small things you might have lying around in your junk drawer. Keep count of how many items you put in and write the number on the outside of the bottle. Have kids roll around the bottle until they find everything hidden inside. Just make sure the lid is extra secure so there aren’t any mid-trip messes to clean up.

Who Am I?
Playing the guessing game Who Am I? is a great way to show everyone what they have in common. Think of someone that you and your fellow passengers all know: a family member, friend or neighbor, or maybe a fictional or historical character. Then give clues about the person’s identity by revealing his or her hair color, gender and other distinguishing physical characteristics. Or allow each person in the car to ask only “yes” or “no” questions about the identity of your secret person. Keep giving clues until someone figures out the identity of the individual you have in mind.

This is a variation of the ever-popular Twenty Questions, where the only clue players start out with is whether you are thinking of something “animal, vegetable or mineral” or a “person, place or thing.” The players must ask questions that you can only answer “yes” or “no” to determine who or what you are thinking about. The goal is to guess the answer in 20 questions or less.