games in the car

Another way to engage children in learning over the summer is playing games while going places in the car.  There are a variety of games to play, depending on your children's ages or interests.  Here are few that I have played with a variety of children.  (These can be played while walking, too.)

The easiest game to play is the Alphabet game.  The goal is to find the entire alphabet on signs and vehicles outside the one you are in.  Start with looking for the letter A.  After that is found, then look for B, followed by C, until you get to Z.  It can be done individually or as a group.  

The license plate game is for longer trips.  Make a list of all the states in the United States.  Then everyone looks for cars with plates from other states.  Every time a new state is noticed, it is marked off on the list.

Another way you can play with words is by choosing a topic or category.  In two or three minutes, try to think of all the thing that would fit in the category.  A few categories to get you started thinking are vegetables, things that swim, transportation, things that are triangles.

There is also the geography game.  The first player names a place anywhere in the world.  Then you take the last letter of that word and the next person names a place that begins with that letter.  Players take turns naming places but cannot repeat places.  For example, the first player says Madagascar.  Then the next player says Rhode Island, the next says Delaware.