Five Ways to Entertain Your Children during a Long Car Journey

With the UK school summer holidays visible on the horizon, we have been discussing what we do to entertain your children when on a long car journey. In a bid to keep our children from causing havoc through boredom back home, our summer holidays are broken up with a week or two on holiday, and with some choice day trips. Will you be doing any long car journeys in these coming weeks?

Whether you’re planning on heading to the airport to get to sunnier climes, or staying in the UK, you’re bound to hear ‘I’m booooooooored’ or the inevitable ‘are we nearly there yet?’ at some point along the way. Here are five ways to keep your children occupied and entertained while on a long, and possibly hot car journey. 1) Play games. While travel board and card games are great for on the train or in the airport, they’re not very practical in a car. We play games such as I Spy, and Twenty Questions. Pub cricket is great for older children as long as you’ll be driving in built-up areas rather than on the motorway. 2) Play car bingo. Using a flat surface such as a clipboard, a pen, and a car bingo sheet you can keep little ones entertained for aaaaaaaaages. The aim of car bingo is to spot all the items on the sheet, and tick them all off for the win. Best if the children have different sheets or it will ensure a fight (trust me on this one!). You need to make the sheets appropriate for their age. Young children may only be able to distinguish vehicles by type ‘car’, ‘caravan’, and ‘lorry’ for example, whereas older children can distinguish between makes of car and other smaller details. You can make your own sheets or find one to print from the internet. There are some good ones on this site, or try Pinterest © Mum In the Mad House 3) Play them a DVD or three. If we do say do ourselves, a long car journey is a great time to have yet another watch of their favourite movies, or to discover new favourites. With the players on the back of your headrests and the addition of headphones, you don’t even have to see or hear their choice of film. Who needs to hear Everything is Awesome any more than 12,000 times anyway? Here are two of our DVD players we would recommend for family car trips. 10.1" HD Digital TFT Touch Screen Ultra-thin Design Car Headrest DVD Player This is a single screen unit which is supplied with a mounting bracket and a choice of drivepipes to suit your car’s headrest, and is super easy to install. It is powered via a cable (supplied) to either a cigarette lighter socket, or a 12V socket. It is controlled via a remote control so you can do the controlling, and it is IR headphone compatible. Check out our range of car DVD headphones and accessories too!

 7" HD Digital TFT Screen Touch Panel Car Headrest DVD Player This is a compact single screen unit which can be used both in the car and in the home. It is mounted using a simple mounting bracket supplied, and is detachable and portable. There is also a remote control for this one, and choice of headphone configurations. Again, this one is easy to install, and easy on the budget. 4) Singalongs. Who doesn’t love a good singalong right? A singalong is great entertainment for even the youngest of children. You can do it properly, or in a variety of silly voices. You can award points for getting the lyrics right, or for solo sections. A sound system with iPod connectivity or a memory card slot will mean you’ve got a wealth of tunes to choose from and means you don’t have to carry bunches of CDs around. Looking to upgrade your sound system? Have a look at our range of car stereo head units 5) Gaming and devices. Using in-car WiFi you can turn your vehicle into a moving internet café. Your children can use their favourite devices on the move for gaming, surfing the internet, and homework (maybe!). Keeps mine quiet for a while, so definitely worth considering taking along their gadgets. Have a look at our WiFi and 3G dongles. Some more ideas on our blog post – Are we nearly there yet? http://xtrons.co.uk/blog/are-we-there-yet-what-parents-should-know-about-in-car-entertainment/