If you go back just a few decades, you would recall how children played in the neighbourhood with their friends, filling their surrounding with laughter. Today, we seldom see a five year old outside. Children are stuck either in front of TV or to games on tablets or phones. Some parents, introduce even PC to their children as early their pre-school years.
These children often are lost without TV or gadgets and get bored very soon. This becomes highly evident when we are traveling and the child may not have access to TV or any gadget. This is a dangerous trend being set for our future generation. It is time that we wake up and bring about a change in our children.
Let us check out few activities and games for our 5 year olds which is not only going to help us connect and engage them during travel but also to increase their closeness to humans than the gadgets.
Picture Books
Picture books, especially the ones like ‘Cat In Hat’ by Dr. Suess can be very interesting for children to go through, especially if they have complete attention of their parent in the activity. These books make reading easy and are very funny not just for children, but even for adults. The pictures and stories have new details added to the older version in every new page you turn over.
I Spy
“I spy with my little eye, something blue.” Now that will be the clue for your child to see what you are talking about. If, he/she finds it difficult to spy what you referring to; add some new clues until the puzzle is solved. The game is quite easy even for toddlers to understand and play with you.
The game is more interesting during travel since you may find new objects that will pass away after a limited time, which makes it more interesting. You can involve other elders in the game with the child to make it more interesting. Believe me, toddlers can enjoy this game for much longer period of time then you could ever imagine.
Fun with number plates
Since we find vehicles from different states on our roads, teach your child to read and understand which state the vehicle is from by reading the initials on the plate.
For e.g. KA –Karnataka, AP – Andhra Pradesh, GJ – Gujarat, DL- Delhi
You can create games around the number plates in many ways. See who can spot a new state on the road. Or make a list of states that the vehicles pass through. Let your child note down the initials on the number plate, so that you can tell about the state. Have the list handy and also some interesting information about the states with you.
Another interesting activity would be for each one to pick a number plate and then add the numbers on it. Whoever scores highest number wins.
Allow your imagination and creativity to take over and you will be coming up with lot more games to play with your toddler.
Other popular games and activities
There are some quite popular games which will help you keep your child engaged during travel. Moreover these activities will create a special bond between you and your child as well.
Let us check out the list of games and activities
- Tic Tac Toe
- Connect the dots
- Hangman
- Surprise your child with a new hand puppet
- Talk about the trees names, their importance to develop child’s curiosity in environment or trees.
- Creative story narration (on spot created using the environment)
- Reading of boards or the letters on the boards of shops
- Memory game- one word, two words three words
- Name place animal thing (train)
- Cards magic (train)
- Thread game. Wind the thread around the fingers and twisting them around to make different shapes.
- Making a mouse with handkerchief or paper origami
- Rock paper scissors
- Word building
- Zip zap zoom
