How to pass 3 hours in a car?

Watching a film is the perfect road trip activity, your family can escape to an exciting fantasy land from the comfort of the car seats. In-car DVD players are a fantastic gadget that offer a perfect solution for backseat boredom. Passengers can sit back and enjoy their favourite film while on the move. If all your DVDs have been given the boot, then opt for downloading the latest blockbusters from streaming sites onto tablets and smartphones. Whether you decide to go with DVDs, downloads or both, make sure you stock up – it’s always better to have too many movies than not enough. Stop and admire the view When going on a long car journey, sometimes just simply stretching your legs and admiring your surroundings is all the entertainment you need. If your journey is majority motorway based, plan in a pitstop in the countryside around halfway. If you are travelling with young children, this will give them chance to burn off some energy and get some fresh air before continuing the long car ride. Listen to a Podcast Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular amongst all age groups, so they make the perfect journey entertainment as there is something for everyone. From comedy and sports to news and true crime, podcasts offer guaranteed entertainment. Read a book or magazine If you have a long car journey ahead, then pack a few books and magazines. Activity and colouring magazines are great entertainment for the little ones, so stock up on those. Then why not take the free time you to get stuck into a good book. It’s time to go back to basics with this activity by playing some games. Keeping children happy in the car is a number one priority, if they are happy, the journey always seems a lot easier. So, here are our favourite car games guaranteed to make a long car journey fun. Word Association Game I Spy 20 Questions Car Colour Race Would You Rather Listen to Your Favourite Music Before departing on your epic trip, download all your favourite music, so if you lose signal along the way, you can still listen. Better still, why not create a couple of playlists. Learn a New Language Whether you are travelling the in the UK or abroad, take advantage of the spare time by learning a new language. This activity is perfect for all members of the family, even the driver. Car Picnic There’s something about long car journeys, that always makes us think – ‘food!’. But on the move, it can get messy, so here are some finger food ideas to keep everyone entertained and moderately clean! Grapes, raisins, blueberries Dried fruit and nuts Cherry tomatoes Cheese sandwiches Bread sticks Sliced pitta bread Hard boiled eggs Cucumber, pepper and carrot sticks Mini sausages and pork pies Rice cakes Cartons of juice and plenty of bottled water

We keep a small 3x5 ringed note pad in the glove box. Every different animal we see along the way gets written down one time, including butterflies and even the common animals like crows and livestock. All species are written down once. Bet you'll be amazed at the number of different animals you see by the end of your trip! This is especially fun with kids, really gets them paying attention and looking around. We pick up "Car Bingo Cards". Most large rest stops have them. We only play during the boring stretches of road. Again great for kids or adults and really helps pass the time between those scenic stretches. Even the driver can play with help from the passenger. Myself and a friend stumbled upon books about the historical accounts of all the deaths that have taken place in different National Parks. I read a passage or two each night in the hotel or cabin or my 17 year old reads out loud in the car and this kid doesn't like to read! Again when there's not much to see out the window... Time flies! Penny flip challenge. For times on your road trip when a couple hours are available...Head out your hotel or cabin one morning and flip a penny at the drive way. Driver or maybe a child calls heads or tails. If heads is called, these become right turns, tails left. Flip at each intersection or decision making road sign. Do this 20 times. On the 20th time stop for a picnic or treat where you have landed.

Tablets and Movies are a best friend to the road-tripping parent. Let your kids play on educational apps that they enjoy. Give them a certain amount of time and then tell them they are going to watch a movie as a family. It will help you peacefully chew up the miles. The License Plate Game is another option, where drivers from all over the country are out there sharing the road with you. Give everyone a blank map of the United States. As they spot different state license plates, they fill it in. Whoever fills in the most states wins. You can also let your children use your cell phone camera for a period of time to document the journey through their own eyes. They can take pictures of anything they want as long as they are taken during the road trip. Additionally, you can give each kid a notebook with blank paper inside, markers, and glue, and have them write or draw pictures of each trip you take and what they saw. Let them play games on cell phones and tablets, challenge your son to beat his own high score in his favorite game, he won’t even notice that an entire hour just passed by. You can also print out your entire trip using Google maps or your choice of site, give a copy to all of the kids, and when they ask when you are going to get there, you will be ready, simply tell them where you are and have them find it on their map. Another option is to pick out a list of items you will be likely to see on your trip, some easy to spot and some difficult, whichever family member checks off the most items gets the prize. Deep discussions can last for hours, maybe the topic is religion, how do you see God, what is He like, maybe politics, do you feel like everybody is treated fairly in this country. You can also break up the boredom by planning a few stops of fun along the way, find quirky and unique places to check out, you have to get out and stretch your legs anyway, might as well do that in an interesting location. Keep plenty of food on hand while driving, nothing like driving down the road gnawing on a big chicken leg, that’s what it’s all about.