How to Make A Car Travel Game for the Road Trip

This is a well worth while travel toy or game to make for your vacation road trip. It will last a good long time and you will definitely avoid those "are-we-there-yet" blues. The secret is to make a game out of getting "ready" to play the game you provide. Follow along here and you will be wanting to make one of these games for that next big road trip.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 
    
   Vacation Fun in the Back Seat

   This project will take sometime to make and will need some sewing or stitch witchery which ever you choose. It is relatively easy to make! You will be making a kind of shoe bag that flips over the back of the front seat. Basically it is fabric with many pockets of different sizes. Inside the pockets are surprises (only you know what is inside).
   
   Here are some ideas as to what you might put inside each pocket. Crayons and paper, clay and molds, magnetic checkers, paper dolls, stickers, and anything you know your child would like to do. I like to buy them something new that they have never seen and place it in one of the pockets. These surprises have delighted them and kept them busy for hours.

2. 
    
   Elephant Pocket Game

   On each pocket attach a symbol or clue that your kids will have to figure out before they can open that pocket to get the surprise on the inside. If you make a travel game like the picture shown you would start with the elephant pocket. The kids would look for roadsigns that have an "e" then an "l" and another "e" until they have found all the letters to spell elephant. Then they can open the pocket and enjoy the surprise. Of course you can design any of these pockets the way you would like.

3. 
    
   Decoding Pocket Game

   The next pocket is to decode the message. Here it might read EFDPEF UIFO PQFO UIJT on the outside of the pocket flap. In order to decode this they can write out the alphabet on a sheet of paper to make it easier. The decoding works like this; E=D F=E D=C B=A and so on. This message reads: DECODE THEN OPEN THIS. Once they have done this they can have the surprise inside.

4. 
    
   RELAX!

   Another pocket might just have a note attached that says "look for a brown cow". And still another pocket might have big numbers or a name of a state on it. This would be a clue to find a car with the number or state on the license plate. And still other ideas could be "play tic-tac-toe", "twenty questions," or "how many words can you make out of "vacation"- cat,vat,tin...
   
   One rule must always apply: Players must put away the contents of one pocket before they open another pocket. You will be surprised at how fun your trip will be!

[fcmosher]

on 12/8/2009 Good idea for an article! 5* and recommended you.

[JKPENDLETON]

on 8/11/2009 i remember those days. wish i had a couple of these ideas then.