Vacation from school provides the opportunity for many families to travel together.
How pleasant an experience this is for the family depends on how well the trips are planned.
One way to enhance the pleasure and educational value of an auto trip is to bring along tapes and to plan games.
We can all search in our memories and come up with games. These are some I remember.
In Alphabet Hunt you try to find words on billboard signs that begin with the letters of the alphabet in the correct order.
Whoever finds the most words wins. For young children, you can write out the alphabet so they know which letter comes next.
Then there is the Packing Game. Each player says something he is going to pack for a vacation. It is best to do it in alphabetical order.
Never underestimate the curiosity your children have about your own history and personal experiences, especially those of your childhood.
The next person repeats what was said before and adds something to the list.
It is always fun to make up a story.
One person begins the story and the next person adds to the plot.
It can be a soap opera, a mystery, science fiction or just plain silly.
And do not forget Twenty Questions.
There are many games found in books. Ask your librarian.
One such game is Instant Rhymes.
The idea is to form couplets. The other players guess at the word you have in mind to complete the second line. For example: I know a word that rhymes with flat. When on your head, you call it----(hat).
For younger children, you can merely use the rhyming words themselves.
For instance, you think of "need" and "seed". You tell the others your first word, "need" and they begin to guess what the second word may be--read, reed, breed, lead, greed and so on until someone guesses "seed".
Since many cars now have tape decks, I recommend great books on cassettes for long trips. You can get cassettes for such books as: "Legend of Sleepy Hollow", "Tom Sawyer", "The Hobbitt", "The Wind in the Willows", "Alice in Wonderland" and many fairy tales. There are also recordings of famous radio dramas.
And do not forget singing.
There is a company which publishes books with cassettes of songs for children.
One book includes silly songs and traditional songs such as:" John Brown's Body 4 ", "Animal Fair", "Ten in a Bed", "Found a Peanut", and "Three Jolly Fishermen".
There is another book with cassettes of fingerplays that includes: "She'll Be Comin Round the Mountain", "Down By the Station", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "Where is Thumbkin".
Finally, ordinary, relaxed communication with the family is very important.
Travelling in a car presents a marvelous opportunity for families to learn more about with each other. Never underestimate the curiosity your children have about your own history and personal experiences, especially those of your childhood. Try just reminiscing about trips you remember taking as a child.
Recount the stories you heard as a child about prior generations. This is family history passed on.
I encourage you to plan ahead for your trips so that they can be fun for everybody.
Enjoy the rest of the summer.
First published in 1998
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