Cooking Games

Traveling with children is always an adventure. When we took our first big car trip with our daughter while she was being potty trained, it didn't take more than three minutes for her to say "I gotta go!" Yes, traveling with children can be an experience.

By making regular car trips of 200 to 300 miles every couple of months, we have learned many tricks for traveling with children. For instance, we let our children pack a snack bag for long car trips (with our supervision of course). They decide when they will eat their snacks. They know that there will be no other snacks during the trip and they must pace themselves. We also let each child pick at least one audio cassette for the trip which we will play for them during the car ride. But the best trick we have is our collection of car games.

Car games are a terrific way to entertain children and yourself too! The games pass the time, stimulate thought, and can educate the children! The great thing about car games is they can be played by many different aged children. Imaginative use of car games is all that is needed to modify them for different ages.

Many of the games we play in the car are games you probably played as a kid, but have forgotten all about...such as 20 Questions and Geography. Some of the others we play may be new to you, but are also winners. And keep in mind, these games are also great when you are in waiting rooms; on line somewhere; or waiting for a table in a restaurant. They don't have to be played in a car!

20 QUESTIONS

20 Questions is truly a classic game. It can be played by children of all ages. There are many variations of the game. We will describe only one variation of the game.

One person thinks of something which falls under the category of animal, mineral, or vegetable and then tells the other players which category is correct. The players then take turns asking questions which can be answered with a YES or NO. For instance, if the category is animal a player might ask "Can it fly?" or "Does it have four legs?" And after 20 questions are asked, if the players have not already guessed the answer, each player gets a last chance to make a guess. Afterwards, a new player tries to stump the group.

GEOGRAPHY

Geography is another classic game. But Geography is not for younger children. This game is best for children ages 8 and up. Not only do they enjoy the game, they know enough locations to be able to play the game well. Although the fine points of the game may vary from place to place, this is how the basic game is played.

Someone starts by naming a country such as Japan. The next person must name a country whose name begins with the last letter of the previously named country. In this case, Japan ends in N, so a country which begins with N must be named such as Nigeria. And then, since Nigeria ends in an A, the next person's country must start with an A. And so on until someone gets stumped.

Please note, some people play the game with city names; names of rivers or other bodies of water; and in the United States it is often played with state names. Set your own rules and have fun!

NAME GAME

Simple, yet a fun Games. Perfect for children of all ages. Think of a name. Then tell the group whether it is a boy's or girl's name, and tell them the first letter of the name. The group then tries to guess the name by calling out all the names they can think of which start with the appropriate letter. That's it. Simple, but fun!

ALPHABET MEMORY GAME

Great for children of all ages. An excellent way to help reinforce a preschooler's ABCs, yet fun for the elementary school aged child too!

The first person starts with the letter A and say "A is for ---" filling in the blank with any word beginning with the letter A such as APPLE, ARTICHOKE, AIRPLANE, etc. Let's use APPLE. The second person then does the letter B, but must also remember what A was! So, let's say the second person decides to use the word BOOK for B, the second person would say" A is for APPLE and B is for BOOK.

You continue your way through the alphabet. By the time you get up to the letter Z the player will have to recite each and every letter with its corresponding item. The game takes a while and kids love it, particularly if you throw in some silly words or phrases like S IS FOR SMELLY TOES.