I am making lists of (hopefully) fun games to play in the car with kids on long journeys. So I thought I would share what I've got so far, in case it is of use to other people,( Lists )
I think the car games I know are better for older people, but as time inevitably marches onward I will leave them here anyway.
Pub cricket (not very good for motorway travel, excellent for winding through villages). One person/side bats, the other bowls. Look for pub names, and the batters try to spot as many runs as possible (names with "legs", eg the King George (2)George and the Dragon (6) Fox and Hounds (capped at 24), before the bowlers can see 3 pubs with no runs, eg Queen's Head, the Crown (assume no synechdoche/metonymy for this game). Players under no obligation to point out pubs to other side, so lots of fun in saying "oh, look out of THIS side of the car, it's very interesting HERE DON'T LOOK OVER THERE oh okay".
I'm thinking of someone. Someone says "I'm thinking of someone", others guess who it is. Can be a relative, a famous person, a historical figure. Questions can only be answered yes or no (or don't know). Best to impress upon children not to follow my sister's example, where we spent nearly half an hour guessing and getting nowhere, only to be told that it was "the man in the lorry back there".
Who's driving that car. Best for motorway travel. Spot a car that you are likely to overtake. Make up a story about who's driving, who's in the passenger seat and where they're going. When you overtake, peer at actual people in car and unnerve them as you see if you got it right/how different they are from what you thought up. (Made up by my sister when we were in our twenties.)
Pub cricket was a staple of my childhood too, although we had no caps on Fox and Hounds or Coach and Horses, the better to enable argument. There was a pub we passed regularly called 'The Angel' which led to furious theological discussion about whether angels have legs or not (how could they dance on the head of a pin otherwise? / But they are only a representaion of an idea so don't really have bodies at all). We do play it sometimes with the kids but we so rarely drive on those kinds of roads that I forgot it. And this summer's journeys are almost all motorways, alas.
I think 'I'm thinking of someone' is what we call 'Who am I?'. We used to use an initial focusing question of 'are you alive?' but realised that fictional characters complicated this, so now our traditional opening question is 'are you real?'
We will try 'who's driving that car' - thank you. That sounds great.
Pub cricket (not very good for motorway travel, excellent for winding through villages). One person/side bats, the other bowls. Look for pub names, and the batters try to spot as many runs as possible (names with "legs", eg the King George (2)George and the Dragon (6) Fox and Hounds (capped at 24), before the bowlers can see 3 pubs with no runs, eg Queen's Head, the Crown (assume no synechdoche/metonymy for this game). Players under no obligation to point out pubs to other side, so lots of fun in saying "oh, look out of THIS side of the car, it's very interesting HERE DON'T LOOK OVER THERE oh okay".
I'm thinking of someone. Someone says "I'm thinking of someone", others guess who it is. Can be a relative, a famous person, a historical figure. Questions can only be answered yes or no (or don't know). Best to impress upon children not to follow my sister's example, where we spent nearly half an hour guessing and getting nowhere, only to be told that it was "the man in the lorry back there".
Who's driving that car. Best for motorway travel. Spot a car that you are likely to overtake. Make up a story about who's driving, who's in the passenger seat and where they're going. When you overtake, peer at actual people in car and unnerve them as you see if you got it right/how different they are from what you thought up. (Made up by my sister when we were in our twenties.)
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I think I've been doing this quietly by myself since I was very small. :)
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I think 'I'm thinking of someone' is what we call 'Who am I?'. We used to use an initial focusing question of 'are you alive?' but realised that fictional characters complicated this, so now our traditional opening question is 'are you real?'
We will try 'who's driving that car' - thank you. That sounds great.
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