At first glance, the idea of bringing your nanny on family vacations may seem extravagant. However, with spring holidays on the horizon all around the country, it’s time to start planning. When a trip requires extensive travel, it’s often stressful enough just to navigate between Point A and Point B, much less to keep restless kids entertained on the way. This is where your travel nanny comes in handy!
Children tend to be more fidgety or stressed during long drives or flights, which often leads to behavioral issues—or the infinitely repeated question that all parents dread: “Are we there yet?”
A good traveling nanny will stave off this question by coming to the trip equipped with a set of games and activities that can be played in a small space, such as a plane or car. She will entertain the kids so you can focus on driving, navigating the airport, planning excursions in your destination, or taking care of any other travel emergencies that may arise at the last minute. What kinds of games? Our travel nannies know a wide variety, but we’ve listed a few of our favorite ideas below!
Fun Travel Games for Kids
- Bring a 3-ring binder with blank sheets of paper inside clear plastic sleeves. Kids can play Tic-Tac-Toe, Hangman, or simply draw on the plastic sleeves with dry erase markers, then wipe it off and start again!
- Bring a large sketchbook. On the pages, paste part of a small cut-out from a magazine. For example, half of an elephant or a tree—something small that a child could draw. Set the sketchbook on a flat surface (a cookie sheet works well on car trips and is easy to stow away; on a plane, the tray table should work fine). Give the child crayons or colored pencils and ask them to finish the picture.
- I Spy is a classic car game for long drives. It’s a great game for practicing colors and numbers. It also provides a good opportunity for teaching kids to notice interesting or unusual things in their environments.
- Bring a pack of colored pipe cleaners with you. Have the kids shape them into people or animals, then have the little ones tell stories about the characters they’ve made. If you have enough, you can even make up a little play and stage it on the tray table or cookie sheet.
- If the kids are old enough, word games like “The Minister’s Cat” are a fun way to practice vocabulary and quick thinking. To play “The Minister’s Cat,” all players clap in unison. The first person starts the game by saying (to the beat of the clapping group), “The Minister’s cat is a ______ cat,” the blank being an adjective that starts with the letter A. The second person uses an adjective that starts with B, the third C, and so on. A player is out if he or she falls too far behind the pace while thinking of an adjective. After a player is out, the remaining players pick up where they left off.
Everybody knows that traveling is stressful enough without adding screaming kids into the mix! Remember, while a vacation should be fun for your children, it should also be relaxing for you. Contact the Nanny Authority today to learn more about how our travel nannies can help your family.