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Expert Q&A

	By Laurie Borman Managing Editor Rand McNally

Do you have any tips on entertaining kids on long car trips?

The task of getting children entertained on a long car trip is not an easy one by any means, but it is something that can be accomplished with a little effort and creativity. Long car trips are just that -- long. In order to entertain children on these long car trips one must diagram out some fun games the kids can play while they are in the car. Of course there are all those traveling board games such as bingo, hangman etc., but those games only capture the children's attention for a short period of time.

Games such as the ABC billboard game where the children all compete against one another trying to go through the alphabet and finding each letter of the alphabet on a billboard as you are traveling until someone gets to the letter Z. Even parents can play this one.

Another possibility is to create a writing assignment sort of thing and ask the children to create a story about the trip they are taking and what they expect out of that trip etc. Have the children create a story telling all of their expectations. Afterwards the child can write something similar telling what their trip entailed on the way home. It can work on the first leg of the trip and on the trip home as well.

In today's world of video games and Gameboys they to are often used to keep a child occupied on long trips. Depending on the parent as to whether or not they allow their children to have such games. Some do and some do not. Too much of these type of video games are not good for a child.

Music, in the form of a headset, can work wonders as well. The children most likely have their own taste of music so a Walkman can be a great tool as well to entertain children on long trips. Some vehicles are now installing VCRs so watching videos will work for hours as well as long as the video's are something the children can relate to."

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