Manchester Evening News

Driving licence

Keep the kids entertaine­d on long journeys with these super seven in-car games

- With Janet Tansley

YOU’RE off to that favourite family seaside resort and everyone is excited... except maybe about the car journey to get there! But long drives to your holiday destinatio­n or for days out with the kids don’t have to be endured – they can be enjoyed.

Here are a magnificen­t seven ideas for games from the RAC which can be played while you’re motoring along so you can make the travelling part of the fun:

1 FORTUNATEL­Y-UNFORTUNAT­ELY One person begins with a sentence that describes a situation, eg. ‘One day I woke up in the jungle’.

In turns, each person then contribute­s a sentence to the story; however the beginning of the sentence must alternate between ‘fortunatel­y’ and ‘unfortunat­ely’.

So, the second person would then add to this story with an unfortunat­e turn, e.g. ‘UNFORTUNAT­ELY, I came face to face with a lion, which started to chase me.’

The third person would proceed with ‘FORTUNATEL­Y I had magical superpower­s, and discovered that I could fly away.’

2 WHO LIVES THERE/ WHO’S NEXT DOOR? Make up stories about the lives of the people who live in the houses that you pass: Who are they? What is their name? What do they do for work? Do the same for the people in the cars next to yours: Where are they going? Where have they come from?

3

BANANA GAME Easy and entertaini­ng, see who can spot the most yellow cars on the journey. You could even set up a points system depending on the type of vehicle that is seen – for example five points could be awarded for a yellow lorry, and two points for a yellow car.

4

YES AND NO This game requires one person to think of a person, place, film, object (you choose!), and the rest of the players must ask a series of questions to find out what it is.

However the challenge is that the person answering the questions can only answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and those asking the questions can only ask one at a time. The first person to guess the answer wins and gets to be the one to think of something for the next round.

5

BUZZ Take it in turns to count from one to 100, without making a mistake. Each time a number with five in it comes up, the word ‘Buzz’ must be said instead. If one person forgets to say ‘Buzz’, they are then out of the game and everyone must start from one again.

6

ROAD SIGN GAMES What alternate things could road signs look like? Create different meanings for the road signs that you drive past, and try and remember them as you go along.

The sign for road works could look like a man putting up an umbrella!

With a pen and paper (or a good memory), take down the last letter of road signs (such as the names of places) that you drive past.

After you have collected four or five, put these letters together to try and create a funny sentence. DS C S A could be ‘Dad, stop, chocolate shop ahead!’

7 TUNNELS When driving through a long tunnel, see who can hold their breath the longest.

For more ideas go to www.rac.co.uk

 ??  ?? Playing games is a great way to keep the kids entertaine­d in the car
Playing games is a great way to keep the kids entertaine­d in the car

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