Educational Car Games

I think one of the best times to review or learn new information is in the car while running errands.  You can take advantage of those spare minutes (even a quick 5 minute drive) to introduce a new concept or play a fun game.  Best of all it keeps your child occupied and even entertained!

A few things I do with my daughter in the car while running errands:

Practice ABC’s -Sing them, sign them while singing, or the old standby game where you find the letters in order from A to Z on signs and billboards.

Practice counting-  First it was just 1-10, then 1-20, then counting by 10s up to 100, and now we are counting from 1-100 and by 5s up to 100.

Play the “Category Game”- My daughter loves this one and usually is the one who starts it.  Either I name a category or she comes up with one and then we each take turns thinking of an item in that category.  This is an important language development skill for children to acquire, and this is an easy and fun way to learn the concept of categories.  For example, my daughter gives the category “sea animals” and says the first item “crab”.  Then it’s my turn and I say “octopus”, and we continue until neither one of us can think of another animal.  Then we start a new category!

A few category ideas to get you started: farm animals, ocean animals, jungle animals, African animals, colors, shapes, fruits, vegetables, furniture, occupations, transportation, and things found in the bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom.  For kids a bit older try the category game based on the characteristics of items such as things that are hard, soft, big, little, tall, glass, plastic, cheap, expensive, can fly, crawl, etc.

Play the “Rhyming Game”- Another version of the category game, but you just start out with a word and take turns saying words that rhyme with the first one.  For example, you start with “hat” and take turns saying “rat”, “bat”, “pat”, “mat”, “sat”, “zat”, “gat”, and “lat”.  Both real and made up words are great!

Sing songs and recite nursery rhymes- Another favorite!  Memorizing familiar songs and nursery rhymes is an important skill for children to acquire.  Being able to remember information is an important life skill, and usually is taught by learning songs and nursery rhymes.  It is also important for children to learn them because they are a part of our culture and may be referenced in material as they get older.  For example, if you are reading a story that makes reference to ‘Jack and Jill’ but you don’t know how the nursery rhyme goes, then you will not fully understand what the author is trying to say.  Nursery rhymes, songs, fairy tales, and other stories that are a part of our culture are often expected to be common knowledge.

Some of our favorites are Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill (both verses!), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wee Willie Winkie, and This Old Man.

A tip to help your child: After saying the nursery rhyme a few times aloud, start leaving off the last word in the verse.  For example, “Twinkle Twinkle Little ____” and have your child say the word to finish it (star).  Then continue with, “How I wonder what you ____” (are).  Since the words usually rhyme, it provides a great clue and children usually pick up these words quickly.  Once able to do this, start leaving out more words (”Twinkle Twinkle  _____  ___”) and before you know it he will have the whole thing memorized!