Car Games

When a large bug hits the windshield on Lisa Donau's car, she often pulls over. For Lisa, a full-time mom in Tucson, Arizona, and her two children, Gunnar, age six, and Tirzah, age two, it's an opportunity to learn something new. She scrapes the flattened bug into a bag and hands it to Gunnar, along with the bug book and hand lens she carries for such occasions. "I like to pursue any subject that interests the kids," she says. "The car is a great way for us to see the world."

Lisa budgets extra time for almost every drive so the family can feel free to chase down bugs or anything else they find intriguing. Like trucks. The family regularly tracks them to gas stations. "The drivers are always incredibly nice," says Lisa, "and finding out what they're hauling gives us a great topic of conversation once we're back on the road." Lisa also makes a point of driving past construction sites so the kids can identify and watch the dirt movers at work.

Like any good field scientists, the Donaus carry a notebook because what they see in the field isn't always identifiable. Lisa uses the book to keep track of the kids' questions and discoveries as well as her own. If she doesn't know the name of a machine at the construction site, for instance, Lisa and her kids sketch it out in their notebook and scribble down their observations. They look it up later in one of the many reference books they keep in their home library.

"I started carrying the notebook because Gunnar was always reminding me of what I had promised to look up and forgotten about," says Lisa. The Donaus' book includes pictures of flags, animals and plants. "My kids absolutely love it," says Lisa, "and the neat thing is, I'm learning with them."

GAME IDEAS
CAR SCAVENGER HUNT
Hand your kids a pack of index cards and ask them to write or draw pictures of 50 things they might see on a trip. Keep the cards for scavenger hunts when players vie to match what they see with the cards.

RAINDROP RACE
Each player traces the course of a raindrop down the window. The first drop to reach the bottom wins.

BILLBOARD POETRY
Take turns picking out four words from road signs. Give the words to the other players who have 1 minute to turn the words into a four-line, rhyming poem using one word per line.

GUESS MOBILE
Name a guess master -- the person who poses a guessing challenge. He or she could ask passengers to guess the color of the next passing car, or how long before you get to the next town. Or, with three clues, what it is that someone else sees.