GIVEAWAY: Travel Games For The Whole Family

By TravelingwithTinysMom on November 23, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
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dsgiveaway14 Nintendo DS games perfect for a Traveling Family

  • Nintendo DS CrossWords
  • Nintendo DS Tropix
  • Nintendo DS Animal Paradise
  • Nintendo DS Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams

Last summer my little family logged over 3,000 miles in the car.  And as much as we love playing road games and listening to music, there were many times where I simply said “Thank heavens for the DSi!”  I am amazed at how my children are willing to share and cheer eachother on, all in the name of light-weight, portable gaming fun.  Don’t believe me?

NintendoDsireview

Check them out!  The only down side is that they get awfully mad when Mommy steals it to do cross words puzzles.

The four pack of Nintendo DS games we’re giving away includes something for everyone in your traveling family!  CrossWords has 1000+ word games to help Mom relax after a long day of traveling.  Animal Paradise is a fun way for older children to care for digital pets.  Tropix will whisk Dad away with exotic backgrounds/music accompanying favorite games like Solitaire, Sudoku and Bowling.  And Hello Kitty Big City Dreams is all your Tinys need for hours of interactive cartoon fun.

TO ENTER:  Leave a comment here before 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 29 telling me your favorite roadtrip pastime! Winner will be chosen by random.org.

You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t like free stuff, so check out TravelingMom’s Free in 50 States for free, family friendly things to do. 

Last 5 posts by TravelingwithTinysMom

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Category: All Travel, Family Travel
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Woo Hoo! There are 76 comment(s) for me so far ;)

#1
Taking nine kids on a trip was always a major undertaking. Through trial and error we found simple was better: get each kid a spiral notebook and bring a stash of pens and colored pencils, and let them journal the trip from their perspective. They could write about something they saw or did, draw something that they thought was interesting, record funny license plates. This made the activity age-appropriate and kept it interesting. Later we added a couple of digital cameras to the fun, so the kids could grab a camera and shoot something that interested them.
mom2nine wrote on November 23, 2009 - 11:56 pm
#2
Our favorite roadtrip pasttime is singing along to familiar songs on CD
S. Jeter wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:03 pm
#3
Our favorite past time is seeing how many different car tags we can find from all the different states. The girls love this. Also we still love to play punch buggy when we see a volkswagon beatle! It makes the trips go by so much faster when the kids are interacting. We are finally going to get them DS’s for Christmas and this bundle would be so awesome!
Jen @ One Moms World wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:06 pm
#4
We play I SPY. The kids always love it.
Chris wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:10 pm
#5
When we travel to Rochester, NY to see “Grammie” we play the license plate game. We try to make a list of as many state’s license plates that we can find, then we try to beat that number on the way home. It’s a 9 hour drive, so we compile quite a lengthy list, but it keeps the girls (8 and 10) busy, and we all participate.
BandBGoer wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:20 pm
#6
When my kids were little we ended up doing quite a bit of driving, sometimes for vacation and sometimes for the work we did with college students. To quell the “Are-we-there-yet”s, I bought (or sometimes rediscovered among the toy piles) inexpensive, fun little toys. I wrapped them in gift paper and put them all in a bag. If the guys behaved reasonably well for a predetermined interval (ranging from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on age) they got to choose a present from the bag and open it. The sheer thrill of opening a prize, even if it was just a pack of gum, a colored pencil or a Matchbox car, was plenty to keep things interesting and keep the kids engaged for some very long trips. I have done the same thing on long airplane rides (NY to Sydney) and now that the boys are older I still do it, but without always wrapping and using more sophisticated big kid items (though a pack of gum still provides serious joy!). I have collected little used toys to loan to friends for long trips, too — as long as they’re wrapped it’s thrilling!
Alison Siewert wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:29 pm
#7
We love finding funny signs by the side of the highway. In some places you get some real doozies!
Stimey wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:31 pm
#8
We love to play “I Spy” and after watching the movie UP, we like to find red and blue cars, too.
Melissa Taylor wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:37 pm
#9
We like to sing along with iPod or play ispy
Ann Harmon wrote on November 24, 2009 - 4:41 pm
#10
I love to watch movies withe kids and we also play I spy in the long car rides too.
Julie(my5monkeys) wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:08 pm
#11
What great games! My 5-year-old’s favorite road trip past time is “I Spy”. That gets a bit weary for the rest of us. My 3-year-old likes to color. Doug & I listed to podcasts. The 5yo got a DS for her birthday, so these games would be very handy for our after-Christmas road trip to Houston via Dallas.
Jody wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:10 pm
#12
Its always hard to accomodate kids on roadtrips. We usually try to play I spy with them and what not but the best thing ever is the DS. Now that they are at an age to play it, it is a godsend for long car rides! Thank you for the opportunity.
FOKXXY wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:19 pm
#13
We play “I Spy” and sing to oldies on the car stereo. Also, travel time has been a great chance to simply “talk” with my 7 year old.
heather wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:23 pm
#14
Our favorite car past-time is to play, “What would you do if you won a million dollars?” I always want to buy couture and save the gorillas and the kiddo always wants to buy gadgets and travel!
Jenny Block wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:32 pm
#15
Sticker books are a big hit with my DD at the moment. Growing up we amused ourselves with license plate games and Mad Libs.
Susan wrote on November 24, 2009 - 5:48 pm
#16
My childhood favorite is now my daughter’s roadtrip favorite- The Alphabet Game. Any signs or license plates can have a letter. ‘Q’ and ‘Z’ are still the trickiest! Happy Thanksgiving to All! Amy
Amy A J wrote on November 24, 2009 - 6:39 pm
#17
Our Road Trips are usually to LA to visit Ahmee and Baba, and Disneyland. Our favorite past times are I Spy, the License Plate game, music where everybody sings along (Yellow Submarine is a favorite, sung very loud), the kids watching DVD’s in the backseat and playing games or watching YouTube on the iPhone.
Stephanie Shields wrote on November 24, 2009 - 6:42 pm
#18
We always rent my girlfriends rv and zoom down to tibi island in Savannah Ga, when we stop to fill up, we always collect refridgerator magnets of the states or towns we stop in.Our fridge is full of them, too fun!
Tami wrote on November 24, 2009 - 7:52 pm
#19
Mine is definitely creating new mix CD’s and listening to a bunch of my favorite songs while we sing along!
Ashley Veater wrote on November 24, 2009 - 8:35 pm
#20
It annoys my husband but I love getting the kids to sing songs about everything that we see. Then we turn it into an “I spy” game while singing. I think it’s fun. My hubby usually just wants peace and quiet (aka party pooper). ;)
Meg Moen wrote on November 24, 2009 - 8:56 pm
#21
My kids really do enjoy their DS the best and love getting new games. I like listening to books on tape.
sarah (GenMom) wrote on November 24, 2009 - 8:56 pm
#22
We play Spotto – which is like lotto / bingo but with objects. We usually take turns to think of objects to spot, then the first person to spot it yells “Spotto” and gets a point or gets to pick the next object. We look for things like a bridge or a yellow sign or a red car – it can be as hard or as easy as you like depending on the kids patience levels!
SydneyHeart wrote on November 24, 2009 - 9:21 pm
#23
We traveled from a lot when I was little and I always enjoyed coloring and pretending to be in school. My kids always enjoyed playing “I Spy” game. Presently, we like to listen to books on cd or music while traveling.
Janice Ford wrote on November 24, 2009 - 9:22 pm
#24
Wow I love singing!! As I travel I drive and sing songs I love! If I go by plane, I bring a cd player to LISTEN to. I do not want to chance getting kicked off the plane for disturbing other passengers if I sing!!
Carrie Moore wrote on November 24, 2009 - 10:16 pm
#25
We always bing our portable dvd player with. I buy a new movie for thr trip. Keeps them occupied for several hours!
roselle wrote on November 24, 2009 - 11:30 pm
#26
During our long haul flights to Japan, my daughter’s favorite pastime is paper folding or origami. We bring lots of paper pieces with our origami how to book and keep folding different kinds of stuff in the plane. The moment we land, we have like, 100 paper cranes!
Grace @ Sandier Pastures wrote on November 25, 2009 - 12:57 am
#27
My kids are big now{as with them it was Books and View Master} So it is the grandchildren that need to have something to do~and what a difference! They like to bring their DS and also we have a portable DVD Player oh and don’t forget the iPod :)
Deb K wrote on November 25, 2009 - 5:10 am
#28
Our favorite past time is car bingo, the license plate game, and we also make up our own along the way. Name that Tune is excellent! I try to stay away from DVD players in the car. I think that the kids need to understand that it takes time to get places and they need to see their surroundings. That being said, the DS is excellent for this type as well. We allow the kids to play games that can “Sync” with eachother so there is some good, clean interaction.
Colleen wrote on November 25, 2009 - 8:00 am
#29
Our favorite past time is to sing together. We all have so much fun singing and laughing at ourselves!
Andrea H wrote on November 25, 2009 - 12:28 pm
#30
I liked playing the alphabet game, seeing who can find license plates or words with the letters A then B and so on… Ok, I know it’s not original but it was fun! :)
FutureMama wrote on November 25, 2009 - 1:22 pm
#31
Favorite trip, was my dad taking his 6 kids and 2 grandkids in a mini van with his girlfriend to Disney, then driving back up to DC, then driving home to TN…..can we say lots of STOPS!!!!
Kiana wrote on November 25, 2009 - 1:23 pm
#32
we always love playing slug bug. Only a tame version. Kiss bug. If we see a Volkwagon bug we have to blow someone a kiss and tell them
Rachel McGuire wrote on November 25, 2009 - 3:51 pm
#33
Our favorite game as kids (that I share now with my kids) is stickers. My mom would give us sheets of stickers and office labels and dots and we’d stick them on ourselves and inside the car. We’d always have fun until someone would inevitably try to paste stickers on someone else…
Colleen wrote on November 25, 2009 - 7:48 pm
#34
We like to play the ABC game in the car. We try to find letters of the alphabet on signs and license plates.
Emily Armstrong wrote on November 25, 2009 - 10:34 pm
#35
We sing all the high school musical songs and we also play I spy on the road. We try to spy five things that we pick and the first to get all five wins!
Jennifer wrote on November 25, 2009 - 11:22 pm
#36
We would travel to Ohio when I was a kid. I didnt have any cool DS or TV to watch though :)
sarah mines wrote on November 26, 2009 - 1:21 pm
#37
Our favorite pastime is playing I-Spy with anything on the highway! Thanks!
Mike wrote on November 26, 2009 - 3:14 pm
#38
We always play road games when driving. We love playing yellow banana (when you see a yellow car you yell yellow banana) the person with the most wins. We have many that we like and can be adjusted to different ages.
Trish wrote on November 26, 2009 - 5:40 pm
#39
We travel over 3000 miles a year too, and have tried every tactic to entertain the kiddies. The worst is when the DVD player croaks on an 8 hour drive (almost every time), but we always have our trusty standbys: license plate game, counting a certain color of car (which can go on and on surprisingly) or playing the ABC game. One thing we realized after relocating to NC, about 8 hours from Grammy’s, there is a certain rest stop that my little girls love! So I have started allowing a little more time in the itinerary so we can check out the bathroom. It sounds silly, but they get so excited about the sparkly floors, the skylights, the potty that is just-the-right-size and the little climbing feature outside. All I have to say is that we are “close to your favorite bathroom!” and that entertains them for-oh-about 30 minutes! :) This year, we’re actually adding a DS to the in-car entertainment line-up. I’m tempted to give it to them on the way to Grammy’s for Christmas! :)
Em wrote on November 26, 2009 - 7:32 pm
#40
I bought these small magnetic car games at Target. One is a license plate game and another is trying to locate road signs. Not as easy as it sounds! When all else fails, a movie in the DVD player works well!!!
Megan wrote on November 27, 2009 - 8:53 am
#41
my fave thing to do is sing silly songs!
Kim wrote on November 27, 2009 - 8:58 am
#42
We’ve always loved the alphabet game in our family, where you have to look outside and find each letter of the alphabet in order at the beginning of a word somewhere outside. First one to finish (honor system) wins bragging rights.
Shimona wrote on November 27, 2009 - 9:27 am
#43
Favorite road passtime is sleeping! I sleep almost the entire way to wherever we are going. I get my best sleep! :)
Laura wrote on November 27, 2009 - 1:58 pm
#44
As a family, we LOVE listening to and singing with music on roadtrips. So much fun!!
Cathy H. wrote on November 27, 2009 - 5:41 pm
#45
We play punch buggy no punch backs ;D
Am wrote on November 27, 2009 - 8:03 pm
#46
I like to bring stories and old classic radio programs on “tape” (or MP3, or burned to CD) to listen to while we travel.
Can Can (Mom Most Traveled) wrote on November 27, 2009 - 9:34 pm
#47
We love to look for different state license plates!
Jamie wrote on November 28, 2009 - 1:05 am
#48
Our Family of six loves to find all the license plates from every state. We travel across the country a couple times a year. We also have a few DSi and the Ipod’s with tv shows etc. Thanks for the giveway!
jennifer (mom of four) wrote on November 28, 2009 - 1:27 am
#49
As a kid we always played the alphabet game. My girls play DS, watch DVDs, and listen to Audiobooks
Noreen wrote on November 28, 2009 - 1:40 am
#50
This brings back some bittersweet memories for me(My sibling died in September). My brother and I would always count telephone poles on our way from NY to Virginia when we were growing up and traveling from our home to our grandparents(there were no DSs then). Either that or we would flash the peace sign at people and see if they would flash it back at us. Christine dazed1821@aol.com
cwaltz wrote on November 28, 2009 - 2:58 am
#51
we always played license plate bingo and sang silly songs on long vacations
Karen wrote on November 28, 2009 - 3:41 am
#52
I like playing the game where you find all the letters of the alphabet, in order, off road signs and license plates! :-)
Kristie wrote on November 28, 2009 - 12:40 pm
#53
Back in the day before portable DVD players and hand held electronic games we used to play a game where we would spot cars of a certain color, make or say a UPS truck etc… and whoever found the most during the trip won. Mom usually got us a small treat or something-probably to keep us quiet while she tried to keep her sanity driving. We also used to play a license plate game, and if you spotted the most out of state plates in 10 minutes, you won. What mom would do is a scavenger hunt and would make up the list of cars etc… to find along the way-each kid had a different list and checked off what they found. (or passed by) It was a lot of fun, and we certainly were in tune with our surroundings. micaela6955 at msn dot com
Michele P. wrote on November 28, 2009 - 3:18 pm
#54
We are fans of the “eye spy” game on our road trips harborlad@optonline.net
lorene wrote on November 28, 2009 - 4:35 pm
#55
Our favorite well the kids favorite is to play Slug Bugs…or The Cellist Reads and Madkat plays on her leapster… Great give away, Lisa
Lisa Marie wrote on November 28, 2009 - 8:49 pm
#56
Being a military family, we move around from country to country, state to state quite often. We have done so many games to pass the time. We try to find car tags from the states that boarder the state we are currently driving though. That is rather fun too! Especially when you drive from California to NC. :-)
karleen wrote on November 28, 2009 - 9:24 pm
#57
My kids try to see how states we can find with license plates. We also play scavenger hunt. Each child gets a lists of items to find, eg a red barn.
Penny Powell wrote on November 29, 2009 - 12:50 am
#58
hmmm, roadtrip activities would require we take road trips. ha! I would say singing songs and making up other lyrics is one of the fun things we do when we are in the car.
Stefany wrote on November 29, 2009 - 2:14 am
#59
Our favorite traveling pastime is singing songs and playing I Spy.
Sara L. wrote on November 29, 2009 - 2:24 am
#60
We like playing car bingo, counting car colors (each person is a diff. color; white usually wins!), spotting water towers, checking out different states’ license plates, slug bug, singing songs & telling stories, listening to kids CDs (Dr. Seuss & Muppets are favorites, along w/ Hamster Dance)
Allison wrote on November 29, 2009 - 10:17 am
#61
My favorite roadtrip pastime is definitley playing I SPY. Great way to keep the kids entertained and pass the time! Thanks for the chance!
Heather Garland wrote on November 29, 2009 - 10:18 am
#62
I personally love keeping track of license plates from other states. weird chick online at gmail dot com
Maggie C. wrote on November 29, 2009 - 11:22 am
#63
It is a toss up between playing Ispy and singing thanks for the chance to win eaglesforjack@gmail.com
tina reynolds wrote on November 29, 2009 - 12:41 pm
#64
I like to bring along a good book to pass the time
Karen wrote on November 29, 2009 - 3:01 pm
#65
We love to sing in the car. If that gets too noisy we also play the picnic game, where we go around starting with A to Z name things we would bring on a picnic. The kids love it.
tuesday wrote on November 29, 2009 - 4:22 pm
#66
My favorite road trip past time is out of state license plates. I LOVED hitting my brother as hard as I could. He enjoyed doing the same. :-)
Kim Young wrote on November 29, 2009 - 5:58 pm
#67
I think 20 questions is a marvelous roadtrip game!
Wehaf wrote on November 29, 2009 - 7:24 pm
#68
We love to play “would you rather….”!! I have two boys so things get a little gruesome, like…would you rather eat 20 eye balls or eat a bucket full of worms.
Rashel wrote on November 29, 2009 - 8:14 pm
#69
When we travel We play mini board games ,cards, I spy & watch movies.
kim wrote on November 29, 2009 - 8:56 pm
#70
We like to make up songs on long road trips based on the things we see or do along the way!
Karen wrote on November 29, 2009 - 9:02 pm
#71
My favorite road trip game was where you tried to find a license plate from every state!!!
Erica wrote on November 29, 2009 - 9:04 pm
#72
Our favorite road trip past times are either 20 questions or the alphabet game. Thanks for the giveaway.
Mary A wrote on November 29, 2009 - 9:37 pm
#73
I spy we play with our 9 year old for example I spy something green and someone guesses what they are thinking on the road while we are driving
Lisa R wrote on November 29, 2009 - 10:19 pm
#74
We play the License plate game and sing songs. We also make up songs about where we are going!
Darcie K wrote on November 29, 2009 - 10:23 pm
#75
My favorite roadtrip pastime is singing songs super loud and playing the abc game from license plates
Holly Oyler wrote on November 29, 2009 - 11:09 pm
#76
we when on a road trip…to kansas it was the best time i ever had we whent to see my dad. my mom whent to see old friends too ok just give me free games lol
brian wrote on November 30, 2009 - 2:29 pm
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