For my three-year-old granddaughter that is as simple as finding a playpark even if it's the park nearest home.
Mandatory use of the car seat has many benefits.
One great benefit is that even small children are now high enough to see where they are going.
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Our little number provides a running commentary on what she sees.
“Red tractor, green tractor, train, black cows, bulldozer, Safeway truck, garbage truck,” she says.
And on it goes. She amuses herself and us, especially when she suddenly calls "spotto" because she has seen a yellow car, a yellow rail repair vehicle, crane or similar.
One day she asked how the fairy got there without her wings. She has many books about fairies, but none about weddings.
Yarnbombing at Morrie Evans and Cooinda
The point is that she has taught herself to be observant.
She will even tell us if a plane is heading to Sydney or Melbourne.
Being observant will hold her in good stead all her life.
Many children rely on gadgets or mini tv screen to entertain themselves in the car rather than look out the window.
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When our children were little, before there were gadgets, we played "I spy" or looked for two white horses, so whomever saw them first could make a wish.
You could earn graded scores for seeing number plates from the furthest states and a range of other number-plate games.
The whole family participated and it was fun.
As they got older we played "traffic lights". To play, someone had to think of a two digit number between 10 and 99 and the others guess in turn until getting it right.
Day Trips: Keeping the kids entertained without screens
If you think of 73 and the first guess is 59 you are told two red lights (both incorrect), then 47 you are told one red, one amber light (one incorrect, one correct but in the wrong place, so you have to establish which is which).
The next guess might be 76 (one green, one red light) and on it goes. This game promotes deductive mental thinking and gradually requires only a couple of guesses.
We were lucky enough to live in England for a while.
One son always noticed hay stacks which varied in size and shape all over Europe, another cattle and our daughter, dogs.
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She would tell us what kind and the funny places she saw them... In handbags, restaurants, on the owners knee eating her lunch and so on.
At dinner we all shared what we saw, or had learnt from the people we met.
Day trips are fun and rewarding for everyone.
- Suzie Pearce
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