H has done a lot of train travelling in his 7 years. For some years my sister and her family lived in the Highlands of Scotland and we used to regularly make the 7.5 hour train journey up there to visit them. More recently there have been city day trips and dashes for the coast that we’ve done by train, and along the way we’ve come up with lots of ways of keeping H entertained while we’re on board. First Hull Trains have asked us to share some of our tips with you.
• When he was very young we used to have a train bag. This was full of little goodies I’d collected that were small, light and provided some entertainment. With little ones you need plenty of variety and we’d work our way through the contents of the bag. If we’d played with everything, we’d start over again.
• The simplest things are the best. Some paper and a pencil will keep a child happy for quite a while. A few colour pencils will help add to your range of options. We like drawing and playing games like hangman or noughts and crosses.
• I Spy books. We have had a lot of fun with our I Spy books on many of our adventures. For a train journey the best one is I Spy On A Train Journey. There’s plenty to spot in it both at stations and on the train itself. We’ve used ours on multiple journeys over several years and it’s still a firm favourite, especially when we try out a new route.
• Reading books is a great way to while away the time and they don’t need to take up too much room. Things are much easier now that H is on chapter books, but a favourite book could always keep him busy for quite a while in his pre-reading days.
• Take a toy catalogue along. This will keep H mesmerised for quite a long time dreaming about what he wants for his Christmas or birthday presents.
• Snacks and drinks are important. I find H is best behaved when he’s well fed and watered.
• Electronic entertainment has become the easiest way to entertain H now for a long journey and as devices are so small and light these days, they won’t weigh you down either. We tend to have rules though to limit their use and will say things like you can’t start watching/playing until we reach a certain station.
If you are looking for more tips for keeping your children entertained on trains, then First Hull Trains have come up with some great ideas.
Family Life With a School Age Child
Never mind entertaining kids, I get super board on trains too! LAst time I took my lap top with loads of films on.
These are great tips. I thought I was clever for inventing a ‘holiday drawer’ in our bedroom. It must be so hard to keep little ones entertained and well behaved for such a long journey.
These are great ideas. Train journeys really can be very long and boring for kids and adults a like. I actually recently saw a lady teach her child French on the train too, not the most interesting for a child but quite a great usage of time 🙂 x
|Life as a Petite|
I have a kindle to take with miss Tilly, who is four. Keeps her entertained, we have an i-spy book but i find that the train goes to fast and she misses the items! ha ha. We travel to london about once a week and its over 2 hours, so i know how hard it is to keep kids occupied, great advice 🙂
Some great tips here. Love the idea of taking a toy catalogue along, that would be such a winner with my son.
Some great tips there, the longest Monkey has been on a train is the hour it takes us to get to London, but I might borrow a couple of these for our weekend trip to Spain for the flight.
My two love a etch-a-sketch! The last time we travelled by train they spent most of the journey taking it in turns to draw silly things – my 7 year old liked trying to draw things his 2 year old sister could recognise.