Traveling with children can be difficult at times. While car trips make it easier because only the parents have to deal with it if the child misbehaves, a bored child on an airplane can annoy a lot of other people and sometimes embarrass mom and dad. However, there are many simple travel games that can be played with a child during the flight that will make the journey more enjoyable for everyone.
Playing hide and seek using your imagination can sometimes be more fun than playing the real game. To play, simply think of someplace at home to hide. Because it's imaginative, this can be any place big or small, even someplace like the silverware drawer. The person who is "it" then has to make guesses to "find" the other players, who will hopefully be nice enough to give some hints along the way.
Remembering to put crayons or colored pencils in a child's carry-on bag can be a lifesaver. While it's fun to draw pictures on paper, you can make use of things an airplane has to offer. Children can make a fun game of turning the motion-sickness bags into puppets. Simply turn the bag over and draw the face on the bottom. The part of the bag that folds at the bottom will become the mouth opening. Once the bag is decorated, the children can have fun talking with their puppets on their hand.
Whoever's turn it is should look around and choose something that is visible to those playing. Then they say, "I spy with my little eye something ..." and add a descriptive word for the object like the color or shape. The other players must then take turns guessing what it is the person spied.
The object of 20 questions is to try to guess what the player is thinking about in 20 questions or less. The person whose turn it is thinks of an object. The player's first question will be, "Is it a person, place or a thing?" From that point on, the players are only allowed to ask questions that can be answered with "yes" or "no." If they can guess the object in less than 20 questions, they win.
