Since I first posted this thread back in March, I've had another season of riding to come up with new ideas for having fun with kids while biking. Some of these I've tried, others not yet. A few ideas I found on the interwebs, such as from reading other people's trip blogs.
And some of these will really only work on trails, for safety reasons. Ok, here goes:
· Speed O’ Meter – One person is the Speed O’ Meter and calls out numbers from 0 to 10. 0 is stopping at a complete standstill. 10 is an all out sprint. The person can dial it up or down and all over the place. We’ve done this walking around our neighborhood with great success. It’s gotten us up some big hills. Never tried it biking, but I can definitely see it working.
· Filibuster Game – See who can keep talking the longest; can go at the same time or take turns.
· Silent Game – See who can keep silent the longest. My daughter got really into this one recently, and we've hesitated to tell her that it's a really great way to have some peace and quiet for the adults.
· Pine Cone Wars – You basically just toss pine cones or other soft nature finds. If only one person wants to play: Pine Cone Massacre!
· Counting Game - Counting the turtles/rabbits/hedgehogs/cats/etc you pass can be a surprisingly amusing activity when the scenery doesn't change for twenty miles.
· Math Quiz -- Worth a try.
· Spelling Bee -- See above.
· Would You Rather – Taking turns, present two different awful options. E.g., would you rather be stuck wearing a winter coat on a hot beach for an entire week, or in a bathing suit on a glacier for three days? The weirder the choices, the better. My daughter absolutely positively loves this game! But not for the faint of heart.
· I Believe – Taking turns, go around and declare to the world what you believe in. A la Crash Davis in Bull Durham. I picked this up from one of the Metal Cowboy books. It didn't take with my daughter, but maybe with an older kid.
· Name calling – think of creative, absurd names to call each other. Keep it clean, people! Or semi-clean, at least. I think this one's from Metal Cowboy, also.
· One Word Stories – tell a story, each person gives one word at a time and then passes it on
· ABC Game – taking turns, each person points out something they see, in alphabetical order. We've done this hiking, have yet to try it biking.
· Categories – pick a category of things (fruit, candy, holidays, etc) and go around one at a time, each person offering an example, until you run out
· With or Without (Different Version of Categories) -- Someone picks a category that has the word "with" or "without" in it (movies with Harrison Ford, bands without male members, countries without seashores, etc.) and names one. The next person names one, and so on, and the last person to name one wins the round and picks the next category. Order isn't important on this one.
· I’m Going on a Bike Ride and I’m Bringing – build on each person who goes before, trying to remember what they’re bringing
· Stopwatch Game – Get your kid to predict how long it will take to reach a certain spot up ahead on the road. Then break out the stopwatch and start timing! It can just be a prediction game, or it can be about racing the clock. I supposed it could also backfire, too.
· The Most Interesting Thing – Here’s one I just thought up, but I think it has potential. Bike for a set length of time, or distance. Could be 2 minutes, or ½ a mile, or whatever sounds right. During that time, each person is looking all around for the Most Interesting Thing they see. Then at the end of the time/distance, each person shares their MIT. Sometimes you’ll have the same thing, sometimes not. Hopefully, your MIT won’t be so interesting that your kid will insist on turning back to see it!
Ok, what other suggestions do people have!
Rob