We do not have a car here in Colombo.
Going around the city begins with a call. It is either a taxi or a metered tri-wheeler we call tuktuk which comes to pick us up. Many tri-wheelers do not have a meter and they can overcharge you if you do not know your way around.
On long trips outside Colombo, we hire a van. Long trips could really get boring, especially if you have passed that way many times. Well, there is the radio but we can hardly understand the local broadcasts except for BBC programs from UK. Sometimes, we bring a music cd or audiobook for a pleasurable treat. Too often, it gets interrupted when something interesting on the road captures our attention - once it was a giant monitor lizard crossing at a very slow pace it caused quite a havoc and held the traffic, no driver dared to run over it.
Does it get into you when kids start asking "Are we there yet?" when you have only left the house half an hour ago. Once they do, they never stop. Admittingly, it does with me. They do try to observe the people by the roadside or even take candid photos but sometimes it is just the same-o. So what is next? Probably boredom. But you know what? After so many long road trips, we have somehow came up, even concocted, and played lively games during these seemingly so-called dull moments. And because they are fun, we never fail to play on short trips or while waiting for our ride.
GAME ONE is called GHOST, which my husband got from a book of games. I heard now that there is also Super GHOST or Super Duper GHOST or what have you.
The object of GHOST is to avoid calling out the last letter of a word. Usually players will try to make it challenging for other players by calling out a letter that is rarely used to form a word with the earlier letter. It has to form a word somehow, else he will also be challenged by other players if such a word exists. The game is started by a player by calling out a letter. The next player thinks of a possible word to form and calls out the 2nd letter - perhaps a challenging one to make it harder for the other players. And so does the rest of the players. However, each player makes it sure that she/he doesn't call out a letter to make a complete word from the preceding letters in sequence earlier called out by the others. Minimum number of letters to form a word depends on the ages of the players. We usually make a 3-letter-word as the minimum.
Example,
Player 1: "H".
Player 2: calls out a letter follow "H" - this letter must lead to form a word. Let us say he calls out "E".
Player 3: calls out a letter which will not form a word from the preceding letters. So, he may call any letter except for example "M" or "R" or any letter which may complete HE-___ as a word. "M" or "R" when added to HE form the word HEM or HER. If player 3 does make a mistake of calling out a letter which completes a word, player 3 gets a penalty of G from the word GHOST. Player 3 may call out an "A" because HEA may be used to spell the four letter word HEAD or HEAR and so on.
Player 4: avoids saying "R" or "D" or any letter which will complete the sequence to make a 4-letter word, is such no letter exist, then he get the G for GHOST. Any player can challenge a letter called out if it appears that there is no such word that can be formed the sequence of letters.
Did that make sense or did I just confuse you? Hmmm, to make it easier for us both Here are some links and variants.
GAME TWO is what we called Amusing Alliteration. This is inspired by a book we had a chance to read to Lil Ruffin before we gave it to the Children of the Sea. It is The Berenstain's B Book. We made a game of alliteration from it.
The object of the word is to keep adding a word to a growing sentence where all the words start with the same letter and it has to make sense else the player to make it senseless is out of the game. A new game thus begins with the next player by starting a new word starting with a different letter.
Example:
Player 1: HORACE
Player 2: HORRID HORACE
Player 3: HORRID HORACE HAVE
Player 4: HOWEVER, HORRID HORACE HAVE
Player 1: HOWEVER, HORRID HORACE HAVE HOT
Player 2: HAPPILY HOWEVER, HORRID HORACE HAVE HOT HAMBURGERS
Player 3: HAPPILY HOWEVER HORRID HORACE HAVE HOT HAMBURGERS HEAVILY
Player 4: HAPPILY HOWEVER HORRID HORACE HAVE HOT HAMBURGERS HEAVILY HEAPED...
and so on... until the sentence doesn't make sense anymore. SO each player should always add a word beginning with the same letter before or after the growing sentence that will make sense.
We always have fun forming the wackiest yet complete sentences ever. The imagination gets creative with this word game. Tucked away vocabulary words from many of those readers and read-alouds spring to life! And it does enhance your grammar skills.
These two are our favorites. Why don't you try them?
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