Printout games are a parent’s best friend. They help parents keep their sanity by keeping their children’s boredom at bay, especially when chores and homework are done and when the family is on a trip that involves long commutes by car, by train or by plane.

Every parent knows that kids are easily bored. If you do not keep them occupied and entertained when they are not doing chores or homework, you will find yourself pulling at your hair trying to deal with whatever mischief they have gotten themselves into out of their boredom.

You cannot have your kids watching TV or playing video games all the time either, since not all TV programs, computer games or video games are appropriate for children. Watching TV and playing video games is also not always possible on long trips. And so, travel games printed out right before the trip can be a parent’s lifesaver from his or her kids’ boredom.

Here are some printout games you can have your kids play with at home or while you are traveling.

1. Tic Tac Toe. Tic Tac Toe is a classic printout game that even kids made computer-savvy at an early age will have fun playing with. As simple as it looks, Tic Tac Toe is a game of strategy and your kids will have to outwit their opponents to win the game. Just draw four or so Tic Tac Toe grids using your word processor and print out a few sheets of these grids for your trip.

2. Word scramble. You can keep boredom out of your children’s minds and help build their vocabulary up at the same time with the use of word scramble puzzles. Pick out a few words that your kids already know or recognize and then scramble the letters. Give a hint with each puzzle to help your children guess what it is. You can also leave blanks under each scrambled word where your children can form new words out of the letters of the scrambled word.

3. Crossword puzzles. Another printout game by which you can help build your children’s vocabulary and keep them preoccupied at the same time is the crossword puzzle. You can make your own, using their favorite books or TV programs as the theme to make it easier for them to solve the puzzle. Or you can download crossword puzzles online.

4. Logic games. Nothing tickles the mind, even of young kids, more than logic games. You can get kids occupied for hours trying to figure out who wore which ribbon and which color of dress to which party and which flavor of ice cream each person in the logic game ate at the party or something like that. This is a travel game you would want with you on a really long car trip.

The beauty of these printout games is that you can make them on your own and print them out for your kids to enjoy. If you do not have time to make them or if you do not know how to make them, you can just download them from the Internet. However which way, you are certain to have some peace and quiet during the long afternoons after school or the long car trip.

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