Words Games to Play in the Car part 2
Getting stuck in a traffic jam can be just as, if not more, frustrating to kids than a long road trip. This word game is all about names, and it works well in traffic, because you can make up the names for the people in the cars around you to add a little visual interest.
The Silly Name Game
All right, I lied. I said I wasn’t going to tell which word games to play in the car I made up out of desperation. But I’ll have to blow my cover to tell the story that goes with this game. I was driving to a remote location with my two kids and my two nieces and a nephew, all 8 years old and under. We missed an exit some 40 miles back and had to turn around. They were beyond bored and packed in the back like sardines. I was desperate.
The kids started calling each other names. “Hey,” I said. “Quit calling him ‘dumbhead’. I didn’t name him that. I named him Andrew.”
They quieted down for a minute. “Yeah, you can’t name a kid ‘dumbhead,’” someone said.
“Well, what if your last name was Head?” I ventured. “Would you name your kid Dumb?”
I knew I had my diversion when a bunch of giggles and a chorus of “Noooooos!” came from the back, followed by a barrage of suggestions. “Lettuce Head!” “Meat Head!” “Red Head!”
So you get the gist. Throw out a last name with possibilities, and see who can come up with the best suggestion for a first name. Last name “Moore?” How about first name “Lonnie”? Lonnie Moore! Get it? Ha! Last name “Aiken”? How about “Belly?”
What’s funny is that kids, the younger ones especially, don’t necessarily come up with logical matches, but it doesn’t matter. Apparently “Dirty Diaper Dingleberry” is a name so funny in can induce fits in six-year-olds.
Those extra 80 miles or that hour and a half spent crawling through the construction zone (That guy holding the sign? Last name “Bump,” first name “Speed”) will fly by like Dirty Diaper Dingleberry with his pants on fire.