toys to keep kids happy while sailing

[majorm]

Faster- I was surprised that either of my kids used the journals at all. My daughter definitely wrote more than my son (she is also older), but some of my son's entries were hilarious. The best was his list of all the different words he could think of for vomit (I wonder why?). It is always interesting to have a glimpse at what is really going on in their heads.

[uspirate]

let em walk the plank & teach em how to keel haul each other.
seriously
cards, board games a DVD player, the dingy a PSP type games. hunting for shells. bury some treasure for them to find with a map X marks the spot type from a message in a bottle they find floating by the beach. the boom swing is nice as is swinging from a halyard into the water.

[jimmyb116]

We do a lot of GEOCACHING look it up on the web people leave things hidden and post GPS locations for them. You use a hand held GPS and go for an adventure. When you find the stash you take something and leave something.

[gonesailin40]

Word search, Crosswords, Texas Hold'em, One of those keyboards that teach you how to play music,Risk,origami instruction book, learn to draw material, perhaps you can let them learn to wood carve(my kids loved that).

[sailingdog]

Geocaching rocks... and there are quite a few that are only accessible by water. I've relocated about two dozen of the travelbugs.

Originally Posted by jimmyb116

We do a lot of GEOCACHING look it up on the web people leave things hidden and post GPS locations for them. You use a hand held GPS and go for an adventure. When you find the stash you take something and leave something.

[Stillraining]

I found this 2 years ago and my 3 girls loved it ages 15,13,11 at the time..I know boys would like it to because I did.......it is full of Nautical fun things to do...kept them busy for 10 days...link below...

http://www.paracay.com/Merchant2/mer...egory_Code=CHL

[rperret]

need to introduce them slowly into boat related activities. at least that is how i'm doing it with my kids.

my oldest - 12 - picks up and release the mooring lines, takes the helm under power, and will sail a course. my youngest likes to take the helm at times.

trimming sheets will be next thing for them to focus on.

need to have fishing rods on board, card games, and the ever present nintendo....

for short term cruising, i agree that things like a dink, etc are great to get them to explore. would also have scuba mask, etc.

good luck

[CLucas]

Inexpensive digital cameras, figuring out where we are with a chart and a compass (then comparing it with the GPS). When anchored... swim noodles, a hold-tight and a scrub brush (no, really), fishing poles. My 8yo daughter hails the launch at our club like an old salt (but no playing with the radio of course).

[Ilenart]

I've got three kids (12, 11 & 5) and the list includes:

Nintendo DS's
Portable DVD
Laptops (that can play both games and DVD's)
Board games
Double surf ski (so they can all fit on & no arguements)
Goggles, flippers, snorkles
Sand toys
fishing gear
etc, etc, (you get the drift)

We have a couple of 30-50NM day passages that can get pretty rough so the electronic gizmos (Nintendo, DVD's) work really well when we are beating into 25kt chop. Board games don't really work in rough weather but the Nintendo's work fine with the kids curled up in thier bunks. Has got to the stage where I have installed extra 12V charging points to keep the ratbags happy!

Ian