Entertaining a 12 yr old and 5 yr old on holiday

[OoohLaLaLa]

We usually go on holidays as a group of families and so the children have entertained themselves to an extent.

This year due to budget constraints it’s going to be just the 4 of us.

I’m hoping for inspiration for entertaining them in the evenings. They both like playing Uno but due to the age gap there is little other common ground found so far.

Once the five year old has gone to bed I’m
sure the twelve yr old will be playing online but I would really like to have good alternatives so that they both spend happy time together and with their parents!

We’re flying so limited by weight.

Any ideas appreciated! It’s been a hell of a year and I don’t want to spend my holiday refereeing fights between bored squabbling children.

Books? Walks? Those puzzle books designed for kids- probably aimed at somewhere between 5 and 12 but they could do it together?

Puzzle books are a good idea thank you!

Six year age gap between me and my db. I don’t remember squabbling.

Well anyway we played cards a lot. Mostly gin rummy. Snap. Then as I got a little bit older, whist. Then Black Maria (brilliant fun). Then by time I was 8 or 9 my dad taught us was Contract Bridge! God knows what other people thought of us (what 8 yo sits in the hotel bar playing Bridge?!). Then DB got a book of card games one year from Santa and we went through the whole thing - learning all the Patience variations, we learned Cribbage and a dozen games you’ve never heard of. When I was a preteen DB taught me poker (inevitably).

Our holiday souvenir was always a new pack of cards from the tourist tat shop. We had a whole shoebox full at home in the end.

This is such a weird and specific memory but all my strongest holiday memories are of sitting playing cards on various holidays playing cards. The one where the bar was plagued with columns of ants. The one where my brother was first allowed to drink pina colada. The one where my mum bought a watermelon and yelled at us for spitting pips onto the balcony below. The one where there was a patisserie right beneath our apartment and it smelled sooooo good. And the one where we had a view over the esplanade and watched the surge of people coming out for dinner every night as we played on our balcony eating rotisserie chicken from the shop up the road.

So playing cards was our “thing”. Hope it helps!

Dobble, Go Fish and Cobra Paw are all good for the whole family and will easily fit into a suitcase. I’m sure there are also some films that you’d all enjoy.

We had a lovely time! Dobble was popular with both and so was the Lego 3 in 1 kits.