Our ‘go to’ game for trains. Write a list of 10 things you’re going to spot and see who can see them first. Our current favourites are:

• A weeping willow tree
• A large body of water (ie, canal, river, lake, the sea)
• A baby seagull
• A person with a dog
• More than 4 birds together
• A deer or a sheep
• A tree with no leaves on it
• A bird of prey
• A cloud that looks like something else
• A pink flower

One for car journeys…

Where are the shadows? Are they long or short? Can you see any ones that look like something else? Can you predict where they’ll be when we go round that corner?

Gets kids thinking about direction and time of day. Great for regular local journeys as they’ll be different each time.

Who can spot the most birds? You can’t spot one someone else has seen already. Points for different types, ie:

• Pigeon – 1
• Seagull – 2
• Crow – 5
• Smaller bird – 20
• Bird of prey – 50

Kids can choose how many points for which birds. Gets them working on their maths as well.

Ok the ostrich might be a bit unusual but you get the point. Our family can get a bit ‘cheese on wheels’ or ‘yellow car’ obsessed. We’ve done car rainbow spotting, Tesla spotting, there are so many variations. It’s only in the last year we realised there are other things you can spot that are a bit less man made.

Birds of prey are our favourite- points for who can spot them first with extra if you can identify them. Who can spot 10 different types of creature first? Or you could keep to the colour theme and do flowers of the rainbow? Adjust to your local environment!

No use for summer this but great in March and April before the leaves arrive back on the trees.

Can you tell the difference between mistletoe and a rooks nest? (hint: mistletoe is greener, rounder and doesn’t have rooks all over it). How many can you spot and can you work out which is which?

Trees with both are generally visible from both cars and trains which is helpful too!