While the idea of driving
hours with a car full of children may send shivers down the spine of even the
most patient of parents, a family road trip doesn’t have to be a stressful
endeavor. There are tons of games you can play with your children that will keep
the “are we there yets” at bay. Best of all, they
won’t cost you a thing. Here is a list of some road trip games and activities
you can play with your children.
- The Grocery Game: Whether you want to
challenge your memory or just whet your appetite for lunch, the grocery
game is a great way to pass the time on your drive. One person starts with
naming something that can be bought at the grocery store that starts with
the letter ‘A’, such as “apples”. The next player would have to repeat the
first person’s answer as well as add on a food that begins with the letter
‘B’. If you mess up, you’re out, and the game continues until only one
memory-gifted player remains. If you get bored with groceries, try using
another topic. - The Geography Game: Help your kids
refresh their geography lessons while on the road with the geography game.
The game begins with a person naming any place in the world,
The next person then has to come up with a place name that begins with the
last letter of the first location. So in this case, the next place would
have to start with an ‘N’, like
continues on until someone gets stumped, and no place can be used more
than once. The game can be played with any topic, so give celebrity names,
movies, animals or anything else you can think of a try. - License Plate Bingo: To play this game
you’ll need to bring along a few writing utensils and have paper to use
for game cards. If you’d like, you can print out game cards ahead of time here.
There are a few variations of this game, so you can either write down the
names of states as your bingo squares or random letters and numbers. As
players see the states or letters and numbers on passing license plates
they cross them off. First player to get 5 in a row wins, and it might be
a good idea to keep a few prizes on hand for the lucky winner. - Card Games: Never underestimate
the power of card games to keep your kids entertained. Bring along a set
of cards from home and challenge kids to play their old favorites like old
maid, go fish, and rummy. If you want to find new games, check out a book
on card games at your local library or print out instructions for kids
games here. - Family Spelling Bee: See who is the best speller in the family by having an in-car
spelling bee. Make sure words are appropriate for the age level of the kids
in your car so no one gets discouraged. If spelling isn’t your thing,
there are a number of other contests you can have as well. Try challenging
your family to trivia or singing competitions as well. - 20 Questions: An old favorite, 20
questions is a great game for inquisitive little ones. The game begins
with one person choosing pretty much anything they can think of. The first
question for the guessers is usually “animal, vegetable, or mineral?”
though it doesn’t have to be. Players then go through a litany of
questions trying to determine the nature of the mystery object and answers
must be yes or no. The winner is whomever guesses the object first or can stump the
other players with their object. - I Spy: Similar to 20
Questions, I Spy is another classic travel game. One person in the car
looks around and chooses an object. The guessers are given one clue: “I
spy with my little eye something that is (insert first letter of objects
name, objects color, or other clue of your choice)”. Players can’t choose something
that is whizzing by too fast; objects must be within the car or far enough in the distance to be within sight for a few
minutes. Guessers attempt to figure out the nature of the object and the
winner gets to create their own mystery object. - Team Storytelling: Inspire your family’s
creative side by creating a group story. Someone begins by creating one
line to a story (for example, “There once was a prince under a curse…”)
and each person must add one line to the story as you go. If simple
storytelling is too dull for you, spice it up by making the lines have to
rhyme, or by pointing at players out of order to come up with a line on
the spot. You can extend the game by writing down the story and having
your children create illustrations for it. - Word Play: Have your kids write
down words they see as they’re traveling from billboards, bumper stickers,
restaurants, etc. Once they get a certain amount, have them write a story,
poem or song that includes all of the words they have found. When they’re
done, have them read or sing their creation out loud for the rest of the
family. - Counting Cows: Rural countrysides can make for pretty dull window viewing,
so make it more interesting by turning it into a game. Create a set
distance within which players have to find as many cows on their side of
the road as possible. If you have the misfortune of passing a cemetery on
your side of the road, then you have to start over. If you’re not in cow
country, try counting something else, like phone booths, mailboxes, or
houses of a certain color. - Rock, Paper, Scissors: This classic game
makes it easy to keep kids occupied. Players put their hands behind their
backs and pull one out to reveal either rock
(closed fist), paper (flat hand) or scissors (first and middle fingers in
a “v”). Scissors beats paper, paper beats rock and rock beats scissors.
Kids can get creative and think up three other competing things (cowboy,
ninja, and bear for instance). - License Plate Lingo: You can use the
license plates of the cars around you to provide entertainment for your
kids. The goal of this game is to come up with a phrase using the letters
on passing license plates. For example, if you see a plate with the
letters “EIC,” your phrase could be “eat ice cream.”.
You can make this game as silly or as serious as you’d like. - Travel Scavenger Hunt: Keep children
occupied with a travel scavenger hunt. Compile a list of objects for each
child to find along the road. For example, you could have things like
“brown cow” or “water tower”. Anything that comes to mind that you might
be passing will work, or you can use prepared lists like this.
You can also turn this game into a form of bingo with a game card like this. The winner is
the first one to find everything on his or her list. - The Banana Game: Single out yellow
vehicles with the banana game. Players get points for each yellow car they
point out passing. Double points are awarded for buses and larger yellow
vehicles. Be prepared, this could get competitive! - String Figures: You wouldn’t think a
simple piece of string could keep a kid entertained for hours, but in some
cases it can. Pack a piece of string or yarn tied into a
circle for your child and challenge them to learn to make string
shapes like Jacob’s Ladder, Kitty Whiskers or to play Cat’s Cradle. If you
don’t know much about string games, you can check out a book from the
library or print out some instructions from a string game website. - Fortune Teller: Keep your kids
giggling with a fortune teller. Fold up your own using these instructions
or use a preprinted version. Once folded, you can write colors and numbers
and various fortunes on the flaps or turn them into cute animal puppets. - Find the Vehicle: Challenge your kids
to find a list of different types and models of cars. Children interested
in cars will find this game particularly enjoyable. You can make it more
challenging by specifying a color for more common models of cars or types
of cargo for semis. - Slug Bug: While the name
implies a certain amount of violence, it can also be played much more
peacefully. Have your kids count on their fingers or gently tap their
seatmate every time they spot a Volkswagen Bug. The specifics of the rules
are up to you, but you can make old bugs worth more than new, or certain colors worth more than others. - Map Monitors: One easy way to keep
children entertained on the road is to engage them in the process of
travel. Give each child a map of your trip and allow them to keep track of
your progress using stickers, coloring or something else your child
enjoys. - Mad Libs: Mad Libs are a fun and silly way to keep your reading-age
kids entertained on a long trip. You can make up your own or use free
versions from the Web. Give your kids the worksheets, have them come up with nouns, verbs and adjectives to fill
them in, and then have them read their new stories aloud to one another. - Road Trip Math: Have a budding math
lover in your car? Entertain them by having them figure out math problems
based on your travel. For instance if you pass a sign telling you the next
rest stop is 20 miles away, have your child figure out how long it will
take you to get there based on your current speed. It might not sound like
the most fun, but it will keep your child engaged and learning. Rewards
for work well done won’t hurt either. - Fortunately-Unfortunately: Help your children
learn to think positively with the game Fortunately-Unfortunately. One
player begins with an unfortunate statement like, “Unfortunately, there is
a bat in the car.” The next player has to counter with something more
fortunate like, “Fortunately, I brought along bat repellant.” Players
continue to alternate between unfortunate and fortunate things until
you’ve exhausted a particular topic. - Treasure Bottle: You’ll need a little
preparation ahead of time, but a treasure bottle can be a great way to
keep younger children entertained and engaged. Use a 2 liter bottle or
large plastic container with a lid. Fill it 2/3s full with rice or
birdseed, then add small “treasures” from around your house like paper
clips, bolts, pennies, Legos and any other small
things you might have lying around in your junk drawer. Keep count of how
many items you put in and write the number on the outside of the bottle.
Have kids roll around the bottle until they find everything hidden inside.
Just make sure the lid is extra secure so there aren’t any mid-trip messes
to clean up. - Who Am I?: Keep your kids
guessing with this easy and fun game. Think of someone you and your
children know: a family member, neighbor, or friend, and give clues to the
person’s identity like their hair color, sex, or whether or not they wear
glasses. Let each person guess and if no one gets it, continue giving
clues until your kids figure it out. - Find 100: Occupy your kids with
counting using Find 100. Choose a color or object and keep counting until
you reach 100. Try counting flags, statues, churches, red cars or anything
else you can think of. Mix it up by giving each player a different object
to find 100 of and race to see who can finish first. - Official Count: Change up the usual
counting games by taking an official count. Pick out objects to keep a
tally of like motorcycles or vans. Keep a tally of what you see, including
the color. At the start of the trip, have your kids make their own
predictions about what they think will be the most popular colors or
styles of these kinds of vehicles and compare the predictions to the
results at the end of your trip. - That’s My Car!: Compete with your
fellow passengers to see who can get the sweetest ride. Have each kid
choose a car from the next 5 that you pass or that pass by you to be his
or her “own” car. All players mutually decide who has the best car of
those that are “owned” and that person is the winner.
With a little creativity
and planning, you can keep your kids entertained mile after mile and keep your
sanity intact. Try out a few of these suggestions on your next trip and you’ll
create both on-the-road entertainment and memories to last a lifetime.
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