8 Fun Road Trip Games For Kids
The days are long and temperatures are rising!
It’s summertime once again, and soon the kids will get their annual summer vacation from school. Families will start making their travel plans that will take them to their dream destinations to relax and unwind. Some will fly; others will take to the sea, cruising their way to exotic places. The adventurous ones will take the road trips, enjoying the surprising sights, spontaneous stops and detours that the open roads have to offer.
But, road trips with your children don’t have to be tedious ordeals filled with repeated shouts of, “Are we there yet?” There are plenty of ways to make the time in the car fun for both you and your child.
Here are eight fun games to try the next time you’re on the road again. Your kids will love them, (these require no huge board games or toys that you have to lug around). The best part, most of them will take you down memory lane to your own childhood trips.
- The Alphabet Game
Ages 5 and up: One person chooses the right-hand side of the road, and someone else the left. Each player looks for letters of the alphabet that appear on signs or license plates on their side. (You can even play this one with numbers instead). The object of the game is to point out all the letters of the alphabet in order, from A to Z. The first person to spot the entire alphabet wins.
- The Animal Name Game
Ages 6 and up: One person names an animal. Then each person in order has to name another animal (no repeating!) that starts with the last letter of the previous animal named. There are no winners or losers in this game. With older children, try the game with TV shows, or geographical categories such as cities or countries.
- Twenty Questions
Ages 4 and up: One person secretly thinks of either an animal, mineral, or vegetable. The other players then take turns asking yes-or-no questions, such as “Can it fly?” or “Does it grow in the ground?” After the players have asked 20 questions, each player gets a chance to make a guess.
- Chinese Whispers
Ages 4 and up: A child whispers a story to someone else in the car. That person whispers the same story — as close to a word-for-word recount as possible — to a third person, and so on. The last person to hear the story repeats it out loud so everyone can hear. Invariably, some of the story will be lost in the translation, and the resulting garbled message usually inspires a good laugh.
- The Movie Song Game
Ages 5 and up: One person hums the tune to favorite movie songs, and everyone else tries to name the show as fast as possible. The first person to guess correctly hums the next song. Of course, the good old Antakshari can be as much fun!
- Memory Test
Ages 6 and up: The first person says “A is for —” filling in the blank with any word beginning with the letter A, such as “apple.” The second person comes up with a word for the letter B, such as “book,” but must also repeat the “A” word: “A is for apple, B is for book.” Continue through the alphabet, each person taking several turns and reciting more and more letters and words. By the time you reach the letter Z, that player will recite the whole alphabet and its corresponding words. However, if you’re playing with younger kids you may want to choose an earlier letter than “Z” to be the final one.
- The Map Treasure Hunt
Ages 7 and up: One person looks at a road map and finds a small town, village, river, etc. That person announces the name of the place she has chosen. A second player has 60 seconds to look at the map and try to find the secret place.
- Restaurant Race
Ages 5 and up: Each player chooses a restaurant or fast food joint, such as Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, etc. Players earn points by spotting their restaurant off the road, on a billboard, on exit markers, on Food/Fuel signs, or by hearing it mentioned on the radio. Impose a time limit — say, 20 minutes — and then add up the points.
Have road trip game that your kids simply love? Do share it here with us.
Author: Sammy Sahni. Mommy Blogger, Crafter, Lover of Nature and Proud mum of two. She is the Director of Social Media and Content at KidEngage (www.kidengage.com, that brings the best content and events, to enable holistic child development). She is also the Editor of the popular KidEngage Blog.
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