I’ve spent hours and hours on the road with my children. When Bryan traveled constantly with his old job, we would pack up and follow along. Did I mention I spent hours and hours listening to kid complaints? “He/She is touching me!” “He/She is looking at me!” “He/She stuck their finger in my mouth!” I am not making that up. Finally, out of desperation and feat for my sanity, I began devising travel games the kids could play along the way. Here are some of our favorites:
Here are our favorite Cool Car Games:
1. The License Tag Game. I printed out a map of the US with outlines of all fifty states and gave each kid a copy and a marker. Whenever they saw a license plate from a state, they would color in the state on the map.
2. The ABC game. One of us would start with A and look for the letter on license plates, billboards, signs, whatever. Whenever we found the letter, another person would take the next letter in the alphabet. Sometimes we skipped Q and Z.
3. The preposition song— Inspired to help them learn, I would play Billy Joel’s In the Middle of The Night and have them wave their hands whenever they heard a preposition. I am sure the other cars around us thought we were crazy. The kids still do this whenever this song comes on the radio.
4. The ABC game (version 2) In this game we thought of a topic, like fruit. The first person would begin with a fruit that began with the letter A, the second person would say that fruit and then add a fruit that started with the letter B. There are endless versions of this game, just use whatever topic strikes your fancy.
5. Counting Cars. Each child was assigned a certain type or color of car. The goal was to see who could find the most in a given time period. I usually did ten minute intervals.
Some games, such as “Slug Bug,” were banned from the car altogether. There was no way I would give them an excuse to say, “He/She hit me!” When the kids got bored with these games, I kept a book on tape of some of their favorite stories. If all else failed, I pulled out the electronics.
What are your favorite car driving games while traveling?
Need more fun ideas for kids when traveling? Check out:
5 Must Visit Free & Low Cost Attractions in Chattanooga
Three Easy Ways to Keep Engaged on a Road Trip
what great suggestions and some I had not heard of so will be writing them down and keeping them in the car to use for the next trip.
I am planning a road trip with my kids in a couple weeks. I will have to keep these in mind.
I’ve never done the preposition song game! The others I have used though 🙂
We played a numbers game (spin off of abc’s) this past road trip. It was HARD! 1-100!
My family plays several of these games on road trips. It really helps to pass the time!
Great ideas!!! Last weekend we drove a little over an hour and ended up playing “I Spy” for a good portion. Glad to have these other options for next time!
Counting cars is a great one to play while on the road. We used to do that one a lot.
Great ideas! We play ispy a lot during trips but I am going to try the ABC game you mentioned I think my daughter would love it!
I just got back from a road trip to visit family in South Carolina (we drove to/from Kansas). I was talking to my fiance about how my cousins and I use to play the license plate game when we took road trips!
What great games we used to play eyespy and try and see a car of every colour when I was a kid 🙂 x
Great suggestions. We take lots of road trips and these are great.
That would be fun to take a road trip on Kia. lol I want to take the family to Wisconsin Dells. Looks like you had fun. : )
I need to try the ABC game. We are hoping to take a road trip in August so we need to keep my son entertained!
Neat games! I use to have a little notebook where I would write down every license plate that I saw…. A little intense but I was an odd child and I would fill up a note book QUICK!! I love road trips, we need to take a family trip soon! Thanks for the kid car games!
I remember playing most of those games with my kids when they were younger. We don’t several trips that were over 2,000 miles each way and it takes organization. Brings back some good memories.
im’ giggling. i’ve never heard it called a license “tag” before. or slug bug. we call it a plate and punch buggy.
back before seatbelts were used frequently we played stay where the driver puts you- those old vinyl seats made for great sliding back and forth on bench seats LOL
Great ideas! Will have to keep these handy for our next road trip. Entertaining the kiddos is always such a challenge.
My parents used to keep me occupied with all of those games mentioned (I am now 62)–guess the oldies are still the best! As a matter of fact I used to use those games when driving around with friends and their children!!
we love to play i spy in the car, we usually have a great time too.
I love these ideas… anything to help maintain sanity on a road trip and to avoid the “Are we there yet” question being asked endlessly!
a lot of times the simple things work (hence , no technology)
I’m so in love with car travel games!!! I play all of these, but the preposition one is new. It’s SO happening the next time I hit the road. I can’t wait!!!!!!!
These are great game ideas while on the go!
I use to play those games with my sisters when we went on long road trips! It kept us occupied for a while