It’s hard to keep kids entertained during road trips. There are only so many times of hearing, “Are we there yet?” before you want to turn up the radio and drown them out. And they still persist. Screen time can help. Believe me when I say I have nothing against our preschooler playing games on her tablet while I’m stuck in a multi-hour traffic jam in Atlanta. Definitely no judgment here. Sometimes, though, it’s fun to have kid-friendly car games for road trips. The games the entire family can play that don’t involve electronics.
4 Kid-Friendly Road Trip Games
We’ve spent a lot of time on the road over the years. I’ve tried a lot of road trip games to keep the kids entertained. Here are some of our favorites; ones that kept the kids occupied and didn’t drive me up the wall.
1. The License Plate Game. Let’s face it, this is a classic. Who hasn’t played the license plate game at least once? The rules are simple. Whenever you see a license plate of a different state, write it down. Try to find all 50 before the end of the trip. (Needless to say, it’s difficult to find Hawaii and Alaska plates.)
But why not up the ante? Throw in some bribes prizes. These prizes don’t have to be actual items, just things to make the car trip more enjoyable. Consider trying these ideas:
• Guess how many different state license plates we’ll see by lunchtime…the winner picks the restaurant.
• Guess how many different state license plates we’ll see by dinnertime…the winner picks the restaurant.
• Guess how many different state license plates we’ll see in an hour…the winner controls the radio for 2 hours. (Note: Only do this if you can stand your kids choice of music for two hours. )
• Guess how many different state license plates we’ll see by the next stop…the winner chooses their seat in the car (hooray…no more middle seat or calling shotgun!)
2.The Alphabet Game… There are a few different versions of this game that we use on trips, depending on the ages of the children.
Easier Versions:
Version 1. This is the classic alphabet game. The first person says a word that begins with “a”, the second person says a word that begins with “b.” This continues through the entire alphabet.
Version 2. This is played in the same order as version 1. But instead of using random words, add categories, like animals, fruit, food, etc. We don’t try for winners in this game. We help each other out!
Harder Version:
Version 3: Work your way through the alphabet from A to Z, but find the letters of the alphabet on billboards and signs. The first person has to find a sign with a, the second finds a sign with b. Continue through the alphabet. (You might have to skip q and z.)
Advanced Version:
Version 4: This one requires a good bit of thinking so it might keep the kids quieter for a longer period of time. The first person says a word, the second person says a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word, and so on. For example, I say “tomato,” and you say “ostrich,” I say “happy,” and you say “yes.”
3 Scavenger Hunt — This game requires a small amount of advanced planning. Before the trip, make a list of items that you hope to see on the road trip. Let the kids help to get them excited about the game!
This game is played exactly like the license plate game. Write down the objects as you find them. The winner is the person who finds the most. Not sure what to look for? Here are a few suggested items that are fairly easy to find:
- A port-a-potty
- An antique car
- An airplane
- a train
- a horse
- a cow
- a tractor
- a barn
- a bale of hay
- a dirt road
- a police car
- a firetruck
- an ambulance
- a broken-down car
- a billboard
- a person talking on their cell phone
- a church
- an airport
4. Guess How Many –This game can be played in so many different ways. I’ve suggested four versions, but the sky is the limit. Choose whatever your family would enjoy counting.
Version 1- Everyone chooses a car “color.” Count the next 10 cars that pass you and note their color. Whose color had the most cars?
Version 2– Guess how many billboards you will see in the next two miles.
Version 3-Guess how many cars/trucks/fire trucks/police cars/whatever you will see in the next mile.
Version 4-Guess how many fast-food restaurants you’ll pass in the next 3 miles.
I hope these games keep you healthy, sane, and devoid of kids asking, “How much further?” on your next road trip. At least for a few miles. What are some of your favorite games to play on road trips?
I like the idea of playing a Scavenger Hunt game. My younest is only 5 so she is just getting into car games. I remember playing these games with my sister. We loved roadtrips.
We take a lot of family road trips and it’s so important to have kids entertained. I love these road trip game ideas as I don’t like my kids to be glued to a screen.
We LOVE playing car games while out on a trip even if it’s a short one to the store. These sound like so much fun.
These all sound so great. When I was traveling as a kid we only did “punch buggy” and that was awful. Could use some of these good ones!
We love road trip games! This right on time since we will be on the road this weekend.
These games bring back so many memories of when I was a little girl! After I had my daughter we continued playing these!
A great game for the kids! Car games are really fantastic and awesome! Just take care of yourself kids.
These are all great kid friendly road games when traveling with kids. We used to always plate the license plate game when we were traveling to my dads home town with our parents. Thanks for sharing these awesome game ideas.
I love this list of car games. Kids do not always need technology to keep them entertained.
Love all these games. My favorites were always the license plate game and I spy with my little eye…
Those are great games! Always looking for good ways to pass the time while we are in the car. We play a lot of games having to do with the states because my daughter has a license plate game (so we have to guess how many states there are for each letter, etc).
We are always looking for new games to play in the car. We have a fun licence plate game the kids always want to play.
I remember doing the license plate and alphabet game! It was so much fun and it did make a long road trip bearable. My kids loved counting Volkswagen Beetles. The kid with the most number of Beetles spotted wins a prize – get to choose a treat on the next stop.
We still play the Alphabet game every now and then. I like the different ways you can play it! Scavenger hunts are a good idea!
These are all great ways to keep the kids entertained on long car tips. I remember playing the Alphabet game with my dad on many of our family trips. Good memories!
We’ve done some fairly multi-day road trips and it can definitely be a challenge to keep the kiddos entertained if you aren’t prepared! The alphabet game and counting cars of a certain color are two of their favorites 😉 Along with I-Spy of course!
We are headed on a spring road trip and I’ve been trying to get some great ways to pass the time during our car time! These are great games- love the license plate game!
Those are our tried and true road trip games. They are fun and the keep you occupied for long stretches!
I will definitely have to remember these games. We have a big road trip coming up in June and I love to keep the kids occupied.
The alphabet game is one of my favorites! Some of the letters are really hard to find, but it’s fun and time consuming!
We are going on a road trip pretty soon and I love doing games like this. It pisses time it’s fun and the kids are not looking at a screen the whole time.
Car games are the best. They’re fun, and they keep me from murdering rotten children. LOL Seriously, though. I love the rewards you put in place with these games, as well.
we go on all sorts of trips, but road tripping is the best. Road trip games are so, so much fun. Thanks for sharing these.
I can remember playing these games way back when i was a little girl and we would take a family trip. Guess some games just never go out of style. Great reminder of the fun times I had growing up and traveling around waiting for someone to say are we there yet.
These are all great ideas. Road trips are fun, but you have to think of ways to keep the family occupied or everything descends into chaos.
We love doing road trip scavenger hunts! The license plate game is a classic!