Road trip games for kids
Are you going on a road trip with your kids soon? Does keeping them occupied something that is stressing you out? Maybe even keeping you up at night? Don’t fret anymore! I’ve got you covered with these road trip games for kids!
Remember, that sometimes being bored and just looking outside can also be a good thing.
However, it is good to have a couple of things planned out to keep everyone entertained with these road trips games for kids that can easily be played as a family and also be adapted for all ages.
These games are fun guaranteed for everyone sitting in the car!
How to entertain your kids on a road trip
Keeping the kids entertained, especially on long road trips, can be somewhat challenging. But with the right preparation, you won’t even realize that a couple of hours have gone by.
So how can you keep them entertained and not ask you every two seconds are we there yet?
I like to pack for each of them a tablet with movies, video games, and music. These can come in handy sometimes. I prefer to keep these to a minimum and get them to do other things.
Depending on the age of your kids, you can bring audiobooks or physical books for them to look at, read, and if they are too young, they can follow along with the story with an audiobook.
Listening to music for a bit can keep them calm but still enjoying the moment with a great tune and looking at the scenery passing by.
If you are spending long hours on the road on the same day, watching a movie can be fun for them too.
Spending time on the road is also a great time to play different games.
What games can you play in the car on a road trip
There are many road trip games for kids out there. These are just my favorite ones. But there are many more. Some of these games can be played without any material. For other games, you can download all of my free printables. I like to laminate them so they can be reused as many times as necessary.
You can play conversational games to get to know one another better such as the road trip chat game. Make your fellow passengers guess who you are thinking of or even what you are seeing outside your window playing Ispy.
You can play observational games as well. There’s travel bingo, scavenger hunts, counting items, the license plate game, and more!
To keep your kid’s mind sharp while on the road, they can play with mazes, play word games too.
I’ve also bought in the past some sticker books and scratch books and the kids absolutely love them!
Allow some sort of time slots for each game. I’m not saying plan a schedule by the minute but choose one game at a time so everyone can focus on that one.
Sometimes my kids tend to want to do everything in the first five minutes of the trip. I let them go through the different stuff I packed for them for a little bit and then get them to choose one. The goal of bringing stuff to do is to keep them entertained for the longest time possible.
So here is a breakdown of all my favorite games and printables to inspire you to play many games as a family on your next great adventure! You can also print all of them out at the end of this post. I’ve added a section dedicated to the printables.
Conversational road trip games for kids
I spy
Playing Ispy is pretty simple. The first player will start by telling the other players a vague clue of what they are seeing. The fellow road trippers must then ask yes or no questions to try and guess what they spotted.
Take turns trying to guess what the other one spies along the road.
For younger kids, you can use these printable cards. They will have to mark every item on their card once they spot them. Make sure to download them in the printables section!
Who am I
Who am I is usually very popular with kid’s. The first player will have to think about either an animal or a person. Then, the other passengers will take turns asking different questions to try and guess what animal or person the first player has chosen.
Questions have to be yes or no questions. If the player knows what the answer is, they will only be able to give their guess when it is their turn to play.
If it gets too easy, add some extra rules. You could add a maximum number of questions to ask or a maximum number of guesses.
Don’t say it
In this game, all the players will have to be alert and pay attention. To start the game, you will have to choose a couple of words that will be forbidden for the amount of time you decide on. This game is similar to the swear jar game for adults.
You can choose words that you know are used often by everyone which will make it even harder. You could set a timer for the time you will be playing don’t say it or decide on playing for the whole trip.
The goal is to not say the words that you’ve chosen. Every time someone says any of the forbidden words, add a bar beside their name. When the game is over, the player with the fewer amount of bars beside their name will win.
Make it worthwhile to want to win the game, especially for the kids. Have a prize at the end. It will keep them, even more, focused as they will be trying to get that great prize.
It doesn’t have to be something expensive, sometimes just a special snack will do the trick!
I packed my bag
Your kids will get to pack their bags in this fun memory game. What is even more fun, is that they can bring whatever they want!
Decide on a fun destination to ”travel” to. It could even be your final destination. The first player will say: ”I packed my bag and in it is… ” and add an item they want to bring. The next player will start out with the same phrase and list every single item that was added to the bag before their turn.
Try and play as long as possible and remember every item!
Road trip chat
Road trip chat is a fun get to know each other game. All you have to do is pick a question from your road trip chat container and ask away! Everyone answers the question. It’s a great way to start conversations together as a family but also get to know each other even better.
You might even learn a few things about your travel companions. Every time you are done with a card, choose another one and start again.
Print out my road trip chat game. You can buy a small container from the dollar store to put your road trip chats in there. These are just a couple of questions. I’ve put up a couple of blank ones in this printable for you to write down extra questions you think about. Don’t forget to print it out!
Observation road trip games for kids
Scavenger hunt
This game is like a bingo game. All you have to do is print out the scavenger hunt cards. The goal is for the kids to find every single item on their scavenger hunt. Anyone can play even mom and dad!
It isn’t a competition game. It’s more about putting their observation skills to the test. They will have to pay attention to their surroundings to find every single item on the scavenger hunt cards.
Counting Cows
This game a pretty simple. Start by dividing everyone into teams, the right side of the car and the left side of the car. You’ll have to choose the duration of the game. Are you setting a timer, are you playing all day. Determine that before starting to play. The team with the most point wins the game!
Every time you pass cows on your side of the road, you have to count them as fast as possible. Consider that each cow equals one point. If you spot a white horse, this one gives you a 50 point bonus.
However, if the other team spots a cemetery on your side of the car and they call: your cows are buried, you lose all your points and have to start over again.
Travel Bingo
Travel bingo is exactly that, a bingo game but instead of numbers, it’ll be things you’ll have to find along the way to get a bingo.
You can make it a little harder for kids that are starting to read. Print out the cards with only names on them. Add a bit of velcro at the end of every word on the bingo card and one behind the smiley face. The kids will have to read out the word, which is good practice, and then try to find them. Once they do, they will be able to velcro the smiley face beside it and call bingo once they have all of them!
Make it fun! Have a couple of cool prizes for the one that screams bingo first!
You can make your own bingo cards by adding road signs, animals, or anything that comes to your mind you might see on the road. You can also print out these fun travel bingo cards so you’re ready to keep the kids entertained on your next big or small road trip!
License plate game
To play the license plate game, you have two different options. Depending on the age of your kids, one might be better suited.
The goal, either version of the game, is the same. You have to find the most license plates of US states or Canadian provinces. Set an amount of time to play the game. In that set amount of time, try and find as many license plates as possible.
If your kids are older, get them to checkmark every new license plate they see. Get your printables for the Us and Canada in the printables section at the end.
If your kids are younger, I love this coloring map. They will be able to visualize where in the country the license plates come from. It’s even pretty cool for the older ones too! You can find these coloring maps here.
The slug bug game
This game is a lot of fun! Get everyone to choose a different car color. You’ll have to choose odd colors or rare colors to make it harder.
You don’t have to be punching each other every time you see your car color. Instead, add them up every time you see one. At the end of the day or at the end of your set amount of time, the player that has seen the most cars of their chosen color wins the round!
For younger kids, you can get them to play individually with these cool printable slug bug cards. They just have to color a box every time they see one. This is sure to keep them concentrated on the outside for a while!
The alphabet race
In this road trip game for kids, you will have to be the first to spot the letter outside of the car.
You can play this game by going alphabetically. starting from A to Z. The first player to spot the letter on billboards, road signs, or anything along the way gets to add a point.
The player with the most points will win the game.
You can also use fun printables too. Give every child a cup, or they can just pile their letters until the game is over. One parent can then pick a letter from the letter stash. The first kid to find the letter outside the car gets to put that letter in their cup.
Road trip count on it
The road trip count on it game is a mix of travel bingo, scavenger hunt, and slug bug.
The kids will have to count items listed on their cards. For example, if they have a gas station image, they can either count the number of times you stop to gas the car or they could count every gas station you drive by.
You can create any road trip count on it game. Get creative, make it harder even. You can get these ones too so you’ll be ready to go!
Alphabet bingo
This is another alternative bingo game. Instead of numbers or road signs, every box in the bingo card will be a different letter. It’s a good game for kids starting to learn their letters.
They will have to find items along the way starting with the different letters on their cards. When they get older, you can add a degree of difficulty by getting them to find words starting with the letters on their boards.
Road sign bingo
Another fun bingo game is the road sign bingo. Similar to the travel bingo, this one makes your kids search for different road signs.
Alternate between the different bingo cards. This way, they will be searching for different items every time they play!
Don’t forget to print out your road sign bingo!
Mind road trip games for kids
Word explorer
Get your kids to focus on word searches. I’ve found this great site where you can customize word searches for your kids to do. You can even choose which degree of difficulty depending on your kid’s grade at school.
Head over to the puzzles-to-print website. There are plenty of word searches printables. From easy, medium, and challenging ones, you are sure to find a couple of ones for your kid’s degree of difficulty.
Maze books
Another fun option to get the kids to work out their brains are mazes. They will have to work on finding the exit!
Go to Krazydad and get really cool mazes for all ages!
Books and audio books
Sometimes, a little bit of downtime is great for them too. It’s great to play all kinds of games but a little silence once in a while doesn’t hurt either. Have books that they are interested in for them to look at. Have books that are adapted to their reading skills.
An audiobook can also be a great idea. Make sure you don’t forget to bring the kid’s headphones. You can find audiobooks out there that they can actually follow along in the real book. Which is pretty cool for younger kids that don’t know how to read yet. They still get to follow along and see the images.
Crafty road trip games for kids
Sticker books
Sticker books are always a big hit with my kids. Although it takes them five minutes to go through the whole thing, they are always super excited!
The dollar store has plenty of those. If there is a holiday around the corner, you can even find special sticker books for that said holiday.
Some of them even end up being a storybook.
Scratch notepads
Scratch notepads are also a very well-loved one. I’ve found some small ones with images to scratch from the dollar store.
But the one I especially love is this notepad with stencils from Amazon. The stencils are a pretty cool idea and get them to be more creative as they will scratch different images.
Writing a comic Book
Get them creative with this comic book printable. You can download it in the road trip games printables section of this post. They will have to come up with a story and different characters as well.
Once they’ve come up with their storyline, they will have to draw their story. It’s a really cool idea! They could make a story about your road trip. This would be a pretty awesome souvenir from that trip don’t you think?
Road trip games for kids printables
Don’t forget to download all your free printables to get you going! You are guaranteed plenty of fun for the whole family. Whether the kids are younger or older, every road trip game can be adapted so everyone can play!
All of these games have been inspired by different bloggers and stuff I found on Pinterest. I have however put my little touch on each of them!
Don’t forget to sign up to get 30+ pages of road trip games for kids!
You can always add incentives for them when they finish the game. Something like car bucks for example. They could accumulate a number of car bucks every time they complete a card or a game and use their car bucks for a surprise.
You could plan a chart with different surprises depending on the number of car bucks they have. You could have 5 car bucks for chocolate, 10 car bucks for a slushy. Anything you have in mind, you can determine the number of car bucks necessary for them to choose from. It’s a great way to get them to play the game as they will want to have a surprise of their liking.
Whether it’s your first ever road trip with your kids, or you’ve been on the road many times, these road trip games for kids are sure to entertain everyone. It will make your time on the road a lot more enjoyable as you will be having a whole lot of fun.
It’s also an excellent opportunity to spend some quality time with the kids. Of course, you spend some time with your kids every single day. But sometimes, the routine just gets in the way of having a great moment together. So take this opportunity to do it!
It will make your vacation even more special and the kids will remember how much fun they had in the car every time they went on a road trip with mommy and daddy!
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Want some inspiration for your next trip? Keep on reading for some great ideas, great tips, and itineraries!
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