9 Games For A Long Car Ride

With the second part of our long trip ahead of us we’ve been coming up with ways to stay entertained. We have pod casts to listen to, books on tape to listen to, plenty of music but what about games?

My favorite game as a kid – whenever we took a long car ride we played the License Plate Game. Each day we kept a list of all the state license plates we saw. We never got all the states in one day but we had days where the list was long! I still love this game and on our four day journey to Keystone, SD we played this each day. Of course you have to start with a new list each day!

Another fun game is Name a Country. The next person has to name a country that begins with the last letter of the previous country.

Depending on the ages of those you are traveling with you can play I Spy. But you MUST preface what you spy with “I spy with my little eye” or it doesn’t count.

Would you rather X or Y? Best game ever. All parties MUST answer. Example: Would you rather be able to read minds or be invisible? Could lead to some fun discussion!

Another interesting game is Build a Story. Each person contributes one sentence at a time to a story. This can be lots of fun especially if you have a car full of people!

20 Questions “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” Only 18 more times to go! In 20 Questions, whomever goes first thinks of, well, anything. The first question is always, “Animal, vegetable or mineral?” After that, the players can ask pointed questions to try and guess — go around the car in a circle asking for clues such as, “Does it bark?” or “Can you peel it?” for example, although the answer to those questions can only be “yes” or “no.” If you reach the 20th question without a winner, everyone has one last chance to figure it out before the “thing” is revealed and another person starts a fresh round.

Where’s The Alphabet? Perform this as teams or solo players. You’ll want to utilize road signs, billboards, shop names — any reading material outside the window qualifies as long as it’s spotted on your side of the car. (If you’re the front-seat passenger, focus on the right.) You’ll be looking for every letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, although the letter can be located anywhere in the word. Say there is a fruit stand with a sign for Granny Smith apples — there’s your A. The exit for the Brooklyn Bridge would cover B, Road Closed is C and so on. First one to the letter Z wins.

The Picnic Game A memory builder for all ages. One player says, “I went to a picnic Saturday and I brought…” then says a picnic favorite that begins with the letter A, like apples. The next player repeats the opening phrase, and after “…I brought” they repeat the A item then add one that begins with B: “I brought an apple and some bananas.” The third player repeats the opener, the A and the B portions, and then adds something that begins with C. Get it? Can your travelers get through the alphabet, remembering all the items everyone contributed? Try keeping track of 23 items plus figuring out what you can take to a picnic that starts with X

Fortunately-Unfortunately While you’re taking a road trip, your kids are a captive audience. Take the opportunity while you have their attention to challenge them to think positively by playing Fortunately-Unfortunately. In this game, one person will make an unfortunate statement, and then another player will counter the statement with a positive response. For example, one player could make the statement, “Unfortunately, a lion is going to attack us.” A second player would counter with a more fortunate statement such as “Fortunately, I took lion taming lessons.” The more exaggerated and silly the statements are the better!

With a few more long days in the car ahead of us, I’m sure my husband and I will entertain each other with some of these silly games! What are your favorite car games?