Games for the Car
Keep the kids busy playing games in the car
Family vacations are wonderful but we all know how bored kids can get on those long road trips.
How much longer, and when are we getting there, are common sayings on road trips when you travel with your children. A few fun games for playing in the car can really help to keep your children occupied and content while you are traveling.
Photos on this article are from my family's photo album
Hop on into the car
The Alphabet Game is great for playing while traveling long distances in the car
Help pass the time spent traveling in the car with alphabet games. Alphabet games can be themed in a number of ways but my favorite is the Alphabet eating game. In the alphabet eating game you simply name foods which begin with each letter of the alphabet from A to Z. (Thank goodness for Quamquats, xanthan gum, Xia shrimp, Zucchini, and Zuppa.)
The game begins with someone saying, "I am so hungry that I could eat an Apple". The next person would choose a B word so might say, "I'm so hungry I could eat a Banana". You start with the letter A and work your way through to the letter Z. It's a relief for those who don't get the difficult letters of Q, X, and Z but rough on those who unluckily get those hard to find foods. You can put a PASS feature in your game if you like.
The Alphabet game can also be used to list famous people or animals. It might begin with the first person saying, "I went walking in the woods one day and was so very afraid to see an alligator there". The next person would say, 'Well I went walking in the woods one day and was so very afraid to see a big bad bear there" and so on through to the letter Z.
The more extreme or humorous the responses then the more fun the alphabet game is. This is a great game because it can occupy quite a fair amount of time spent traveling in the car.
Travel I spy bingo boards ideal for keeping the kids busy while traveling. They close the windows as they fill their car travel game windows. See who gets the first line and then go for the blackout.
Hangman
Hangman is another game that is great for those long car rides. Improve your language skills while passing the time while traveling. Road trips really don't have to be too boring when there a ton of hand held games to take along with you.
99 Bottles of Beer on The Wall
The song 99 bottles of beer is always great for whiling away a couple of hours on a long car trip. By the time you get done removing the 99 bottles of beer from the wall, you can then play this song game in reverse, and begin placing the beer back onto the wall again.
For those who don't feel comfortable with beer you can use Root beer or any other favorite beverage as a replacement.
Playing games can help to make family car vacation trips a little more fun for travel bored children. Having a variety of games on hand will help to keep time zipping pleasantly along with the miles.
Take along notepads, a travel journal, and pens for kids to chronical their trip...
It really is amazing all the different animals, landmarks, and scenery that you will encounter along your trip so have the kids keep a journal of what they felt were the important aspects of the car trip.
Count the animals car game
This is where insuring that everyone has a notepad and pen with them comes in really handy so they can mark down the animals as they count them.
Cows, horses, deer, goats, bear, cats, dogs, and any other animals that you encounter on your trip can all be counted and included into this game.
There are a multitude of exciting things to see on a long car trip and I spy travel games can help you notice them.
There are plenty of fun games for children to play in the car. These fun games which are kept in the car specifically for road trips really help to pass time while traveling. Guess who game is fun for the whole family.
Playing a game of "I Spy" while you watch out the windows can really help you to notice a lot of exciting things on your car trip. Because things pass by the car so quickly the car version of the game "I Spy" must be adapted to take this into account.
You can adapt the car I Spy game in a number of ways, such as looking for larger or smaller items than the last person spied, or looking for rarer or more valuable items than the other person has spied.
Find 25 things that begin with the letter...
Seeking and finding items outside the car windows which begin with a specific letter are great games for passengers to play on long road trips. Because the passengers are looking out both sides of the car, they will see different items, and so stand equal chances of winning this game.
Because the driver is not able to play the game, he or she is the one who gets to choose which letter begins each round of the "Find 25 Things" car game. The game then begins with, "Find 25 things that begin with the letter P", and the participants then search for these items out their car windows as you travel. 'People' would be an easy start to the quest for P items.
Participants in this car game should use their note pads to keep track of items that they have already found.
What do you do on road trips?
Car Scavenger hunt game
A scavenger hunt is always fun for all it's participants which makes it is a great game to play while on a long car ride.
Prepare the list of things to find in your scavenger hunt in advance of your car trip, and when your passengers begin to look bored, then it is time to bring this game into play.
As each window of the car will have different items passing by it, passengers on both sides of the car will have an equal chance of completing their lists using only the items, which they can see through their car window.
© 2012 JoleneBelmain
