Keeping kids busy on a long car ride or road trip is challenging! Although I always pack plenty of travel toys, I also want to take the time to interact with my kids. So I wanted to ask if your family has favorite car games for kids that the whole family can participate in to help pass the time?
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Category-type naming games. How many types of desserts can you name? How many countries can you name? How many different characters in Harry Potter can you name? Etc.
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We love category games, and often add an extra challenge, like only using letters from a particular word, like “D-E-S-S-E-R-T-“ for the dessert topic. Just like the game scattergories!
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First letter/last letter. Not sure if there’s really a name for this game, but one person starts by picking a word (usually we like to pick a theme, like Marvel or Harry Potter). The next person had to think of a word that starts with the last letter of that previous word, still within the theme (if you are using one). For example, if the first person says “Harry,” the next person has to think of a word that starts with a “y.” Then we go around the car taking turns until someone gets stuck!
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The Alphabet Game! This is a classic for a reason - just look around to find each letter of the alphabet in order, from A all the way to Z. Road signs, license plates, advertisements - plenty of letters all around us (most of the time!) - good luck with Q and X, though!
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The license plate game. We did a cross-country drive last year and I found a free map printable online. We all kept an eye out for a license plate from each state, and the kids colored in the states on the map as we found them.
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Question game: I love asking random questions on road trips with our kiddos. Examples: what’s something that you would invent? Tell me about an animal you’d love to have as a pet? If you had one, what would it’s name be and what would you enjoy doing? What do you look for in a good friend? Tell me about a time you felt X(scared, excited, etc). We have a larger family with a wide range of kids so we offer the question to everyone and go around in the car.
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I love car rides as a time to break out fun conversation starters like this! My favorite is, "if you could invite any fictional character from a book, movie or TV show over for dinner, who would you pick?"
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My family's favorite is Riddle Riddle Ree, I see something you don't see. And the color is xx. Basically, one person asks this question and other family members need to guess what the narrator is seeing. Just make sure it's an object either in the car or something outside that is consistent like a tree or the yellow lines painted on the road.
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My kids like I Spy. Someone will pick something to spy on, a color, a type of sign, a nature item, type of vehicle. a store or gas station and the other person has to find that item while we drive. It keeps them occupied because they are always looking out the windows searching for the item, and then coming up with a new spy pick!
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My toddler and preschooler will play this game ALL DAY LONG!! Which means we all do, too! 😁
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