Long road trips can make even the most confident of parents feel a little crazy. Kids are more excited than ever and it all comes out in the car, when really, you just want them to go back to sleep or read their novel peacefully.
The secret to a successful road trip is to manage expectations, prepare and know that practice makes perfect. The more you prepare for this trip, the more you’ll know how to deal with the next one. You’ll know what works, what doesn’t and what needs perfecting.
This list of fun road trip games will make your holiday a whole less stressful and a lot more enjoyable. Find the right road trip game for your family.
So let’s jump in there and suss out the best things you can do to make this road trip enjoyable and even fun.
First things first
- Prepare for lots of stops along the way. Research the route you’re going on and see if there’s a park or beach along the way. Get them moving and make the most of the stop.
- Leave really, really early – my parents would pack us all into the car way before we’d usually get up. This way we’d bet the traffic out of Auckland and they’d hopefully get some peace and quiet for a few hours before we woke up. Bring brekkie to have along the way or find somewhere to stop.
- Prepare a travel bag before you head off. Pack snacks, reading or activity books, any printables you may need, pencils and something they can write or draw on.
Keep ’em busy!
Brain games
For these brain games you won’t need to prepare a thing – but a list of them will come in handy! They’re great because it frees up more space in an already full car and will keep them entertained.
I Spy
A classic! And probably the most played road trip game. Someone picks something, whether it be outside or in the car and says, ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with …..’ The rest have to guess what it is. Winner gets the next go.
Spelling Bee
Say a word and each kid gets a turn to spell it out.
Number Plate Names
Choose a theme, such as countries, food, animals or people’s names and when you see a car, everyone in the car tries to think of something using the theme starting with the first letter on the number plate of the car. If someone can’t think of something before the car passes, they’re out! The last one, wins.
Connections
Start off with a single word, e.g. cat. The next person says the first word they can think off related to cats, e.g. kittens. And so it goes, e.g. baby, until someone can’t think of something.
Find 50 First
All players choose something they will see while on the road, such as a blue car, red house, bus, truck, or speed signs and they keep track of how many they see. The first to 50 wins.
Who Am I
Kind of like 20 Questions (where you think of an object, animal or person and players can ask 20 ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to guess what it is) but a little different and great if you’ve got more than 2 players.
Pick an animal/item or object and the others have to guess what it is using only ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. Take turns guessing. If you get a ‘yes’ you get to ask another question, if you get a ‘no’ the next person gets to ask a question until someone guesses correctly. This makes a great road trip game!
Shopping list challenge
A classic memory game. The first player names something from the store beginning with ‘A’, the second player repeats it, then adds on something else brought from the store beginning with the next letter of the alphabet ‘B’ and so on. See if you can reach ‘Z’!
‘That’s my Car’
As cars pass by, players each have a turn of saying, ‘That’s my car’. They’ll either be super happy from getting a sports car or not so happy by getting a dump truck.
License Plates Sentences
Make up sentences from the letters in license plates, so if the license plate was YBP123, you’d use the letters to make up a sentence, e.g. Yummy Big Pudding!
Create a Character
Spot a stranger walking along the footpath and make up a character profile for them. Who are they? Where are they going? Where did they come from? What is their name? What do they do for a job?
Rumour has it
Chose a car and all look at the people inside the other car closely. Then everyone has to come up with a background story of the people, their lives and relationships. Where are they driving today and why? Why do they look serious/mad/happy or sad? Make it as dramatic as you want and have fun with it.
Silly shopping list
Someone starts saying, “I went to the shops and brought….”
Chose something to finish the sentences, the sillier the better! E.g. I went to the shops and brought a broccoli and banana pizza.
The next person adds to it. “….. and a cherry on top pie.”
You can also use other beginnings, such as, “I’m going on a trip and I’m going to pack….”, “I went to the park/beach and saw a…” or “I went on a picnic and brought a…”
The Quiet Game
Play the quiet game when things are getting a little rowdy to quieten them down a little and see who can stay quiet the longest.
Don’t Laugh
One person is in and tries to make the others laugh, the last person to laugh wins! If you only have two kids, they can try to make each other laugh.
Three words
Chose three nouns (a word that refers to a person, place or thing). For example, a carrot, a school and a tree. Each player has to come up with a short story with each of those things in it.
Road trip songs
99 bottles of milk on the wall, the Wheels on the Bus, This Old Man, and The Ants go Marching are all great ones! Our kids learn lots of fun poems at school, learn and sing it with them, too!
Word chain
First player chooses a word, second player finds a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word and so on.
Virtual hide and seek
Pick a place inside your house and pretend you are there. The other players will ask them ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions until someone guesses where the imaginary hiding place is.
Fortunately/Unfortunately
Go back and forth between players, saying a ‘fortunate’ statement and an ‘unfortunate’ statement. For example:
‘Fortunately, we’re going on a walk.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s really long and we’ll probably get tired.’
‘Fortunately, we brought snacks!’
‘Unfortunately, the ants got into them.’
Make up your own song
Have fun making up and singing your own song. Choose a well-known song that the kids love and know, then change up the last few words of the sentence to come up with a new tune.
Things to bring
Alphabet Game 
Pick up a letter, the first that spots something with that letter gets to put it in their pile. At the end of the game, the person with the most wins!
Rubik’s cubes
Great for older kids.
Good Behaviour Goodie Bags
Some printed out activity pages, a little toy, snacks, road trip games and whatever else you can think of. Put them into a bag and give them out when they’ve behaved well. Not only will this encourage good behaviour but the goodie bags will also keep them entertained for a while.
Deck of Cards
A deck of cards always comes handy when you’re out of ideas, especially if the kids already know and love a few card games.
Busy Books
My mother is really crafty and made us all busy books that we could do while in church to keep us busy and quiet – it worked really well.
Colouring in/activity books
There are so many great activity and colouring books we’re really spoilt for choice. Grab some for the kids or let them choose.
Reading/picture books
If you have an older child, get them to grab a book to read on the way, or for younger children, Where’s Wally books are great.
Audio Books / Podcasts
Fantastic to listen to on long road trips, there are lots of kids ones to choose from.
Lego 
Grab one of those little lego sets that they can easily put together in the car. Bring a plastic container with you to keep all of those little pieces in one place.
Or just bring some of your lego pieces from home along and they can have fun making things. A great idea is the lego challenge, it challenges them to make anything from a shape to a robot. You can find lego challenge cards on Pinterest.
Music
Prepare a playlist before you leave that they love and have them singing along in the car.
Road Trip Map
Create a map that outlines your journey so the kids can understand what they’ll be doing, how far and where they’ll be going. Every hour or so move the marker to show where you are and how much longer you’ve got to go. Hopefully, they’ll be asking, ‘Are we there yet?!’ a lot less.
Craft kit/Jewellery making kit
If you have a crafty kid find a kit that they can easily do by themselves.
Travel Journal
For older children, get them to write in the travel journal each day, recording what the weather was like, draw a picture from their day, what they did, where they went etc. Either buy a journal, print out some pages from Pinterest or make your own.
Printables – Alphabet game, bingo, colouring in, etc
Have a look on Pinterest and find printables that the kids might like.
Would you rather?
Find some ‘would you rather’ questions, print them out and ask them in the car.
Road Trip Bingo 
Have fun looking for things on your sheet and see who can cross them all out first.
Colour Car Bingo
Just like normal bingo, but instead of calling out numbers, the colour of the cars passing is used instead. Great when you’re out of the city. Make up some sheets before you go or find some on Pinterest.
Snacks
The kids will get even more cranky if their hungry little tummies are rumbling so make sure you pack something healthy and delicious for them. Bring something that’s easy to eat and not too messy. Fruit pouches, homemade muffins, muesli bars, fruit and veg are all great ideas.
Road Trip Experiment
Ask your kids what is the most common car colour and see what they come up with. Then test it with this printable. Cross the cars off as they go by.
Story Starters/Add on stories
Get somebody to start the story or pick one of the story starters from this printable, then go around and continue the story, each adding a sentence or half-sentence. You’ll end up with one crazy story but that’s the fun of it!
Electronics
Movies
Sometimes the best thing for them is a good movie to help them wind down and it gives them something to focus on. You can use a portable DVD player or download something from Netflix to play on the iPad.
Phone/tablet apps
Sometimes you’ve just got to give them the phone, it’ll keep them entertained and happy. There are plenty of great apps out there, download some before you go that you know they’ll enjoy.
Have fun!
So that’s it! Road trip games don’t have to be dull and boring, play the ones that you know your kids will enjoy the most and don’t forget to plan lots of stops along the way.
I hope you have a fantastic time away and enjoy your time with your family. Let the road trip games begin!
Happy travels!