Have a long journey ahead? These car games for kids will make the journey a fun adventure. Road trip activities can make the journey so much fun when you play car games. Even if your destination is only a half hour ahead, these travel games can help the children enjoy the journey more, and also if your on the way to a party these long journey activities can help them stay in a light and fun mood for when they arrive!
I'm one of those people that get a little sleepy in cars, and I know a lot of kids like this too. Ive found travel games a great way to stay alert. These fun activities can help everyone stay alert on journeys, that's why I love these as a way of keeping everyone entertained. Lets get on with these great road trip tips.
Game 1:
Usually played individually but with some secretive whispers can be done in teams. One person or team decides on something outside of the car to count. Every time they see it they have to count out loud adding up their score as they go by, so the other people know they have just passed it.
Each time the object has been countered the person guessing has to take a guess at what the object is, you could even add a maximum number of guesses like 5 to 10 guesses or the person who picked the object wins the game.
Things to count could be road signs, shops, only grocery shops, roadkill (well we know some kids will definitely want to do this, I know my boys have), traffic lights, people in hats, the options are absolutely endless. Try to make sure everyone picks something that is not really rare though or the game could become frustrating for some.
If after say 5 minutes the guessed object has not been seen or counted its time to change to another persons turn. This timeframe is totally up to you and of course dependent upon the children's age also, younger kids may need a short time like 5 minutes, while slightly older children may be happy with 10 minutes. Depends upon the journey time also of course.
Game 2:
This one is simple enough, and its based around traffic signs. Everyone takes a turn in guessing the color that the signal will be when you get to one, either when your level with it as you pass it by or when you have to come to a stop in the car as near to it as possible (for when its red). Works best in built up areas where there are going to be plenty of them, just watch how people try to will the signal to change to the color they chose!
Another way to turn traffic signs into games is to guess how many cars there will be when you get to one that is red. Everyone says a number before you reach the signal, without it in sight (works best if you know there is one coming up very soon). Then you have to count the cars that have to stop before the light turns green again, winner is the closest guess before lights go green!
Heres another one. Try to guess how many traffic lights you will have to go through before you reach your destination. Or even how many times you will get stopped by traffic lights, versus how many times you get to go straight through signals.