Hi everyone
We're going to be doing a very long road trip this summer.
We have some old classic games - and I'm thinking of taking the trivia pursuit game cards (although people might groan) and I'm trying to think of games to break up the trip.
Are there any ones that have come out (it's been a while since we've done a road trip) for drives especially?
Kids entertain themselves watching Netflix shows they've downloaded and their devices yes, but something else? Or just ones you do (that you don't buy) .. I'll make a list. I'm sure a few hours in I'll go bonkers. We do the ones like "Name a country beginning with A..." and I spy .. but they're getting old.
thanks :)
You guys are the best!
I love your ideas. And I like the idea of them coming up with some too.
Honestly, it's to spare me mostly ...
We have an old battleship game - great idea. And bingo! One of mine loves it but I bet they all would get into it.
Exploding kittens! this is the game I've been hearing about thank you. I usually buy one game at Christmas and one another time of the year (someone's birthday) so I'm going to get it.
All great ideas and I'll check out that link. Thanks ladies!
Keep 'em coming - you have the best ideas
We always played spot the license plate - and find them from other states.
It's rare to see one from Hawaii on the east coast but it happens sometimes.
Madlibs is a great game for the car!
Ugh...Are we there yet?!?! (Just trying to get into the spirit of the question.)
Your children are tweens/teens, right?
So, first activity for them: plan the activities!!
Why not task each child with planning two car games/activities. Like entertainment directors for a cruise.
That way, if they are bored they have only themselves to blame!
In addition to movies and games we listened to books on CD. You can download to audible if you have that.
It's nice to take a break from staring at a screen or keeping up with a game. Surprisingly relaxing too, have fun!
I just drove a bunch of Boy Scouts home from summer camp. They played Exploding Kittens (card game) in the care and barely noticed 2 hours of the drive.
We have magnetic Hangman. You might look into some "travel" versions of games. I love Trivial Pursuit. You could also try Taboo! I used to love that game, and it's easy to take on the road.
M.
We usually have a pad of paper for each kid with a pencil so they can keep track of the number of cars or trucks - a specific model, i.e. bug or motorcylce - then the license plate game - A through Z - keeping track of the alphabet as we mosie on down the road.
We stop every 2 to 3 hours anyway...and if you're gonna be in the car for more than 8 hours? i'd suggest you do the same.
Make sure there are neck pillows.
We also have personal DVD players for them so they can watch movies and use their headphones. Our van has the DVD system but not all the time do they want to watch the same thing.
I don't use the cards because it's just something to get lost or flung about in the car.
A while back I found a website....I think it was ‘mom’s minivan’ or something. She had a bunch of travel games like Battle Ship, Restaurant\Fast food bingo, alphabet car game /restaurant etc.
I printed them off copies and laminated them (to re-use). Kids use dry erase markers and sock to erase. Easy to keep in car for travel or whatever.
Great boredom busters and gets car riders engaged, especially when the devices lose charge.
Have fun and safe travels on your trip!
Additional:
Not sure of the age of your kids, but when mine were younger I would give each of them a roll of quarters ($10). They could keep it for souvenir money when we arrived at destination.....but for every time they complained they were bored or how much long or are we there yet.....they had to pay me a quarter or two.
I also would get special treats/candy (that they don’t get to have normally) or magazines and give it to them 4 hours into drive or when there own boredom busters ran out of boom.
Sometimes a party store (Party City) has cheap little boredom buster gadgets.
A friend just posted a list on Facebook. I'll post the link here but people who don't want to click on it can google "adult car games" from BuzzFeed. Games could be adapted for younger participants.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/fuelthejourney/cows-on-my-side
We also had a car bingo game that didn't use token/markers but had little plastic "doors" that you slid over the item. There were no numbers, just typical highway and in-town sights like police cars, cows, barns, bridges, motorcycles, trailers and so on. They were great because there were no pieces to drop and the cards fit in the seat pocket.
You could hit the library - ours has a great section on "old" (50s and 60s) games - we found those to be a treasure trove of "new" (to the kids) games for car travel and birthday parties.
Hope you enjoy your trip!
I think our all-time favorite was Stone Faces. One person is ‘it’ and his/her job is to try to say something funny enough to get someone to smile or laugh. As the trip wore on, and some funny stuff happened, those references were always powerful and funny. As soon as someone smiles, that person becomes it. Some great family stories came out of that game!
My kids like to play "in my back pack" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_packed_my_bag
We also play a lot of "I spy" and 20 questions
We made up a game we call "Billboards". When you see a billboard advertising something, one person pretends to call that business. Another person pretends to be that business. The caller asks questions like what do you sell, what are you hours, I'd like to order .... The business tries to come up with crazy answers.
We bought this travel scavenger hunt a couple years ago, and it is pretty fun
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MY20X8/ref=ppx_yo...
