Games People Play (While Traveling With Children)

More Games

Buzz: Count off, in order, and keep counting (driver says one, passenger says two, backseat dweller says three, etc). Only every time somebody gets to the number seven, a number with seven in it, or a multiple of seven, instead of saying the number, that person claps and says 'buzz.' 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, buzz, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, buzz, 15, 16, buzz, 18, 19, 20, buzz....
You can change the 'buzz' words as needed for your children- do multiples of five, ten, or don't do multiples at all, or use whatever number they are trying to memorize.

Travel Bingo: You can play this by making, buying, or printing out from a website bingo boards with things on them that you might expect to see on your trip- clouds, windmills, flags, barns, deer, sheep, pigs, corn fields, a license plate from Alaska, one from Florida, a bumper sticker supporting the troops, a bumper sticker supporting the unborn, a red van, a military jeep, a Canada Goose, a Jersey cow, etc. This site has some nice printable bingo games and other good car games as well. I would put them in a plastic page protector and use china markers, stick it notes, or peelable stickers to cover the items seen.

You can also play a different version where you assign points to certain things you expect to see and whoever spots that item first gets those points. Personally, I think this is easiest when you only use two items at a time- say, one point for every windmill or weathervane, and two points for every flag. The first one to 21 points wins. You can also adapt this more quickly to your circumstances- at night you can count colored lights, flashing emergency vehicles, cars with their dome lights on. If you are driving through countryside you can count farm crops and domestic animals, and if you are driving in Alaska you can deduct points for every moose that crosses the road.

Ghost I don't know why this is called ghost, as it has nothing to do with ghosts. It's a spelling game for older children and adults.
The first person says a letter, the next person ads a letter, and you continue in a order adding letters. You can never add a letter that couldn't be part of a word if more letters were added- if you do, other players challenge you and you must demonstrate that you did have a word in mind. If you can't, you lose that round. On the other hand, you also lose if the letter that you add completes a word.

Maps: Ahead of time, print out a map of the US (or Canada) for each player. Every time they see a license plate from a state or province they color that state or province on the page.
Give the children a copy of their own road map and have them highlight the roads you take.
Teach them how to read the maps and figure out where you are. We often tell them where we are, and then ask them to find on the map the next town we will pass, or the name of the next river we will cross, or the approximate distance to the next rest stop.




Games You Buy

Mad Libs: These are also a great way to learn some of the parts of speech.

Magnetic Travel Games: I recommend these for home use, too. If you buy your games brand new, the travel versions take up less space and are cheaper, too. Pip and Jenny spent many happy hours playing a travel version of Trouble. The Headmaster and I were partial to Backgammon (actually, we used the backgammon board and played acey-deucey). Amazon has some, but we've had better luck finding them at Walmart, the Pharmacy, and local dollar stores.

Next time: activities that aren't games, and eating on the road