The best car games for kids on a road trip

Roadtripping with the little ones can be tough, so to avoid the repetitive mantra of “Are we there yet?” the HWK team share our favourite car games for kids.

1. Name that tune

This car games for kids involves the radio, DC or streaming service like spotify. The passenger in the front seat turns a track on for a few seconds and everyone has to try and guess the name first.

2. I Spy

We all know how it goes: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with…” An oldie but a goodie, I Spy is a classic that is bound to get everyone eagerly searching their surrounds. You can ask if the object is animal, mineral or man-made to try and narrow it down.

3. 20 questions

This one is easy peasy: player one thinks of a person, place or thing and everyone else takes turns asking questions that can be answered with a yes or no. If a questioner guesses the correct answer, that questioner wins and becomes the answerer for the next round. If 20 questions are asked without a correct guess, then the answerer wins and gets to be the answerer for another round.

4. Guess the time

Car travellers take turns estimating the amount of time they have left until they reach the next destination. No phones or GPS allowed!

5. Continuous story

One person starts off with the opening sentence for a story, then the next person follows on. By the time the whole car has had a few turns, you should have an entertaining narrative.

6. The singing game

Words and music combine. The first person chooses a song to sing, using a lyric from a known anthem, and then the next person has to link it to another song and so forth, until somebody stumbles and loses the game.

7. Quiet time

All right, this one’s not so much a game as a sneaky way to get the kids to settle down for a while. Suggest that the winner of ‘Who can stay quiet the longest’ may earn a prize. You will be surprised to see just how quickly your backseat bandits can be silenced.

8. Would you rather

Take turns coming up with two different funny, weird or downright disgusting scenarios and fellow players pick which one they’d prefer. No passes either!

9. The number plate game

Try making sentences from the letters on other cars’ number plates and to make it more challenging for the older kids, put give them a time-frame to work in. Make funny sayings from the number plates you see, eg. FLZ 323 could be “323 Funny Looking Zebras”.

Or, try numberplate sums, where you add the last digits on numberplates of cars approaching you and call out the number. This car game is great for the kids’ brains too!

10. Road trip bingo

Before your trip, create a treasure hunt list for the kids which can incorporate traffic road signs, windmills and other things you may find on the way and the first to mark off all their items can win a prize (like getting to control the tunes for an hour).

11. Food

When all else fails, there’s always food. Cut up pieces of fruit and use zip lock bags to store them and hand them out to the kids. You can also stock up on special treats or possibly even some lollies, as these make great, inexpensive prizes for any of the game you may play.

Let us know which of these car games for kids you like best!

This article originally appeared in Holidays with Kids magazine. To subscribe to the latest issue, click here.

Lead image © The Wild Ones Media