Top fun car games for toddlers, preschoolers and school age kids.
By Suzanne Hyman
Keep the troops entertained with these awesome games. (Deposit Photos / golyak)
If you plan how to entertain your kids ahead of your vacation, there’s no reason for family road trips to be a tiresome and daunting journey. Kids do get bored in the backseat. Fact. But it doesn’t have to be so. With these 20 free, family-friendly car games you’re sure to keep the kids’ whingeing to a minimum and to reach your destination before even realizing it, having stimulated their (and your) brain cells and creativity in the process. Have fun!
BEST FOR TODDLERS
No more baby meltdowns with car games like Face-to-Face, I Spy and Simon Says. (Flickr: Aaron Goodman)
Face to Face
Ideal Age: Ages 0-2
How to Play: This works if you have a rear-facing car seat. Sit next to your baby and hold up a small mirror. Marvel at the joy your child finds in his own reflection. Try mimicking your baby’s expression and making different faces and emotions. You’ll be shocked how entertaining this will be for the both of you.
I Spy
Ideal Age: Ages 2-5
How to Play: Repeat after me, “I spy with my little eye something…” Follow this statement with a clue to an object and let everyone else in the car try to guess that object based on the clue provided. For example, if you spot a red stop sign, you might say, “I spy with my little eye something red.”
Simon Says
Ideal Age: Ages 2-5
How to Play: One player is picked to be Simon. Whatever Simon says, everyone else must do. If Simon says, “Touch your nose,” each player needs to touch his or her nose. If someone doesn’t follow the instructions correctly or does it before Simon says, then that person is out of the game. that person is out of the game.
(MORE: Get more tips for a successful, stress-free family road trip.)
BEST FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS
Distract the younger kids with games like Banana Game, Backseat Bingo and Name That Tune. (Flickr: rik)
The Banana Game
Ideal Age: Ages 3-5
How to Play: Every time a player notices a yellow vehicle, he yells “Banana!” and receives a point. The player who has the most points at the end wins. For the older kids, play Find the Car, where you substitute yellow cars with a specific car model. Use our Spot the Car Scavenger Hunt, which comes with a long list of popular cars to look for.
Count the…
Ideal Age: Ages 3-7
How to Play: Pick anything that you want your kids to count (speed limit signs, red cars, trucks…) and begin.
Tunnel
Ideal Age: Ages 3 & up
How to Play: When you enter a tunnel, everyone (except for the driver) holds their breath. Whoever can hold their breath the longest is the winner!
Backseat Bingo
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: Use our printable bingo boards to play and give one to each player. Every time you or your kids spot one of the objects on the bingo board put a mark (check, X…) on it. Make a small mark if you want to reuse the board. If a player gets a full line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) of marks and says “Bingo!”, you’ve got a winner! (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) of marks and says “Bingo!”, you’ve got a winner!
Name that Tune
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: You can play this game in a couple different ways. One way is by singing or humming a song, and letting everyone in the car try to guess the name of that song. Another great way to play, especially if anyone in your family is tone deaf, is to use the radio as your music source. If you want a wider range of songs or you want to make it more challenging, press SEEK on the radio.
Slug a Bug
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: Keep track of the number of VW Beetles on the road. Whoever counts 10 first is the winner.
Storytelling
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: One player starts the story with a sentence, such as “Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess that lived in a castle by the sea.” The next player continues the story with another sentence. Each player adds a new sentence to the story until it’s complete, the story becomes too ridiculous, or it complete, the story becomes too ridiculous, or it’s time to move on to the next game. You can either write each sentence down or say them aloud so that way the driver can join in on the fun.
Two Truths and a Fib
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: Each player takes turns saying two true statements and one statement that is either a lie or not completely accurate. Everyone else tries to guess which two statements are true and which one isn’t. Those who guess right, win!
Where’s the Alphabet?
Ideal Age: Ages 4 & up
How to Play: Observe the objects on the road and state each object that you see in alphabetical order. If you see a person selling apricots on the side of the road, say “apricot.” The next player might say bee, billboard, or another object they see starting with B. Continue playing until you go through the whole alphabet. Continue playing until you go through the whole alphabet.
I’m going on a picnic…/My father owns a grocery store…
Ideal Age: Ages 5 & up
How to Play: Repeat after me, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing….” The next word that follows should start with the letter A. The next player repeats what the last player said but adds another item starting with a B. Follow this pattern from A to Z, or until there there’s only one player left who can remember everything in that overstuffed picnic basket. The grocery game works the exact same way, but instead you start by saying, “My father owns a grocery, and in it he sells (something that starts with the letter A).” For young kids, it might help to offer clues to jog their memory in case they forget.
License Plates
Ideal Age: Ages 5-10
How to Play: On a piece of paper, write down each time you a see a license plate with a different state name. The player who finds the most license plates wins. Make it a geography lesson with our free Spot the Plate printout that includes a map of all the states and their names listed. their names listed.
(MORE: Download free printable car games for your next road trip.)
BEST FOR SCHOOL AGED KIDS
Bye bye boredom with Hangman, Karaoke and Pictionary. (Flickr: Mahaut)
20 Questions or Who/What am I?
Ideal Age: Ages 6 & up
How to Play: The first player begins by thinking of a person, place, or thing. Everyone else gets to ask up to 20 yes or no questions to help them guess who or what that person is thinking. Continue playing until someone guesses right and then start over again with another player thinking of a new person or thing. with another player thinking of a new person or thing.
Hangman
Ideal Age: Ages 6 & up
How to Play: Begin by drawing a scaffold or use our free hangman games in the back of the book. One player thinks of a word (a person, place, movie, book…) and then draws a space for each letter in the word. The other players guess one letter at a time. If the mystery saying contains the letter, it is written in the correct place. If not, the first player draws a head on the hangman scaffold and continues to draw parts of that body for each wrong letter guessed. When enough incorrect letters have been guessed, the dead body is complete and the second player loses. If the guesser solves the puzzle before the body is complete, he wins.
Karaoke
Ideal Age: Ages 6 & up
How to Play: Create a playlist for your road trip at home and print out lyrics to your favorite songs on the list. If you don’t want to waste the paper, try using the Karaoke anywhere app to choose from thousands of pre-arranged songs and lyrics.
Pictionary
Ideal Age: Ages 7 & up
How to Play: Each player takes turns drawing something on a piece of paper while the other players try to guess the mystery drawing. Each time a player guesses correctly, they’re awarded a point. The player that has the most points wins the game. You can either choose your drawing subjects in advance by creating a list ahead of time can either choose your drawing subjects in advance by creating a list ahead of time or you can let each player draw whatever they want.
Fortunately/Unfortunately
Ideal Age: Ages 8 & up
How to Play: Players alternate between saying statements that begin with “Fortunately” or “Unfortunately.” For example, one player might say, “Unfortunately, the Cookie Monster got in the kitchen,” and then the next will respond with “Fortunately, I ate the last cookie seconds before he arrived.” the last cookie seconds before he arrived.” The next player would then continue the story with another Unfortunate statement, followed by a Fortunate statement, and so on until the story is complete, or it’s time to move on to the next game.
Geography
Ideal Age: Ages 8 & up
How to Play: Before you begin, decide if you’re going to play with states, cities, countries, rivers or all of the above. Once you decide, the first player will name a place. The next player has to use the last letter of that place as the first letter of their new place, and so on. For example, the first player says, “Kansas.” and so on. For example, the first player says, “Kansas.” The next player needs to think of a place that starts with S, and says, “South Dakota,” and the player after that says, “Alaska.” Play until you run out of places or you can’t think of any new ones.
Suzanne Hyman contributed this to MiniTime.
