Road Trip Games

I grew up playing these road trip games with my family. They did a good job keeping me alert and involved with our journey. These games are really good to know on certain stretches of road (I once drove for five hours straight and saw nothing but corn). Road trip games for kids are really helpful and anyone who’s travelled with kids knows exactly what I’m talking about.

These games for a road trip are classics, and I’m sure they go back further than I’ve been alive.


Quote - Charles Horton Cooley


I Spy


Someone gets to say "I spy with my little eye something..." and then say whatever color it is. Everyone else takes turns asking yes/no questions until someone figures out what it is. This may be tricky when driving because whatever was seen when starting is likely long gone before too long. But don't get discouraged by this. There are variations of this game to deal with that.

  • The 'something seen' must be items within the car.
  • The 'something seen' must be items far enough away that they'll be seen for a period of time. Guessers now have a time limit.
  • The 'something seen' must be something continually seen, such as corn.



20 Questions


This is one of the variations of 'I Spy'. A person simply thinks of something and assigns it a category such as animal, plant, or mineral. Everyone else takes turns asking yes/no questions until someone gets it right, or twenty questions have been asked.



License Plate Game


Keep track of every license plate type that you see (every state, province, country, etc.). You can compete if you want. Once a person sees a particular type of plate, then they get that point and it's no longer eligible.

  • You could assign higher points for plates from further away.
  • You could assign points according to the numbers on the plate.
  • You could do a 'license plate' bingo.



Scavenger Hunt


Make your own list of items you expect to see along the way. Print one out for everyone who'd like to play. You could assign points for the items (rare items are worth more points). See who can complete the list first.



Story Pass-Along


This is one of my favorite road trip games. Someone gets to start a story. Don't tell too much. Once they get so far, they get to pass the storytelling to the next person. You can pick a time limit or just leave it up the the teller or the next listener, when to pass it on.

We have a neat thing called Rory's Story Cubes. You have nine cubes with simple pictures on them, to roll like dice. Then you make a story with the pictures that are showing. The possible ways to play are limitless. It is pure joy to hear my little one creating a story from his imagination.


Alphabet Game


Watch for letters outside the car. Go through the alphabet one letter at a time. Once you see a letter, move to the next one and no one else can use the same letter you saw. You can limit the letters to license plates, billboards, or don't limit that at all.



Counting Game


Pick something you will see along the way. Pick a number and count that many to win. You could do like the scavenger hunt and give things a point value (rare things are worth more points)



Packable Games

Here are a few road trip games you can pack to keep bored passengers occupied:

  • Magnetic games
  • Coloring books (don’t forget crayons) – go to www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages for some free coloring pages that you can print out.
  • Travel activity books
  • Kid maps - You could print out the route that your driving on so that they can follow along.
  • Frisbee, football, or baseball and gloves (if your RV is big enough to play these in)





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