Summer trips are the best, but, if you have the right games, the journey can be as fun as the destination. These games are especially key if you are traveling with a group of kids and want to keep them engaged. The following are eight of the best car/bus/road trip games shared by our play experts. Warning: if you play these awesome games, your kids might not want to leave the vehicle upon arriving at your destination.
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Name that Tune. With the radio or a portable music player, have one person be the DJ. The DJ plays the first 5 to 10 seconds of a song before cutting it off and have the rest of the group try to guess in 30 seconds or less. Once your group has made it through a set number of songs, let the person who had the most correct guesses DJ next!
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Twenty Questions. With two or more players, one player becomes the answerer and others ask questions. The answerer chooses an object but doesn’t reveal to the others. The questioners then take turns asking yes or no questions. The questioner who guesses the object becomes the next answerer. To make the game easier, theme the object, such as making it an animal or vegetable.
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Alphabet Race. All players must be first to find something outside of the vehicle that starts with the letter “A” and call it out for all to hear. After that move on to the letter “B” and so on through the alphabet. The person to find the most letters wins!
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Celebrity Soup. This game makes players think quickly about the names of famous people. Taking turns, one player starts by saying the name of famous person (“Cesar Chavez!”) and the next player must quickly say another celebrity whose name begins with the last letter of the previous celebrity (“Zora Neale Hurston”) and so on (“Nelson Mandela”). Keep playing until you run out of famous people.
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Colors. Every person chooses or is assigned a color and must look for that color on your route. Players get points for each object they see with their assigned color. Players must state clearly what the object is and keep track of their own points.
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Capital Quiz. All players must watch for out-of-state license plates and when one is seen, the first player to shout out the state and the state capital gets a point. This is the BEST way for kids to learn about the states and their capitals.
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Group Count. This game requires the group to be quiet and listen attentively to each other. Everyone take turns saying numbers in sequence therefore counting as a group. The group, however, may not make a plan for the counting order and must take turns randomly. If two players say a number at the same time, the group must start back at one. The goal of the game is to reach ten, then a higher number as everyone gets better.
What are you favorite road trip games?
Guest blogger Sam Mende-Wong is the founder of 4 Square of the East Bay and serves as Lead Facilitator and Creative Director. 4SEB meets every Thursday night from 9pm to midnight and has received many positive reviews on Yelp. Sam works a day job as the marketing specialist for Playworks where he has taped off a four square court in the office.
