9 Fun (and Free!) Road Trip Activities to Keep Kids Entertained – Without Resorting to Electronics!

We often get asked how our children get along in the car when we go on long journeys… How do we keep them entertained? (With so many silly games!) Is it not stressful? (Oh trust me, it has its moments!) So I thought I’d share some of the games we play to help distract them from the “Are we nearly there yet?” questions – and the fun thing is, a lot of these can be enjoyed by everyone in the car – even the driver!

As a side note, I’m sure these days with all the tech everyone has, lots of parents can achieve this quite happily with phones, handheld games consoles or in car TV screens, but I try to avoid digital activities, reading or colouring in the car as the youngest has occasionally been ill when we’ve tried this, and our cars not fancy enough for TV! These are perfect ideas for those who suffer from Travel Sickness!

So here are the 9 fun and free, tried and tested games, that we play on road trips to keep the children entertained!

1. I Spy

Yes, the classical I Spy is a great game to play with everyone in the car! The youngest player gets to start, and they have to find something (that ideally is in constant view of everyone) and tell the other players what letter that item begins with. The first player sees a Cow in the field, they then say “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with C…” . The other players then all have to guess what that item is! The person who guesses correctly then gets to go next. It’s usually a real hit in our family and keeps everyone occupied for a good time.

2. The Number Plate Game

In this game, we start at the letter A and work our way to X*, finding number plates that start with each letter! It’s surprisingly time consuming, but without getting too boring (on a motorway, anyway – this might not be such a hit on a quiet Highland country lane!) *Don’t forget, British number plates don’t start with I or Z. You might want to include I if you’re confident you’ll see an Irish number plate, and whilst Q is a special plate and available for certain vehicles, we’ve never seen one on any of our travels, so we omit that one also!

3. The Alphabet Game

Probably our favourite family car game, the alphabet game can be themed or just include anything – but it must be something that has just been seen at that moment! Starting at A, and working your way to Z, you want to be the first person to see something, inside or outside of the car, starting with that letter! We often like to theme this game to car makes and models, especially when we are on the motorway!

4. Bingo!

Bingo can be a great fun game to play on a road trip, whether you are by yourself, or as a competition to see who can get the first line or full house with your fellow passengers! You’ll play this like regular Bingo, but instead of numbers, you can use words or pictures of things you might see on your road trip – as soon as you see that item, you can cross it off! It is easy to create your own Bingo game, or you can download our FREE Car Bingo Sheets here! It features 4 different boards of things you might see on your next road trip, and can be printed on A4 paper. Why not laminate them and invest in a dry-wipe/whiteboard marker so you can use it again and again?

5. The Memory Game

This game is brilliant for ensuring everyone’s completely distracted and focused, as everyone concentrates hard on trying to remember what’s on the list! The first player might start with a phrase like “I went to the moon and I saw… “ Each person takes it in turns to add an item – but only after repeating all the other items first! You can make it easier by having the list follow the alphabet. Make it as silly and fun as you want, and see how far you can get!

6. 20 Questions

Each player takes it in turns to think of something, and the other players have to take it in turns to ask yes-or-no questions and figure out what it is – however, you can’t go above 20 questions! If a player guesses correctly, they get to go next. If they don’t, then the original player gets to go again! You could make this easier by having a theme, such as animals, or food!

7. Family Storytelling

In this game, each player adds a sentence to a story, creating a unique and fun tale, sparking their imagination and giving everyone a good laugh along the way! Let the youngest player start, then work around the car with each player adding one sentence to the story. You might have to add restrictions to how long everyones sentences are – from my experience, my boys love to spin a yarn and their sentences can go on for a while with plenty of ‘and’s’ to stretch out their sentence!

8. Storytelling with a twist!

You may have seen in another post, that I love carrying a tin of Rory’s Story Cubes with me when we go out and about. It’s a compact game that I can carry with me in my bag, and keeps my children entertained when we are waiting anywhere. I wouldn’t use these in the car for fear of them getting lost, but you could use the same principle to keep children entertained in the car. Let an adult pick 3 random nouns, and get the children to take it in turns to make up a story using just those 3 words! For instance, you might pick “car”, “Scotland” and “candyfloss” – now see what crazy tales the children can come up with!

9. The Word Association Game

A fun and simple game that includes everyone – player one says a word, and then every player takes it in turns to say something that is associated with that word. Player one might say “Potatoes”, the next player might say “Crisps,“ and so on! This game can get hilarious and is another fantastic distraction buster!

I cannot guarantee that these will ensure you have an argument-free, stress-free or perfectly smooth journey, but I hope it will at least help! Let me know which of these games you play, if you plan to use the Road Trip Bingo, or tell me which games you rely on for long journeys (I’m always on the lookout for new ones)!