8 Classic Games for Kids to Enjoy During Travel

By joanne lemna | June 9, 2016

These days nearly everyone has smartphones dvd players and iPads to keep them entertained on long road trips. But when everyone is glued to their screen sometimes technology can take away from the ‘family atmosphere’. Here are some classic road trip  travel games to play with the family this summer.

License Plate Game

“An oldie but a goodie” as they say. Almost everyone played some form of license plate game when they were young and now it’s time to pass on the tradition. There’s lots of variations which means you can change it up to keep things interesting or pick the version best suited for your kids. It’s always a good idea to add a competitive element by playing for points. The champion can choose where to stop for lunch!  Here’s our version best suited for a family with teens or older children:

  • Find a license plate from each province. Double points for US plates! For added difficulty or to provide a geography lesson make the player point out the province or state on a map!
  • Spot the ‘vanity’ plate.
  • Keep an eye out for double letters or numbers. Triple letters or numbers gets you double points!
  • Go through the alphabet by finding letters on the license plates — one letter per plate and only one player can claim it!

For younger kids just choose one or two rules. For a shorter or more simple game the first person to spot a license plate wins.

The Name Game

This is a good game if you’re driving at night or the drive gets a bit boring with regards to sights and scenery.

  • Pick a category like animals or countries.
  • The first player says a word in that category such as ‘giraffe’ or ‘Brazil.’
  • The next player responds with a word that starts with the last letter of the word said by the player before. For example ‘elephant’ or ‘Lebanon’ would be next then ‘tiger’ and ‘Nigeria.’
  • Go around the car until players can’t think of any other words — the last one in the game wins!

This game is great because you can always change categories and choose your categories based on how long you want your game to last.

Counting Game/Find it First

For this driving game everyone in the car counts how many times they see something like a cow or a minivan or a fast-food restaurant. The first person to see it gets a point. This game ebbs and flows but it’s always fun when someone shouts when they spot it after a while or if there’s a large number of the item in an area. An alternative to this is someone chooses something everyone has to look for. The first person to point out wins and gets to choose the next thing.