The Best Travel Games for Kids

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Car Games for Kids

If you travel with children, providing fun and appropriate entertainment will set the stage for success.  You can make the choice between a happy and pleasant trip or a miserable, grouchy experience.  Go prepared to help the youngsters stay occupied and you will help EVERYONE have a better time.

Pack a Travel Goodie Bag 

Especially for young children, a travel goodie bag can be a lifesaver. No matter what age your children are, you can pack a bag of treats and surprises that can rescue your day when things get testy in the car.

The first trick is to keep the contents of the bag a secret. Children generally love surprises, and if you can pull new and interesting things from your bag, you will be a hero. You will also distract the youngsters from whatever annoying behavior they had been doing.

What to put in the bag? That depends a lot on the ages of the children. Small, handheld toys that don't make much noise are always good. Markers or colored pencils with paper, puzzle books, or even travel-sized games are nice for older children. New (or at least less familiar) books can help. And don't forget age-appropriate and car appropriate snacks.

You can shop for your goodie bag in dollar stores and discount stores to save money. Some families also watch which toys are shoved aside after the first excitement of Christmas or birthday, hide those away and pull them back out for activities such as this. Check the local thrift shop, too, for new-to-you ideas. You can also find coloring and puzzle pages for free on the internet. Make sure to throw in a few essentials, like sharpened pencils, erasers, extra paper, and so forth, and you're all set.

When the kids get testy, grab your goodie bag and dole out a new surprise. Or, if you wish, use the goodie bag as a reward for stellar behavior for whatever length of time you feel appropriate, as in "If you can behave until we reach Podunkin, I'll get you a surprise out of my bag of treats." Either way, you'll have an arsenal of supplies to keep the kids entertained throughout the trip.

Ensure Pleasant Travel...

Everyone will travel more happily if you make a plan to meet everyone's needs along the way.

Featured Car Game of the Week 

Put some pizzazz into your next trip...

One, Two, Jellyfish!

Here's a counting game with a twist! Choose a number that is not a factor of the number of players. (Don't choose 2 if you have an even number of players, or five if you have five players, etc.). Now, have everyone count off in turn. BUT, when you reach a multiple of your chosen number, that player must say "jellyfish" instead of the number. So if your chosen number is three, the counting would go, "One, two, jellyfish, four, five, jellyfish, seven, eight, jellyfish, ten..." The faster you go, the tougher it gets! When someone makes a mistake, that person can be "out" or have to pay a penalty, like sing a goofy song. Make the game tougher by using larger jellyfish numbers, like twelve or twenty-two. You can also declare any number containing your chosen number to be jellyfish. For example, if you choose three, you would jellyfish not only the multiples, but also numbers like thirteen and twenty-three and ALL of the thirties!

This game is loads of fun, and it's also great practice for multiplication and division concepts. Try it out on your next trip!

Thinking Games for Thinking Teens 

(and other older passengers)

-> LICENSE PLATE MATH
Pick a number from 1 to 100. Jot down the numbers from the next license plate you see and make a number sentence from them. Use any sort of math you know (the four operations, exponents, decimals, fractions, parentheses, whatever!) and try to make a number sentence that totals as close as possible to your target number.

-> LICENSE PRIMES
Jot down the numbers on a license plate and try to prime factor the number. Calculators permitted if all agree!

-> LICENSE WORDS
Jot down the letters in the first plate you see and try to make the shortest word that uses all of them in order. Give 5 points for any additional consonants, 2 points for each additional vowel, and 10 points for each additional word! Person with the lowest score wins.

A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. -- John Steinbeck

Get Teens Involved 

Travel Tips for Teens
Here are some ideas to help your teen feel more invested in your trip (and hence less likely to become bored and difficult).

Travel Game Resource Books 

Adult on Board: Travel Games for Grown-Ups

Adult on Board: Travel Games for Grown-Ups

by: Jeffrey J. Wuorio, Judy Wuorio

Amazon Price: $10.00 (as of 01/02/2010) Buy Now

Coast-To-Coast Games (Backseat Books)

Coast-To-Coast Games (Backseat Books)

by: Rand McNally

Amazon Price: $3.95 (as of 01/02/2010) Buy Now

Miles of Smiles: 101 Great Car Games and Activities

Miles of Smiles: 101 Great Car Games and Activities

by: Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Amazon Price: $8.95 (as of 01/02/2010) Buy Now

The secret is in the planning!

Great Car Games for Young Elementary Kids 

Try some of these games:

-->"I'm Going on a Picnic":

This memory game can not only occupy the young ones, it also will build essential school skills. Start off with a sentence, such as the title, or "I'm going to the zoo and I saw" or "I'm going on vacation and I packed...". Now take turns listing items. The first player just adds to the list. From then on, everyone must recite what has come before and add something new! Make the game more complex by using words in ABC order (like apple, ball, cat, and doughnut).

--> Roadside Bingo:

Make a few Bingo cards in advance with pictures or words for common roadside sights, like barn, fence, dog, streetlight, traffic light, stop sign. Put the items in different places on each card. As the kids travel, have them color, mark or cover the things they see. Want the game to last longer? Make a rule that the winner is the first to cover the entire card!

Secrets are Great When You Travel...

Sneak out to the dollar store before your trip.

Resources around the Web 

Mom's Minivan
Over 100 (count 'em!) ideas for occupying children on trips short or long. There are some classics here as well as some fabulous unique ideas.
Travel Games for All Ages
Check out this collection of printables, age-specific games, and much more from Travelmate in Australia.
Car Games for Kids
Here are some stupendous ideas from the Transport Accident Commission in Australia. See what the kids like 'down under'!

What are your favorites? 

Share them here!

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  • Reply
    tutor1235 tutor1235 Jun 25, 2009 @ 4:16 am | in reply to ruthgree
    That is so cool! I'm sure everyone will love the idea.
  • Reply
    ruthgree ruthgree Jun 24, 2009 @ 11:57 pm
    Our family has created an iPhone app with instructions for 100 games families can play in the car...many of them brand-new. Guessing games, singing games, games using the radio...lots of categories, a spinner...no equipment (except for the pencil and paper games). Cool thing is that once you choose a game and learn it...you can put the iPhone or iPod touch away!

    Kathy Peel, family coach on AOL, just recommended it today, in her article Road Trip Sanity part 2 - today's ParentDish blog. "Love how one mom turned car games into iphone app"
    http://tinyurl.com/mbxolo
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by tutor1235

Sandy is an experienced tutor and special education teacher. Visit the site at All Info About Reading! (more)

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