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License Plate Games

Anyone who has traveled with kids on a long road trip knows that their patience can wear thin in a hurry. One way to keep your kids, and even yourself and other adults, occupied is to play games using the license plates you see on the road. License plate games are simple to play and may require only paper and writing utensils. Games that use letters, numbers or words can even have some educational value for younger children.

Most States
- For a long trip across interstate highways, see who can spot license plates from the most states. To make the game even more challenging, see who can list the most capitals of the states that they find. Another variation is to see who can be the first to spot an out-of-state license plate in the state you are currently traveling through.
Vanity Plates
- See who can spot the most vanity plates or who can be the first to decipher their sometimes cryptic messages. If you spot any dilapidated or unique cars on the road, see who can come up with the most creative or humorous vanity plate for the vehicle. Create possible vanity plate slogans for the passengers in the car or people you know based on their personal characteristics or quirks.
Number Games
- See who can come up with the most license plates that end in an odd or even number within a specified time. One person is assigned the odd numbers while another is assigned the even. You could also play "21." Each person picks a random car, and the one who picks the car on which the license plate numbers add up the closest to 21 without going over is the winner.
Letter Games
- For a long trip, pick a very long word such as "supercalifragalisticexpialidocious" and see who can be the first to spell the word using the letters they see on license plates. Another letter game is to see who can be the first to find all the letters in the alphabet. You could also see who can be the first to spell out the name of your destination.
Word Games
- Make words out of the letters on the license plates you see. For example, if a plate contains the letters "RHE," you can form the words "her" and "he." See who can be the first to form a complete sentence containing a specific number of words or who can form the most unusual or humorous sentence.

Kids Games