Road Trip Games for Kids

License-Plate Games

• There are several types of license-plate games that are fun on long highway trips; areas with low traffic make it harder to find a variety of license plates. A simple game is to try to find license plates from every state. Use a map of the United States to keep track of what license plates the kids find. Use a marker to color in the states of the license plates you see. For a bigger challenge, make a phrase based on the letters on the plate. For example, if the plate says HHI, a phrase could be "Hippos Hiding Ice." Everyone keeps making up phrases until no more can be thought of.

ABC Games

• Alphabet games usually serve to entertain for while, as they take some time to play. Find something outside that starts with the letter A, and then continue through the alphabet. It may surprise you how hard it is to find items beginning with certain letters. Each person in the car can go through the alphabet individually to see who can find all of the items first, or you can play together. Another version of the game is to find the letters themselves on license plates, billboards and signs.

Guessing Games

• "I Spy," "Who Am I?" and "20 Questions" are classic guessing games that the whole family can play. To play "I Spy," one person gives hints about something he sees. "I Spy" works best in traffic jam, as you'll be moving slowly and the item will remain in sight; plus, the game can be a good stress reliever when stuck in traffic. "Who Am I?" can be played anytime. One player describes someone everyone in the car knows, and the other players have to guess who it is. For example, "I have brown hair. I work at the movie store. My dog has brown fur. Who am I?" To play "20 Questions," one person thinks of something, and the other players ask up to 20 questions to figure out what it is. Whoever guesses correctly thinks up the next item. If nobody guesses after 20 questions, start over.

Road Stories

• Making up stories about the surrounding areas is a good winding-down activity. Choose a house, a car or anything else you pass. Have the kids take turns making up stories about what they saw. For example, if you pass a camper, the story could be about a family driving across the country to see their grandparents. Add challenges to the story by requiring that all characters' names start with the same letter or that a certain number is used throughout the story.