31 Best Road Trip Games for Kids: Definitely Bookmark This

Are you planning a road trip and looking for the best road trip games for kids? We totally understand that doing long car rides with kids can be hard and stressful, especially when not using any screens.

“Are we there yet?” “I’m hungry!” “It’s too long”

Does that sound familiar?

Family road trips can be stressful for parents and long for kids, so it’s better to be prepared with some ideas. That’s why we listed 31 of our favorite games to play in the car on a road trip to pass the time. They are all fun games for kids (but also for the entire family, from toddlers to older kids and adults).

And the cool thing is that most of them don’t require much and can also be played at the destination.

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Our TOP 5 Road Trip Games for Kids

We do a lot of road trips as a family, short and long car rides. We even took the kids on two cross-country road trips (for the first one the boys were 18 months old and 3.5 years old). We had to get creative with road trip activities, especially that we don’t really allow the kids to watch TV in the car.

Here are our favorite road trip games for the family and the kids:

• License plate game: I love this game, especially when we travel to the USA where we see many different license plates. This is a perfect game for older kids since they need to be able to see outside the windows, but it’s a lot of fun and doesn’t require any material.

• Audiobook & Stories: We have a Spotify account and download many kids’ stories. We don’t have them on for the entire trip, but we put a few stories occasionally when we all need some quiet time.
• Smart Games: The kids received some Smart Games for Christmas this year and we are hooked. They are easy to pack for a road trip and kids can play alone. We have the Smart Games Jump In and the Smart Games Ghost Hunters.
• Drawings & Coloring: We always pack coloring books or sketchbooks, and the kids love drawings when we drive.

💡 PRO-TIP There are so many different kids’ car activities that can played by simply using everyone’s imagination skills. Of course, all those travel games for kids may require the parent’s participation (at least a little if your kids are the youngest, but older kids should be able to play alone).

1. Activity Booklets

There are TONS of activity books with mind games, riddles, and puzzles for your kids.

The hard part is that they don’t always keep the kids interested for as long as we want. Sometimes we can get a solid 45 minutes out of these booklets, but other times we get a few seconds of peace.

You might find that one of your kids naturally likes one type of activity (sudoku, crosswords, etc.) and your other kid likes another. Try to find the activity that matches your kids’ interests to pique their interest.

2. I (Eye?) Spy

I Spy is a classic for a reason (and I still think it makes just as much sense to spell it “eye spy,” for the record). There are no simpler games to play on a road trip than the I Spy game. This game also helps to hone your kids’ powers of observation.

How to play I Spy:

• The person choosing the object chants, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…” and then gives the first letter of the word they are thinking of.
• Everyone else tries to guess and the person who guesses correctly first takes their turn choosing an object.

How to adapt this road trip game for toddlers: Naming the color of the object instead of (or as well as) the first letter.

If you happen to be driving through an area with lots of wildlife, you could also try “I hear with my little ear” and crack out your best animal impressions, a great hit with toddlers.

👉 You can also purchase a I Spy travel card game to help your little ones with the game.

3. Rock Papers Scissors

Rock Papers Scissors is one of those fun games that your kids should be able to play together (and alone) as long as they sit relatively close.

How to play Rock-Papers-Scissors: The game is pretty simple. Each player will simultaneously do one of the three shapes (rock, paper, or scissors) with one of their hands.

• Paper beats rock
• Rock beats scissors
• Scissors beats paper

There are many other versions that can be played by adding a few extra shapes.

4. “I’m Going to a Picnic”

This game is another great fun car game for kids that requires no material.

How to play I’m Going to a Picnic: Whoever is starting gives a short list of things they are taking on their picnic, and everyone else tries to guess the rule that connects these objects.

Here’s a simple example. If I say, “I’m going to a picnic and I am going to take some eggs, some earplugs, and an éclair, you’d probably be able to guess pretty quickly that I’m only taking objects that begin with an “e”.

Of course, you can get creative with your rules. Perhaps every object at your picnic is round or has four letters in the word, or rhymes with a cat.

Players can also ask if an object would be allowed on the picnic to help them figure out the rule. Or the person in charge can give some examples of things that aren’t allowed.

Adapt the difficulty of the rules depending on the age of your kids.

5. Make Up Stories 

You don’t have to be a master storyteller to keep the kids entertained with some inventive tales. Some of the best stories come when you take turns adding bits and embellishing the details.

How to play Make Up Stories: You could try one-word stories, where each person says just one word, and you build the story together—the same works with single sentences too.

If the kids struggle to get inventive, you can handle the bulk of the storytelling but still leave plenty of opportunities for their input. Start with “once upon a time there was a giant…” and let the children fill in the gaps. Who knows where your imagination might take you?

6. Twenty Questions

Most of us have played this family classic game at one time or another, and it is an easy travel game for kids.

How to play Twenty Questions:

• One person thinks of an object, person, animal, or plant. It must be something everyone is likely to know about.
• Then, the others ask questions to help them determine what the person is thinking.
• The person can only respond with “yes” or “no”. The goal is for the others to guess the word correctly before they ask more than 20 questions.

In some versions of the game, the person specifies whether they are thinking of an animal, a plant, or a mineral (an inanimate object) before they start.

You can increase or remove the question limit if your kids get too frustrated or struggle to guess the word within the 20 questions.

7. Quiz Time

Quizzes are fun road trip activities for kids and are also a great way to slip a little learning into your trip.

We like to call them pop quizzes.

For the 2-6 age group, this works best if you give multiple-choice options and take it in turns to be the quiz master. Keep the questions age-appropriate – you want to stretch your kids but still make it fun by sticking to questions they will likely know the answers to.

If you are feeling organized, you can prepare some questions before you go so that you have them already to hand when boredom sets in on the road and the nagging for the iPad starts. There are also quiz cards available to buy if you need some help thinking of questions. This kid’s car activity is also a great way to start road schooling lessons.

8. Categories

This wordplay game is one the whole family can join in with and is a fun option for road trips. Your kids can pick a category and see how many things you can name within that category. Categories can be :

• types of fruit,
• countries,
• animals,
• colors, … – you can keep going for hours.

If you want to make it more challenging, set a time limit. Or you could go competitive and make each family member take a solo turn to see how many items they can name.

9. License Plate Game

This is an old-time favorite that you’ve likely played with your parents in the past. I won’t lie, it’s one of my favorite travel games to play. This one works best in the United States, though it could work through the Canadian provinces, too (it’ll just be a lot shorter).

The game is simple: look for license plates from states other than the ones you’re either currently in or coming from.

At any rate, everyone in the car should try to find as many license plates as possible until someone gets all 50. You can also play collectively if you have young kids since it will be harder for them to compete.

💡 PRO-TIP You can use this travel games for kids to start teaching your little ones about geography and teach them a little history about how modern North America is laid out (aaaaand from there, you can go into the history of the continent in whichever way you feel most comfortable).

10. Grocery Store

This is a twist on the classic “Alphabet Game.” In this version, you say you’re going to the grocery store and buying ingredients. You need to list out what you’re going to buy starting with the letter “A.” For example, the first person would say, “I’m going to buy an Apple.”

The next person repeats what was said and adds a new item with the next letter. In this case, it would be B. For example, the second person would say, “I’m going to the store. I’m going to buy an Apple and a Banana.”

And this memory game continues throughout the entire alphabet.

11. Would You Rather

You likely played this game in college, so you’ll want to make it more tame (and since you’re driving, probably without the beer). The game is easy to play: you give two terrible scenarios and ask someone to decide which one they would rather do.

For example, would you rather wear wet socks or a diaper for an entire week?

This game can get as silly as you’d like it to be.

💡 PRO-TIP: Set a number of questions each person will ask per “round.” So you can say, “everyone is going to give 3 scenarios we all have to answer.” Then, when the 3 turns are up, you can choose to start over or play another game.

12. Can You Name the Most

This is a fun road trip game even toddlers can play. Plus, it will help them build vocabulary and word associations. Have one person in the car choose a category. For this example, let’s say “superheroes.”

Now go around the car and everyone has to say a word related to superheroes in under 5 seconds. The first person who can no longer think of words closely associated with the category is eliminated.

The last person standing wins!

Remember, you don’t need to say exact superhero names. Instead, you can use words associated with heroes, like:

• Powers
• Flight
• Super speed
• Strength
• And so on…

The goal is to have fun, so don’t get too “nit-picky.”

💡 PRO-TIP Make one parent and official judge for this game, as siblings will probably fight over what counts as “closely associated.”

13. Movie/Song Quotes

In this game, everyone will think of their favorite quote from a movie or song. Start easy and make sure these are things your kids are familiar with. That said, you can get more advanced to try and trick your road partner, too.

For example, you would think of a quote like, “Man… there are just no jobs in this town. Yeah… unless you wanna’ work 40 hours a week!”

Which, of course, comes from the great cinematic masterpiece, Dumb & Dumber.

You’ll need to adjust the quotes you use depending on the age of your kids.

14. Fortunately/Unfortunately

I like to think of these travel games for kids as the “home stretch” activity. It’s when you have a stop coming up and your kids start feeling “antsy.” In this game, one person begins by saying, “Fortunately…” and describing a hypothetical situation that was really good.

For example, you could say, “Fortunately, there was a mistake at the factory, and all the broccoli in the world is going to turn into marshmallows.”

Then, the next person continues the story with “unfortunately.” In this case, they could say, “Unfortunately, these marshmallows also shrink you to 3 inches tall.

And you continue with the “fortunately/unfortunately” structure until everyone has had a few turns.

💡 PRO-TIP: When you reach the end, you can discuss your hypothetical situation and pose more questions. In this example, the ultimate question would be, “Would you still eat the marshmallows?”

15. The Rhyme Game

Here’s an easy one: someone in the car thinks up a word, and everyone has a maximum of 5 seconds to think of a word that rhymes when it’s their turn.

If someone gives duplicates or a word that doesn’t rhyme, they’ll be eliminated.

Again, this game is perfect for those awkward 10 minutes before reaching your destination or a quick distraction if one of your kids is starting to go into crisis mode.

16. New Rule

This is a great game for the oldest sibling and young kids who like the taste of power. Everyone in the car gets to think up a “new rule.” It can be anything (appropriate) and would be something like, “Every time we pass a Wal-Mart, you need to burp.”

I like to make this game the prize of another fun game.

So when a kid wins at another game we play, they get to invent a “new rule” that will last until we reach the final destination.

17. Yellow Car

Yellow car is a game that’s a classic twist on the old “Punch Buggie” or “Slug Bug.” Basically, you get to punch someone else in the car whenever you see a yellow car.

This game is fun because some places tend to have way more yellow cars than others. Emilie and I played while driving through Quebec, and I only got punched once or twice.

Then we played in California, and my arm looked like it had seen the wrong end of a fight with Mike Tyson.

18. Spelling Bee

You can recycle activities your kids do at school for the car. This one is great for helping your kids learn to spell.

Work from a list of age-appropriate words for your kids to spell. Have them take turns and see how many they can spell correctly.

Here’s a good list of spelling bee words around the kindergarten age-level that you can use if you need help thinking up words.

19. Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep kids occupied during a road trip. It’s another game that gets your kids paying attention to their surroundings while in the car.

This works best if you have a list prepared before you go. Combine things you are guaranteed to see, like a speed limit sign, with some that are less common, such as a specific make and color for a car.

You can use types of vehicles, buildings, and natural features in your list. Give each kid a copy – illustrate it with pictures so pre-readers can still join in. Leave space for each player to tick off objects as they see them.

If you like, you can turn it into a version of bingo and race to see who can complete their list first.

For those who don’t have time to make their own scavenger hunt, there are plenty of printable options available online. We’ve created a printable road trip game package that includes a scavenger hunt

20. Hangman

Another classic game, hangman, helps new readers practice new letters of the alphabet and spelling in a fun (and competitive) way.

All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. However, everyone playing will need to see the paper, so the driver will want to sit this one out.

How to play Hangman:

• The first person acts as the host. They think of a word and then mark out blank spaces for each letter.
• The players take it in turn to guess letters. If they get one right, the host fills in the letter wherever it appears in the word. If they get it wrong, the host marks the letter at the top of the paper and then draws one piece of the scaffold.
• The game continues until the players guess the full word or the host draws the full scaffold and the stick man hanging from it.

Of course, you may want to avoid images of death in a kids’ game, even if it is a stick man. You can make the game more child-friendly by drawing a snowman or a rocket blasting into space. Or you could draw a line of balloons and have one pop each time someone makes an incorrect guess.

You can increase or remove the question limit if you find your kids get too frustrated or struggle to guess the word within the 20 questions.

❤️ You may also like to read: The Best Road Trip Snacks

21. Squares

Best played with two people, this is an easy travel game to teach your kids and all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil or pen.

The object of the game is to make as many squares as possible. Start by drawing a dotted grid on your piece of paper. You can choose how big you make the grid – begin with three by three when you first teach the kids and it can grow from there.

The two players take turns to join two dots together by drawing a straight line between them. You can’t go diagonally.

When someone completes a square, they write their initials inside it and get a bonus go. The game ends when the whole grid is joined up. Then you count the number of squares each person has claimed to determine the winner.

22. Build a Cootie Catcher

I remember learning how to do this in second or third grade. It was never as popular for the boys in our class (though maybe that’s changed), but it did keep me busy on long car rides with my brothers, who were busy playing Yellow Car with me.

Typing out all the directions would do two things:

• Annoy me
• Help exactly 0% of the people reading this

Instead, here’s a great video tutorial 🙂 :

23. Make a Comic Book

I’ve noticed that my oldest son is super addicted to certain TV shows. But I realized it wasn’t necessarily the show he was in love with… it was the story.

He LOVES stories, and lately, we’ve been trying to encourage him to come up with his own. The car ride is a great time for kids to think up their own superheroes and draw their very own comic books.

You can stab some scrap pieces of paper together in advance or just have the kids work from individual pages. The comics will probably be silly, but they stretch the kids’ imaginations. Our son, for example, made a comic about aliens on a different planet at a park with slides that go “up” instead of “down.”

24. Draw What You See

The name pretty much says it all on this one! For long stretches of road around mountains, forests, rivers, oceans, lakes… anything… have the kids draw the landscapes they see as you go.

This doesn’t always work, but when kids get into the drawings, it can make a great coffee break for the parents.

25. Pictionary

This isn’t a game that the driver will be able to participate in, but you’re probably familiar with how it works.

One person draws something and the other must guess what it is. This works if you’re driving with more than one child or if one parent can participate safely.

👉 You can also purchase a Pictionary game to help your little ones with the game.

26. Audiobooks or Stories on Spotify

Reading their favorite stories aloud is a sure way to keep children entertained on a road trip.

Unlike watching videos or playing games on screen, listening to an audiobook allows their imagination to run wild as they picture all the scenes in the story. There’s a huge amount of choice out there for kids – search “stories for kids” on Spotify, and you’ll have plenty of options.

If your kids are a little older, they might also enjoy a factual podcast. There are several podcasts and audiobooks aimed at kids of kindergarten age that are both educational and entertaining. And you may be able to find some that are related to your road trip.

💡 PRO-TIP Don’t forget to download some stories before you head off in case you hit any areas without an internet connection during your journey, especially if you are planning to visit some national parks.

27. Drawing & Coloring

Drawing and coloring are great screen-free road trip activities for kids at any time. There is no reason you can’t embrace them while you are on your road trip as well.

Pack plenty of coloring pencils, crayons, paper, and coloring books to keep the children entertained in the car. If you are worried about the mess, choose pencils instead of pens and steer clear of paint, glue, and glitter.

It helps to get some trays and organizers so that the kids have somewhere to keep their art supplies while you are traveling. Plenty of inexpensive options and the tray is also useful if you are eating meals on the road.

We bought some craft trays from IKEA, and they work perfectly. For crayons, we opted for the twistable Crayola one, which is more robust and less messy.

28. Sticker Books

When you need a bit of peace and quiet, sticker books are brilliant for keeping kids occupied in the car. You can even get reusable ones that can be brought out repeatedly.

It is worth laying down some ground rules before you hand stickers over – they get stuck to the book, not the car, their siblings, or the family dog.

For younger kids, look out for stickers that are large enough that little fingers can peel the backs off without help from an adult. Some sticker books involve fragile or fiddly shapes, which will only lead to frustration when they inevitably rip.

👉 There are many sticker books options, but we love the Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pad.

29. Mazes and Puzzle Books

Mazes and puzzle books are easy to find and are an inexpensive way of keeping kids entertained on the road without resorting to screens.

Make sure you choose options suitable for your children’s ages, like this one from Amazon if for 4-8 years old. Word searches and verbal reasoning puzzles are great for those already reading, while pre-readers might like ones that ask them to join the dots, follow a wiggly line, or match pictures.

Again, there are also plenty of free printables available online, which you can print off before you get in the car. If you are feeling especially organized, you can laminate them and have your kids complete them with a wipeable marker so they can be reused.

👉 Buy Mazes and Puzzle Books on Amazon

30. Books

Never underestimate the power of a good book. Long car journeys are the perfect time to encourage your kids in their love of reading. 

Have plenty of engaging, age-appropriate books available for your journey. Even pre-readers can get involved by “reading” familiar picture books to themselves. Or enlist older siblings to read to them – this gives them a chance to hone their own reading skills while keeping their younger brothers or sisters entertained.

31. Mad Libs

This can be something you can prepare in advance or just buy a booklet for. Mad Libs aren’t only fun, but they also teach your kids about grammar and sentence construction.

If you’ve never played the game before, it’s easy. There’s a pre-written story with a few keywords missing. People in the car must supply the word based on its function in the sentence (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.).

You fill in the words with random selections and read the story when it’s over.

Here’s a great resource for building Mad Libs with your kids.

Final Thoughts on Fun Road Trip Games for Kids

This ends how the list of kids car activities. I hope it gave you enough ideas to feel ready to pack the car and leave on a road trip with your little ones. If you end up on the road using one of our road trip activities with your kids, please share your pictures on Instagram and tag us @lovelife_abroad.

I’ll be honest here, we don’t always entertain the kids in the car. We do lots of the fun games above, but we also ask them to entertain themselves a little along the way.