Great Road Trip Games and Activities

Summer means time for road trips, but also logging many hours along the way. Whatever form of transportation you’ll be embarking on, it’s always good to have some form of entertainment to bring along with you. We’ve compiled some games and activities to help make your traveling experience fun and educational.

Movies

If you have a car that plays DVDs or you are bringing a laptop on your journey, we’ve put together a list of great movies for teaching American history. We’ve also reviewed the educational value and appropriateness of popular movies.

Coloring Pages

If you visit our worksheet page you’ll find printable stories and coloring pages to keep your child busy, as well as sight words to practice recognition.

Netflix

Not all movies need to be physical copies, and Netflix is a great alternative for those that have an internet connection on their trip. We’ve compiled a list of some great resources for learning that are all available through Netflix.

Create Your Own Stories

We’ve created these wacky stories for your child to complete and color in. Read them out loud to see what outrageous things can be created. We’ll continue to update the list and share them on our Facebook page.

Apps

Educational apps are a great way to stay engaged for a while. While there are millions of apps to choose from we’ve aggregated some of the best here:

Crafts and Games

There are many crafts that travel well featured in our crafts section. These activities are engaging and will keep your kids busy. Many of these activities can be created with things you have around the house.

Reading & Writing

Reading is the time-tested, parent-approved all around best educational activity. Grab a book from our reading lists: Kindergarten-4th, 5-8th, High School. Or, take along pen and paper for your child keep a journal of your adventure, or write a short story along the way. If your child loves to write but can’t think of what they want to write about, choose one of these 10 writing prompts to get them started. You may consider sharing it on our What’s Your Story page, where we often host contests for the best submissions.

Classics

Don’t forget these classic favorite road trip games:

I spy – ‘I spy, with my little eye something…” you know the rest. Look for things in or around the car and give an adjective: spiky, blue, dirty. Everyone examines the area around them to try and spot it.
20 questions – Someone thinks of a person, place or thing. Everyone asks ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions and takes guesses as to what it is. Whoever gets it right gets to pick next.
Count the American Flags – a group game, where everyone places a wager on the amount of American flags they’ll see on their journey. Keep a running total of every flag, and the person guessed closest wins.
License plate games – Who can spot the most obscure license plate. With a map app, find out who spotted the one furthest away.
ABC game – Find the entire alphabet. The only rule is it needs to be outside the car. No label reading!

If you didn’t see your favorite activity or game to play in the car be sure to include it in the comments and include the rules.

Image via flickr has been modified from its original CC BY 2.0