Inside: Travel games for kids to help you survive any long journey. These travel games are quick, simple and easy to prepare. May you have safe and fun travels with your family!
Are you planning a family trip soon, but dread the journey because you aren’t sure how to entertain your kids? If you don’t want to rely on videos to keep your kids occupied, then you have come to the right place. I have 12 fun travel games for kids to help make the miles fly by quickly and smoothly. Half of these games do not require any preparation ahead of time. The other half requires some preparation, but it’s super quick and simple.
You can find all these travel games and other activities in The Children’s Busy Book by Trish Kuffner.
Travel Games That Require No Preparation
1) Twenty Questions
Directions:
- Designate one player (aka the thinker) to think of a person, animal or familiar thing to all the players.
- The other players (known as the guessers) take turns asking yes-or-no questions to help them guess the person, animal or thing.
- The thinker must keep track of the number of questions asked.
- Any guesser may try to guess the person, animal or thing on her turn.
- If she is right, she is the thinker for the next game.
- If she’s wrong, the guess counts as one question, and the game continues until someone guesses right or until 20 questions have been asked.
- If no one guesses right within 20 questions, the thinker reveals the person, animal, or thing and starts a new game by thinking of a different person, animal or thing.
Variation: If you like, distribute twenty counters (buttons, pennies, beans or paper clips) evenly among the guessers. As each guesser asks a question, she gives a counter over to the thinker. When the guessers run out of counters, the game is over.
2) Reverse Twenty Questions
Directions:
- Designate one player (the guesser) to cover his ears while the other players (the thinkers) think of a person, animal, or thing familiar to all the players.
- The guesser then uncovers his ears and asks a yes-or-no question to help her guess what the thinkers are thinking of.
- Choose one thinker to keep track of the number of questions asked.
- The guesser may try to guess the person, animal, or thing at any time.
- If he is right, he remains the guesser for the next game.
- If he is wrong, the guess counts as one question and the game continues until he guesses correctly or until he has asked 20 questions.
- If he doesn’t guess correctly within 20 questions, the thinker reveals the person, animal, or thing and a different player gets to be the guesser for the next game.
Variation: If you like, distribute twenty counters (buttons, pennies, beans or paper clips) evenly among the guessers. As each guesser asks a question, she gives a counter over to the thinker. When the guessers run out of counters, the game is over.
3) Grandmother’s Trunk
Directions:
- To begin the game, one player says, “I went to my grandmother’s trunk and I found a (coat).”
- The next player says, “I went to my grandmother’s trunk and I found a (coat and a hat).
- The players continue to take turns.
- On each player’s turn, they repeat the words already mentioned and add a new word to the list.
- Start a new game when the list becomes too difficult to remember.
Variation: To reinforce alphabet skills and make the list easier to remember, require players to add words in alphabetical order (antique, book, coat, and so on).
4) Word Race
This game is fun for talkative kids.
Directions:
- Choose a song, poem, or familiar nursery rhyme familiar to all the players.
- At your signal, have the first player sing or recite the song, poem, or rhyme as fast as she can.
- Time her by using a clock or a watch or by counting “one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”
- Let each player take a turn.
- Remember each player’s time and see who is the fastest “yakker.”
5) Cooperative Story
Directions:
- One player makes up the beginning of a story. For example, “One day a little girl was walking down the street when…”
- The player stops telling the story at any exciting or suspenseful moment and the next player adds to the story in the same way.
- The players take turns adding to the story, which will likely take some hilarious twists and turns.
- End the story when the players have grown tired of it.
6) Name That Rhythm
Directions:
- One player claps the rhythm of a familiar song or nursery rhyme, such as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or “Three Blind Mice.”
- The other players must guess what song she is clapping by listening to the rhythm.
- The player who correctly guesses the song gets to be the next clapper.
Travel Games That Require Some Preparation
7) How Big?
Materials:
- Six household objects
- Lunch bag
- One pencil and one sheet of paper per player
Directions:
- Before your trip, collect six household objects that come in standard sizes (such as a playing card, key, quarter, new pencil, fork and spoon) and put them in a lunch bag.
- During your trip, give each player a pencil and sheet of paper.
- Ask each player to draw the objects you have collected without looking at them.
- Compare the drawings with the objects to see which drawing is closest to each object’s actual size.
- The player with the greatest number of most accurate drawings is the winner.
8) Eggs in the Bush
Materials:
- Ten marbles or pennies per player
Directions:
- Each player takes a turn hiding one to five marbles or pennies in his hands.
- The other players guess how many items he is holding. Each player must guess a different number.
- The player who guesses correctly gets the hidden items.
- Each player who guesses incorrectly pays the hider in items the difference between the number of hidden items and the number guessed.
9) Odd or Even?
Materials:
- Ten marbles or pennies per player
Directions:
- Each player takes a turn hiding one to five marbles or pennies in her hands.
- The other players guess whether she is holding an odd or even number or items.
- After all players have guessed, the hider shows them the items in her hand.
- Players who guessed incorrectly must pay the hider one marble or penny each.
- Players who guessed correctly are paid one marble or penny by the hider.
10) Travel Bingo
Materials:
- One sheet of heavy paper or cardboard per player
- Markers (or magazine pictures and glue)
- Clear contact paper or plastic page protectors
- One dry-erase marker per child
Directions:
- Before your trip, prepare this travel game by making simple bingo cards. Draw a grid four squares by four squares on each sheet of heavy paper or cardboard.
- In each square, write words that represent things you may see as you drive or fly. For example, parking lot, cow, fence, flag and so on.
- For non readers, draw pictures or glue pictures cut from magazines or printed off from clip art online.
- Cover the completed bingo cards with clear contact paper or slip them into plastic page protectors.
- During your trip, give each player a bingo card and a dry-erase marker.
- Each time a player sees something described on her bingo card, she marks an X in that square.
- The first player to mark four squares in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row is the winner.
11) Magazine Scavenger Hunt
This is one of those travel games that is great for players of different ages and abilities, because the lists can be tailored to the players. A younger player may want to mark the pages on which he finds objects by turning down their corners. Very young players can search for colors rather than objects.
Materials:
- One old magazine per player
- One sheet of paper per player
- One pencil per player
Directions:
- Before your trip, leaf through each magazine.
- For each magazine, make a list of 15 objects pictured in it.
- Each list should be a separate sheet of paper.
- During your trip, give each player a magazine and its corresponding list.
- Each player must look through his magazine, hunt for the objects on his list, and write down the numbers of the pages on which the objects are found.
- To determine a winner, you can either time the game for 15 minutes and see who finds the most objects within that time or simply declare the first player who finds all his objects the winner.
12) Who Wants to Be a Genius?
Materials:
- Five index cards per player
- Pen or pencil
- Children’s trivia games or trivia questions found online
- Supply of prizes like coins, marbles, playing cards, small toys, markers, books, and snacks. You will need a maximum of 15 prizes per player.
Directions:
- Before your trip, write a question that your children should be able to answer on each index card. Good sources of questions are the Parker Brothers game Trivial Pursuit Junior, the Brain Quest games by Workman Publishing Company or websites with trivia questions like Sign Up Genius.
- During your trip, choose the first contestant, then choose an index card and ask the question on it.
- If she answers correctly, she wins a prize and her stakes jump to two prizes for each question.
- Add another prize to the stakes for each question she answers correctly.
- Ask her a total of five questions, then choose another contestant and ask questions and award prizes in the same way.
- After each child has had a turn as a contestant, end the game and let your kids enjoy their prizes.
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