Take a Twist on Old Road Trip Games

We've all played games on long road trips like the alphabet game where you race to find the letters of the alphabet in order. But try a new twist, such as finding the numbers from 0-100. It can prove to change things up a bit.

Another game is where you think of names of things like animals or people then you try to come up with another name from the last letter of the previous one given. For example elephant - tiger - rhino, etc. Make it more interesting (and educational) by thinking of different categories like state names, cities, landmarks, things on a map, etc.

Many traditional car games can be spiced up without much extra effort. If you have any suggestions or ideas feel free to share them with others in the comments below.

Website Review ~ Family Fun

Website: familyfun.go.com

Appropriate for ages: 5-13

Helps with: Traveling

Review: This is a great site for more fun things to do in the car. You can print puzzles like mazes, word searches, find the differences, etc. Everything is really pretty and eye catching, but it may eat up some of your color ink in the process. Over all, I think it would be worth it.

Website Review ~ String Figures

Website: http://alysion.org/figures/main.htm

Appropriate for ages: 7-13

Helps with: Following Directions

Review: This is a site that teaches kids how to make shapes with string like Jacob's ladder, cup and saucer, crow's feet, etc. It also teaches how to play Cat's Cradle. I like this website because the illustrations are clear and simple to follow. I have seen many kids (girls especially) get so excited when they learn a new string trick. This may be a great activity to work on during a long road trip.

Website Review ~ Car Games

Website: Mom's Minivan Printable Games

Appropriate for ages: 5-14

Helps with: Traveling

This is a great site for finding games to play in the car. I am going to post the links to several printable games.

The Dot Game (Where you take turns drawing a line to make squares)

Tic Tac Toe

Car scavenger hunt for big kids

Car scavenger hunt for little kids

Battleship (with instructions)

Battleship (with more game boards instead of instructions)

List of states (to mark off which license plates you see)

Silly song lyrics

Website Review ~ Car Bingo

Website: Roadside Bingo
Car Bingo

Appropriate for ages: 5-14

Helps with: Traveling

I used these Bingo boards with teens on a 10 hour trip last summer. I think that they can be fun for all ages who want to play. The links include 2 kinds of bingo boards. The first one is things that you would see on the side of the road. The other is different kinds of vehicles you may see as you travel. It is a mess to use bingo chips, pennies, etc. to mark what you have found. I suggest you just print off enough that you can mark things off with a pencil or pen instead of trying to reuse boards.

Obviously, you don't want everyone to have identical boards. Each of these games comes with 4 kinds of boards. I have included the links to the first ones. When you open them, look way up at the top and you will see an arrow that says "Next Card" by it. Click there to find the other 3 boards. Make sure you print a variety. If you have more than 4 players, you can work as teams or give a couple people matching boards. Chances are they won't see things exactly the same way so it will not be a problem.

 

Check Out Your Library

Now is the time to find out what your library offers. The summer will be upon us soon! Many libraries offer programs that you may be interested in such as:

• Summer Reading contests/programs
• Kids' programs
• Book Mobile - Some libraries offer a book mobile that travels around the area for people who cannot make it to the actual building. You can order books on-line and then pick up them up close to your house on the book mobile. You can also return books to the book mobile.
• Movies - Many libraries are now loaning new movies. You usually can only keep them for a few days. (Think Block Bluster, but often it's free.)
• Audio books - These could be an alternative to CONSTANT movie watching on a road trip.
  

For more information ask your librarian or look on their website to see what your library is offering this summer.