Counting Cows
This is one of the easy and free road trip games - You can play this game with cows, horses, mail
boxes, phone booths or really anything you will see on your trip.
Divide the car up into passenger side and driver side and set the time limit (i.e. play for each leg of the trip). Whichever side counts the most cows wins! If you find a field with many cows you better count fast!
If you pass a cemetery on your side you have to start again!
I Spy and 20 Questions
This was one of our favorites on our trips to Florida as kids.
One person looks around and picks out something to make the others guess - the "object". They then say: "I spy with my little eye something that is ..." It could be a colour or first letter of the name or anything that gives the guessers a clue. Objects must be able to be seen by all players. You can't choose something that whizzed by 10 minutes ago.
20 Questions:
This game can be played as a category (for example only geography or kids cartoon characters) or can be anything you can think of. The guessers now have "20 questions" to ask you. We usually play it where the answerer can only answer "Yes or No". Keep score and see who can stump the others the most!
Free Road Trip Games - Word Games
Geography Word Games
Start with a place anywhere in
the world - i.e. Ontario. The next person has to come up with another place in
the world that starts with the last letter - for example Oregon - then the next
person would be something like - Nebraska and so on. You may not use the same
place twice and it has to be a real place. Keep going until you can't think of a
place - chances are you will run out of time before you run out of places!
3 Ghosts
This was my dad's favorite when I was a child. Each person
starts with 3 Ghosts. You start with a letter (usually with a word in mind). For
example - A. Then the next person says a letter that makes up a word. For
example - U - then you continue on until you can't make up a work anymore.
If you can't figure out what word the person is trying to make then you can challenge the person that said the letter. If they can't come up with a word then they lose one ghost. If they do and you challenged them then you lose a Ghost. Once you have lost 3 Ghosts you are out. The one with the most Ghosts at the end of the time period or leg of the journey wins!
The Grocery Game
Similar to the Geography game but you think of items that you can get in the grocery store. The first person starts with "A" and says something like "Apples", next person has to come up with something you can buy at the grocery store that begins with "B" and so on.
Another way to play it is once the first person starts with "apples" then the next person has to come up with an item that starts with the last letter. For example the next letter would be "S" so I would say "soap". If someone can't think of something they are out.
Read a Book Aloud
If you can't think of anymore games for a road trip try reading a book aloud.
Choose a book and the member of the trip that is least likely to get car sick. Read the book aloud for all members of the car to hear.
If you don't want to read a book while the car is moving, download an audio book to your mp3 player or a CD and listen to it together. The Harry Potter series is a good one to entertain everyone.
If your participants or family members are a little older, why not learn a new language on route somewhere. One road trip to Florida we tried to learn Japanese - boy that was fun!
If you find that reading a book aloud makes you car sick then you can purchase audio books from Audiblebooks.com. (Over 100,000 audiobook titles for your iPod or MP3 player. Get 50% off your first 3 months at Audible - only $7.49/month! )
Popular Family Vacation ideas
Florida Vacation Guide
Fun adventures for the whole family. Amusement parks, beaches, resorts, what more could you ask for?
New York City
Central Park, shopping, Times Square, There are lots of fun attractions and things to do in New York City as a family. Check it out.
