“Are we there yet?” If you’ve ever traveled with children, chances are you’ve heard that phrase a time or two. On your next family vacation decrease the boredom and up the excitement with some of these great travel games for kids. You may even enjoy them, too!
Travel Bingo
In travel bingo, instead of numbers you look for landmarks or objects to fill in your bingo grid. If you’re feeling crafty, make some homemade bingo grids before your trip by drawing a 5×5 grid and filling each square with something you think you will end up seeing on your journey. Ideas to get you started could include: police car, fire truck, stop sign, and gas station. If someone sees one of the objects on their grid during the trip, they cross it off. The first person to get a line across horizontally or diagonally yells “Bingo” and wins!
The Alphabet Game
Are you interested in a travel game that doesn’t take up any additional packing space? The Alphabet Game can be played by two or more people and the rules are simple:
- Everyone looks for the letters of the alphabet in order from A to Z on signs, buildings, or even license plates.
- When someone sees a letter they’re looking for, they yell out the letter and the word they saw it in (like “C in Conoco!”). Only one person can use that letter from that sign or landmark.
- The first person to make it all the way through the alphabet wins!
If you want to take out the competitive aspect, the whole car can work together as a team to make it through the entire alphabet. This is a great option to involve younger ones who are still learning to spot letters and read.
Classic Card & Board Games
A deck of cards is a must-have for long family trips. Not only is it extremely affordable and small to pack, but there are tons of games for all ages. Teach little ones their first card game of Go Fish or Old Maid and introduce older kids to the games of War or Rummy. Of course, Solitaire is always a great option for solo play and can easily be downloaded as a free app for your mobile device.
In terms of board games, you may think that these would be way too difficult to bring and play while on the go. However, now many of the classics can be found in convenient travel versions that are great for the car or the plane! Here are some of our favorites:
Twenty Questions
Here’s another great game option that doesn’t require sacrificing any space in the suitcase. If you aren’t familiar with Twenty Questions, one person acts as the answerer while the other participants are the questioners. The answerer thinks of an object and the questioners take turns asking up to twenty questions aloud to try to determine the object the answerer is thinking of. The answerer may only respond to each question with yes or no. Questioners can guess the object at any time. If someone guesses correctly before twenty questions have been asked, then it is their turn to be the answerer. If no one guesses correctly, the answerer gets to remain in that position for another round.
Pen & Paper Classics
Some of the best games came be drawn up right on a piece of notebook paper and nowadays in our technology driven world, many of the classics are available as computer and smart phone games. If your kids haven’t learned any of these favorites, a trip is the perfect time to introduce them.
