Fun Free Games for Kids & Adults in the Car

Enhancing Road Trips With 20 Questions, 51 Ways, and Geography

Aug 30, 2009

While more and more vehicles are being equipped with movie players, don't forget to spend a little bit of time enjoying road trips together by playing fun games.

Driving in a car together as a family can be a lot of fun. With the introduction of DVD players in vehicles, many hours of driving are becoming stress-reduced as the kids sit back with a drink, snack, and pair of headphones.

Many families are utilizing this TV time as a means to enhance their children's education by mixing up fun movies from Nickelodeon and Disney with those of the LeapFrog series, Blue's Clues, and episodes from the Discovery channel.

Another dimension to such trips should also include family interaction through games. A few that are always a big hit are 20 Questions, 51 Ways, and geography.

20 Questions Get Kids and Parents Thinking

This game that was once a popular radio and television show in the United States has a main premise of using deductive reasoning to find a solution.

On one side there are questioners, who are trying to find the solution, and on the other side is the answerer, who holds it.

The answerer's main objective is to stump the questioners. This is done by thinking of something the answerer thinks the questioners will not know. Initially, like many games, the first round or two may seem slow, but after a few rounds with people asking silly questions, and answerers having solutions to match, a good time is often had by all.

51 Ways Gets the Creative Juices Going

Many people are not familiar with this game, but it is as simple as 20 Questions, and can be just as much fun.

In 51 Ways, players come together as a team all taking turns in figuring 51 different ways common objects can be used. For example, a sock can be used to:

As the team strives for 51, the game can be become very funny, and the laughing can become so much it hurts.

Another version of this game is similar to the game Boggle. In this secondary version, players write as many ways as they can for an object to be used, eliminating common answers, and seeing who has the most points in the end.

Geography Games are a Great Supplement to Social Studies Lessons

Geography games are fun and can be used to find cities, states, provinces, or nations. A popular version involves players naming an area starting with the final letter of the previous answer.

For example, if a family was playing a game naming countries and the first player named Czech Republic, then the next player would have to name a nation starting with the letter C, because Czech Republic ends with a C.

If the next player named China, then the following player would have to name a country that begins with the letter A, because China ends with A. A round could start as follows:

Playing games together helps families have fun, pass time, get creative, and maybe even learn a thing or two. Sometimes the learning is about different places on the globe; other times it can be about strange things the children (or parents) think can be done with common household objects; and almost every time, families learn some things about each other, and that makes spending time together all the more fun.

The copyright of the article Fun Free Games for Kids & Adults in the Car in Kids Games is owned by Christopher Pascale. Permission to republish Fun Free Games for Kids & Adults in the Car in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.