Games to Play in the Car
Games to Keep Small Minds Active on Long Trips
Three fun and easy games that require nothing but your brain for playing in the car (or anywhere else you need to entertain bored children).
Keep the children entertained and bring the family closer together when on a long car ride or while waiting at the airport; play one of these simple and fun word games to make vacation more tolerable.
Play Categories
This is a fun game that can be adjusted to suit the age of the child. A category is selected and all the players take turns naming objects in that category. For example, the category could be ‘things that fly’ the players could list things such as birds, planes, time, kites, etc.
For small children simply list things until they can’t think of more items or until they grow bored, then select a new category. For older children, players will drop out when they can’t think of anything new for the category. The last person who can name an item is the winner.
Play the Name Game
The first player gives the name of someone well known, the second player uses either the first name or last name of the person to name a different person, the next person would name a new person off the previous name and so on. For example, the first player might start with George Burns, the next player may call out George Washington, which may lead to Denzel Washington and so on. When a player can’t generate a name, he drops out. Play the game until one player is left.
Name Game for Younger Children or Those Learning the Alphabet
Pick a category such as animals or flowers. The first player names an item and the next player picks another item in that category that starts with the last letter in the first players choice and so on. For example, the category might be animals. The first player chooses cat, the second says tiger, the third says rat and so on.
Play The List Story Game
This game is a great way to boost the memory. Start a story about someone going somewhere (it is nice to relate the story to what you are doing). The person who starts the story lists an item that the subject of the story is bringing with them. The next person continues by repeating the first item and adding a second item. The third person repeats the list adding a third item and so on. As the list grows longer, players will drop out when they can no longer repeat the list in the correct order.
For example, the first player could start the story by saying “Jane and her family are going to visit their Grandma, Jane brings a potato with her.” The second player would repeat “Jane and her family are going to visit their Grandma, Jane brings a potato with her.” and then adds another item to the list “and a water bottle with her.” The third player would repeat “Jane and her family are going to visit their Grandma, Jane brings a potato with her a water bottle, and a stuffed unicorn.” The game would continue in that way.
