Road trips are a fun way for the whole family to vacation while not missing a single mile between home and your destination. Road trips, whether across a state or across the country, give you the opportunity to get a sense of the landscape and environment as you travel. While staring at the passing sky and the sights around you can be relaxing, boredom can set in, especially when traveling with children. Divert attention with some fun road trip games before the whining and irritation of a long car ride sets in.
Traditional diversions like board games are difficult to deal with on the road due to the unstable nature of most vehicles. Instead, the best games are frequently very simple, requiring only a pen and paper or a good memory. Avoid overly complicated games to avoid spending several hours looking for game pieces under the seats.
While traveling, many people enjoy playing word games. You can, for example, take a story and cut key words from each sentence. Players fill in the blanks without reading the story by selecting answers that correspond to the parts of speech of the missing words, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The laughter usually starts when “Mary had a little lamb” becomes “Mom had a gigantic baboon.” These games are enjoyable for both adults and children, and they are an excellent way to teach children about language and speech parts.
Mental games that require memorization can also be beneficial in the car. Each player must add an item to Grandma’s trunk in “I’m packing Grandma’s trunk.” After that, the next player must repeat all of the previous items in order before adding their own. This is a game in which families collaborate to make the longest and silliest list possible. If younger players get stuck, give them hints and emphasize that the game is a team effort rather than a competition.
Long drives across the United States provide excellent opportunities for road trip games that can even serve as a permanent record of your journey. Keep a camera handy or give each participant an inexpensive disposable camera for the license plate hunting game. Attempt to photograph license plates from each of the 50 states, or at least each state you pass through, as you travel. Make an album or collage of these at the end of the trip as a living memory of your trip and how you avoided boredom along the way.
More than anything else, road trip games necessitate a sense of humour and a willingness to be silly. Games can help bring families together through laughter, while also serving as a great diversion from sibling squabbles or breaking the tension after a family fight. An arsenal of fun, car-friendly games can make a trip truly memorable, and even the family members who consider themselves to be too cool are often drawn into the fun.