Long journeys with children can be a daunting prospect, but not when you have a list of games to play in the car ready to deploy when the ‘are-we-nearly-there-yets?’ start being said from the back seat.
Whether you’re setting off for the Scottish Highlands, or leaving behind the city for the coast of Cornwall, these family car games will help make the journey bearable and even, dare we say it, enjoyable.
We’ve picked out our top fun games to play in the car; some you’ll no doubt know from your own childhood memories, while others are a twist on a traditional favourite. So, next time you’ve got a long journey planned, make sure you have this list of car games for kids to hand.
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Pub cricket
This game is best played when driving along A and B roads as opposed to the motorway as you will be more likely to spot pubs.
If you’re looking for games to play in the car with kids over 6, this one requires a bit of thought, maths, and concentration! Spot pubs to win ‘runs’, and the more ‘legs’ in the pub’s name, the more runs the player gets. Let us explain…
Equipment needed:
Pen and paper is useful for scoring, but not essential
How to play:
Players take turns to ‘bat’ and when batting, any pubs that you pass translate into ‘runs’ (depending on the number of legs in the pub’s name). For example, a pub called The Three Pigeons would give the batsman 6 runs. A pub with no legs (e.g. The Ship Inn) would give no runs.
The batsman collects runs until they pass a pub which has either ‘Arms’ or ‘Head’ in the title, e.g. The Chichester Arms. They are then ‘out’, and the next player begins to collect runs.
If a pub has a plural in the name but doesn’t specify how many, you assume that there are two, for example, The Bakers (4 runs).
The winner is the player with the highest number of runs when you reach your destination.
Matt and Ellie play pub cricket on their way to their holiday cottage. Ellie begins and they pass The Fox (4), The Oak Tree (0), Coach and Horses (8 points because we assume two horses and no passengers) and the King’s Head – Ellie’s turn ends with 12 points.
It is Matt’s turn to bat, and they pass The Crown and Anchor (0), The Red Lion (4), The Three Horseshoes (0) and The Carpenter's Arms - Matt is out with 4 points.
Ellie and Matt continue to take turns and add up their scores until a winner is declared!
Car pool
Ideal for the motorway, this car game can be played with cars either going in the opposite direction or in other lanes of the same direction.
This is a great choice if you’re looking for easy car games to play with young children as it’s based on spotting cars of different colours.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
To play this simple game, children must first pick a common car colour, e.g. red, and then spot seven cars of that colour followed by a black one. If they or their opponent spots a white car, then the game switches to another player.
The winner is the person who ticks off their seven cars and one black car without a white car interrupting play.
I Spy
A game which has alleviated boredom for many generations, I Spy is a simple, yet addictive activity to enjoy with two or more people. Save it for a scenic route, preferably with an open landscape where things are visible for quite a while to allow spotting time!
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
The first player begins by saying ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…’ and names the first letter of something they can see out their window, for example, ‘B’ for ‘bridge’.
Other players take turns to guess what the first player has spotted, naming objects that they can see with the same first letter until the correct answer is guessed (eg. Bird, bench, bale of hay etc.) The more obscure the spied object, the better!
This game can be adapted for younger children , by using the phonetic sound, instead of the letter names – for example, ‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with eh’ instead of E. Or, simpler still, spy something of a certain colour - 'I spy with my little eye, something that's blue'.
Roadside bingo
This popular activity been given a road-themed makeover to turn it into an easy game to play in the car. It’s a great one for encouraging observation and drumming up a little healthy competition within the family.
Simply print the bingo boards, pop them in the glove box and pull them out when needed. Why not laminate the boards and use with a dry wipe marker? With six unique boards, the players can swap between themselves for hours of reusable fun!
Equipment needed:
Roadside Bingo Cards
How to play:
Made up of common road signs, players cross off the road signs that they see along the journey. The first person to get a row across, down or diagonally wins.
Keep the boards in the car and carry on looking for road signs until they are all crossed off - the first person to spot them all and shout BINGO is the ultimate winner!
Guess the colour
This is another fun car game for young children involving colour and a little guesswork. It’s best played on a road where the flow of traffic isn’t constant, as the gaps between cars give you time to place your guesses.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
Wait until there are no oncoming cars visible, for example as you go round a bend, and then everyone should quickly shout out what colour they think the next car will be.
For each correct guess, players are awarded one point, and you can play as many rounds as you like!
Yellow car
This is an oldy but a goody, and as easy car games go, they don’t get much easier than this! It involves keeping your eyes peeled for yellow cars at all times and shouting out loudly when you spot one.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
First, it’s important to define what you’re going to accept as a yellow car – are you going to allow vans and other modes of transport to count, or will it be cars only? Next, you will probably want to define the colour yellow – gold shouldn’t count, and neither should cars with yellow accents, or less than 50% yellow. Finally, decide on the reaction to a yellow car – shouting out 'yellow car' is one option, or tapping the opponent on the arm! Once a yellow car has been spotted, the same car cannot be used again.
A series of unfortunate events
Unlike the family car games above, this fun activity doesn’t involve spotting things outside, but instead involves some innovation and imagination. Give it a go and it’s sure to get everyone giggling.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
Take it in turns to add a sentence to the story, starting with either ‘unfortunately’ or ‘fortunately’, for example, ‘Unfortunately, a lion is going to attack us...’ followed by ‘Fortunately, I took lion taming lessons!’. The sillier the statements, the funnier the story!
Alphabetise
The options for this game are endless and will encourage learning too. It puts your knowledge of car makes/models to the test, so it’s a good one if you’re looking for something to keep older kids engaged.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
Beginning with the letter A, take turns to think of a brand of car starting with the next letter of the alphabet, for example Audi. A model of that car then has to be spotted before moving on to the next letter (B for BMW, C for Chevrolet...etc.). If you can’t think of a car (or spot one) for a letter of the alphabet, that letter can be skipped, but you must find either a second brand for the letter before or the letter after, so if you can’t think of a car beginning with E then you could instead find two Fords (shouldn’t be hard!).
The shopping list game
A memory game at its most basic, the shopping list game will keep you occupied for a good long time on a car journey. It’s trickier than it sounds to remember a list, especially as it grows longer and random items are added by players trying to throw off their opponents.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
The first player begins by reciting ‘I went to the shops to buy…’ and adding on whatever item they like, for example ‘a coat’. The next player continues: ‘I went to the shops to buy a coat and some fish’. Then the next player: ‘I went to the shops to buy a coat, some fish and a spade’.
The list grows and grows, with each player having to remember one more than the last. The winner is the last person who correctly recites the list without forgetting anything. Everyone else in the car should be listening out to pick up on errors!
Would you rather?
This fun game to play in the car has a tendency to get more and more obscure as imaginations run wild! It’s a great car game if you’re travelling with friends, as you can get to know them better and find out what makes them tick. There are no winners or losers, and the questions can be adapted for anyone from 4 to 104!
One of the best things about this game is that it gets you talking and justifying your answers – there will undoubtedly be disagreements, but that’s all part of the fun!
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
Take it in turns to ask each other ‘would you rather…’ questions. For example, would you rather go on a skiing holiday or a beach holiday? Make it even more interesting by giving two equally unpleasant choices, for example ‘would you rather sit in a bath full of slugs, or a bath full of horse manure?’ The questions can cover any topic; the more outrageous, the better!
Categories
This game can be super challenging and gets more difficult as play progresses. It is a good car game for kids as it encourages them to expand their vocabulary on different topics and lightly touches on spelling.
Equipment needed:
None
How to play:
Choose a topic, for example ‘animals’ and then start play by saying an animal beginning with A. The next player must say an animal beginning with B and so on. You can make it slightly trickier by saying an animal beginning with the last letter of the previous animal, to avoid players planning their answers in advance.
An easier version of the game is to allow players to say any animal, regardless of the first letter. Whichever iteration you choose, repetition of words is against the rules, and play stops when the next player can’t think of a word. If you want to be ruthless, you can limit the thinking time to 5 seconds!
Other categories could be ‘food’, ‘countries’, or even ‘things you find in the classroom’. The possibilities are endless, so this game can last the whole car ride, or at least until you all get bored!
Plan your next holiday
Put these road trip games into action on your next holiday! Book an adventure to one of our family holiday cottages and you’ll have plenty of time to try out some of these car games for kids. Make sure you take a break from the road with a stop at one of the best service stations in the UK.
With so much fun to have on the journey, you’ll be settling in to one of our fabulous holiday cottages before you know it! When you arrive at your destination and are looking for something else to keep the little ones engaged, try our printable Countryside Treasure Hunt or Beach Treasure Hunt!
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