ANIMAL VEGETABLE OR MINERAL (20 QUESTIONS)
recommended age 8 and above

Someone thinks of an object that falls under the category of animal,
mineral, or vegetable and then tells the other players which group it is in. The players then take turns asking questions that can be answered with a YES or
NO. For example, if the object is a marble its made from glass so its mineral, and the questions might go...'Is it alive?'... 'No'
'Can I use it?'... 'Yes'
'Is it useful?'...'No'
'is it small?'...'yes"
'Can I play with it?'...'Yes'
'Is it a marble?' 'Yes'
After 20 questions everyone has one last go and then its the next persons turn to choose something


MAKE UP A STORY
recommended age 8 and above

Someone starts with a sentence about absolutely anything...ie. PLAYER 1 Charlie was walking along the street when out of the corner of his eye he saw something that made his blood freeze. PLAYER 2 He saw an ice cream van and ran to order a 99. The next person has to follow on with their own sentence that may or may not be what player one had intended. We have had huge fun with this game where one child has been determined to make the story a horror whereas another child has wanted to make it a humor / romance...let the battle commence!


A to Z GAME
Fine for all children who know their alphabet

This is a game of speed and observation. Everyone looks around them and has to find the letters of the alphabet from A-Z in order. Only one person can have any one letter (if there is a P on a signpost only one person can have it) so there is a lot of shouting to stake the claim! Letters can be found on number plates, billboards, road signs, place names etc etc. The winner is the first to Z.


COUNTRIES
recommended age 8 and above

Someone starts by choosing a country ie. France. The next person must
name a country whose name begins with the last letter of the previously
named country. In this case the last letter of France is E, so the next person must name a country beginning with E, ie England then Denmark until someone gives up. This game could work with any subject from animals to pop stars!


NAME GAME
recommended age 6 and above

Choose a subject such as girls names and everyone has to give the name of a girl in alphabetical order ie Alyson, Betty, Carol etc. When you get to Z go back to A again. Players drop out as they can't think of anything and the winner is the last one in.


ALPHABET MEMORY GAME
recommended age 8 and above

The first person starts with the letter A and says
'A is for (choose a word beginning with A)
Player 2 then says 'A is for (choose a word beginning with A)
B is for (choose a word beginning with B)
This continues down the alphabet until at Z the player needs to remember all the letters and the things attached to them from A-Z.
The winner is the last person to do it correctly.

WORD ASSOCIATION
recommended age 4 and above

One person starts off with a single word eg. dog, the next person has to say the first word they think of related to dog eg. animal, the next person the first word they think of connected to animal eg donkey, and so on until you get completely stuck. You can also play this game by remembering the words that have gone before and if anyone repeats one they are out.
This is very good for lateral thinking

SILLY MESSAGES
recommended age 6 and above

Take turns calling out five letters in any order, such as 'E, H, A, S, and W.' All players write them down. Then everyone gets a few minutes (or a few miles) to figure out a silly message about an animal using the letters to start words. For example, with the letters above you could write 'Emus have a silly walk'. After you've taken turns reading your messages, another person calls out a new set of letters.

LICENSE PLATE NUMBERS
recommended age 6 and above

Make phrases with the car registration numbers e.g. WWW 435D could be Wierd Wooly Wombats.

CATEGORIES
recommended age 6 and above

Decide on a category. Starting with the person behind the driver each player has to name something in that category. As each player can't think of something new they drop out of the game. The winner is the last person left. Categories can include: trees, flowers, animals, colours, etc

 

The cloud image game was one of my favorites when I was young and the panoramic sunroof will come in handy for this, but not necessary. What you do is name images you see in the clouds and make up stories, if possible involving several cloud formations. For example, I see a cloud that looks like a man on a horse. It is changing to a dragon.....

 

Travel Scavenger Hunt

Give each child a list of items to watch for while driving. Check of each item when they find it. The list can be made up ahead of time and adjusted for the scenery. For a younger child who can't read, you might draw a little picture of each item next to the word so they will know what to look for.
Here are a few examples of items to hunt for:

school
flashing traffic light
food store
someone on a bike
statue
church
playground
flower garden or
snowman
pickup truck
WalMart
Person walking
a dog
Rural
silo
cows
railroad tracks
pond or lake
dirt road
tractor
gas station
horses
oil pump
barn
deer

 

haha, there are some great suggestions in there.

I used to play a version of the name game with my parents and sisters whenever we went on long car rides. We had to have a persons name, a city or place where the live, an occupation and a favorite food. Around X, you have to get very creative

 

When we were kids, our favorite game was "See this line?"

Here is how it is played. . .

One child chooses a seam in the upholstry of the rear seat and claims this as the boundary of his/her territory (preferably an unequal division of back seat territory).

"See this line? Cross it and you're dead meat!"

When any part of the second child's body crosses that line, the first child bruises the thigh of the second child with a brutal Charlie horse.

The winner of the game is the child who is able to inflict the most pain on the other sibling. Both children are losers if they make such a scene that Dad threatens (or actually does) to pull the car over to the side of the road for spankings.

 

I'm sure that would make for a peaceful ride.

 

MINI Car Bingo would be an obvious suggestion.

Aunt Mary had the game "Let's see who can be the quietest" on rural Ohio trips. The prize was a stick of gum. Amazing how well it worked.

 

This is going to sound stupid at first, but you will be amazed at the things you come up with.

Name something made with leather!

No explanation needed, but you will shock yourselves with how many things there are made with leather in this world.

 

hmmmm. not so sure most of the ones i can think of would be a good idea to share with kids....

 

I guess the leather game goes right along with my "See this line?" game.

If it wasn't for those wonderful memories of travelling game induced roadside spankings with a leather belt, I don't think I would enjoy leather half as much as I do as an adult. .

 

Punch Buggy (also called Slug Bug)!

The first to spot a VW Beetle (new or old) gets to punch the other person. It then falls to the one that was punched to try and spot the next Bug to be able to avenge themselves for the previous hit, lest they get socked again. Given the relative sparseness of Beetles, it makes for an interesting game of observation (with the chance of spotting something truly interesting along the way).

For additional mayhem, once near the Dragon, change the game to 'Punch Mini'.

 

Oh, Yucca, you so kinky!

 

Forgive me everyone. I seem to have taken a nice little thread down a dark and curvy road. . .