Summer brings a whole new world of camp, pool time and family travel. We know many of you will be hitting the road with your kiddos this summer and we know that keeping everyone entertained can be torturous at times!
We put together a list of some road trip activity ideas to give you some ideas to help your kids pass the time and have fun while they’re doing it! (And hopefully give you some peace too!)
1) The A to Z game. It’s a classic from when we were kids but it helps to pass the time when you look on street signs and license plates and have to find each letter of the alphabet in order.
2) Along the same lines, the Geography game. Someone starts by naming a place. For example, “New York.” The next person has to then name a place that starts with the letter K, because that’s what New York ends up with. It’s a good time killer, plus it’s educational! My kids now know of many random cities and countries around the world from this game.
3) Same concept – the Rainbow Game. Find something red, then orange, then yellow, etc. Sometimes we make it harder but saying we need 10 red things first, 10 orange, and so-on.
4) Buy some Dry Erase Markers and let them go to town on the windows. My kids have loved doing this in the past – it almost feels a little *naughty* to them to be able to just draw on the car walls so that element adds a bit of fun to it! We love this idea from Kiwi Crate to bring along an old mitten too so they can erase and re-draw. (We bet an old sock would work too)
5) Road Trip Bingo. You can buy pre-made cards like these on Amazon, or download and print your own. There are an endless supply of free downloadable of these all over the Internet!
6) Spot It! On the Road. My family loves Spot It! and we’ve played other versions but this road trip themed version would be fun too.
7) The License Plate Game. We’ve spent years doing this! It’s especially fun when you have a multi-day or multi-state trip at least. Try and find all 50 states in license plates. (It’s always so fun when you find Hawaii or Alaska!!) You can mark it down on your own piece of paper or a book like this License Plate Sticker Book from Amazon is a cheap and fun option too.
8) Order a Kiwi Crate or two. We’re huge fans of these in our house – these boxes each come with a surprise craft or cool activity. You can select boxes based on ages and interests of your child.
9) Get them each a clipboard and print out a ton of printables. New pencils or pens too. My kids love having the clipboard and they go through different activity sheets when they are bored! (Here are some cute printables: Travel Memory Game from Crayola, Fun Games & About My Trip Sheets from Salt and Pepper Moms)
10.) Get them a journal or an inexpensive notebook (think Dollar Store!) where they can jot down ideas and notes about their trip. Crayons and special colored pencils would make this more fun too as they could decorate it however they like.
Good luck on all your family adventures this summer – we hope this has been helpful to you!
Related – this is an update to a post Whitney wrote in 2014 with similar road trip ideas (some different too so click through for more ideas!)
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