Something I hear all time from dads is that they dread going on family vacations. Their kids are bouncing off the walls, or complaining the whole time, and drive them to their ends wit. We have all been there or witnessed those families that are fighting and dragging their kids around in an almost frantic desperate attempt to have fun. I don’t want you to be in that situation when you go on vacation. Something that I have found traveling with four kids is you have to have A LOT of things to keep them occupied. That means bring plenty of games and snacks and triple whatever you think you need. Below I have compiled a list with the help of my daughter of 15 FREE fun games to play while traveling.
1. License Plate Game
The License Plate Game is a simple game that will keep your kids engaged. My kids played this game on our first long road trip and they had a blast. Our goal was to try and get every State on the trip.
I have included a free download of the License Plate game. Just print it off and have your kids look for license plates from every state. You could have fun with it and give bonus points for certain states. On top of that they could also keep track of how many plates they see from certain states. Try to find creative things like that to keep them engaged.
2. I Spy
I Spy was one of my favorite games to play while traveling as a kid. I would play with two or more people and we would spy things in the car. One person would choose something like the seat belt buckle. Then the other person would have to guess what it is by saying things like, “is it blue”. You had to ask yes or no type of questions. Once you guessed “it” then it was your turn to pick something and the other person had to guess it.
Another way that you can play I Spy is with a free downloadable I Spy sheet that I included below. On the sheet there are different pictures. As you travel your kids will look for the pictures on the sheet and mark them off as they see them. You could bring prizes in the car for the first one to find everything on the sheet.
3. Alphabet Game
The alphabet game was my favorite game as a kid and is one of my kids favorite games. It’s super easy to play and doesn’t require any paper. What you do is try to find the alphabet on road signs. You have to find the letters in order of the alphabet. For instance if you see a speed limit sign you can’t say you got “s”, “p”, “e” and so on depending on what letter you need next. The only other rule is you can only get one letter per sign. The first person to complete the alphabet is the winner.
4. Tic Tac Toe
Don’t count out the classics. My kids love to play Tic Tac Toe. I believe that pretty much everyone knows how to play Tic Tac Toe, but just in case you don’t know how to play here is how it goes.
There is a 9 square 3X3 grid and the object of the game is to get three in a row. You can get the three in the row up, down, or diagonal. One player uses an “X” to mark their box and the next player uses an “O”. If you no when wins then the “cat” wins the game (don’t ask me why the “cat” wins or what that even means, that’s what my dad taught me so that’s the way it is.). Below is a free downloadable tic tac toe sheet.
5. Travel Bingo
Travel Bingo is a lot like Travel I Spy merged with Bingo. Each person playing gets a different Bingo sheet. The first person to get a Bingo by finding the pictures along the trip wins. Here is a link to the travel channel website with multiple free travel bingo sheets.
6. Emoji 2 Emoji
Emoji 2 Emoji is a fun way to play the Dot to Dot game. To play you need to players. Each player takes a turn drawing a line between two emojis. When you create a box whichever player drew the last line gets that box. They then mark the box with the first letter in their name. If you create a box with your turn and you can create consecutive boxes with a single line you can keep going until you have created all the possible boxes.
This game gets a lot of fun towards the end when all the boxes start getting filled in. Below is the free download for Emoji to Emoji. Enjoy.
7. Connect Four
Connect Four is a great game. It’s like tic tac toe with a twist. I’ve included a free printable connect four game board below. To play you have to connect four. You could either use an “X” and “O” like in Tic Tac Toe or just use to different colored crayons and fill in the circles. When you are playing you have to start from the bottom. If you want to play on the second or above rows there has to be a box filled in below you. Have fun!
8. Practice Math
I’m going to be honest with you, this was all my daughters idea. I would have never thought of practicing math as a way kids would want to pass time on a trip. My daughter is 7 and when I asked her what her favorite games to play when we travel this was one of the first things she said. If you kid likes doing math this could be a great way for them to pass the time and to learn as well. I know for me it wouldn’t hurt to have a refresher as well. I have included a free printable math worksheet with answer key below. Also, here is a link to homeschoolmath.net where you will find more free math worksheets.
9. Hangman
Hangman is a great game for kids to play. Other than the fact that your depicting hanging a man. It’s a great way to get your kids using their vocabulary and thinking of big words. Here is a link to familyeducation.com where you can get a free download for the game.
If you’ve never played before here’s how to play. You play with two players, one person picks a word and the other person attempts to guess the word. The person that picks the word will put lines on the paper to indicate how many letters are in each word like this, _ _ _ .
The person that’s guessing will guess what letters they think are in the word. Let’s say they guess the letter “Z” for their first guess and get it wrong. The person that picked the word would draw a circle for the hangman’s head. If the person picks enough wrong letters that the other person draws a full stick man they lose. If they guess the word before the person that picked the word draws a stick man then they win.
10. Two Truths and a Lie
This is a fun simple game that my kids love to play. To play you tell three stories. Two of them are true stories and one of them is a lie. The other person has to guess what one of the stories was made up. As and added bonus to playing this game, you will get to learn more about your kids as they tell you stories. You will also get the chance to tell them stories from your life as well.
11. Word Search Puzzle
Word search puzzles are weirdly addicting. Everytime that my kids and I go to a restaurant I seem to end up doing their word search puzzles on their kids menus. They are a great way to pass the time, and if you have multiple kids you could have them race to see who gets them done first. Here is a link to a word search generator at atozteacherstuff.com
12. Crossword Puzzle
Crossword puzzles are also a lot of fun. Here is a link to theteacherscorner.net where you can use a crossword puzzle generator. You can use this to make a customized crossword puzzle for your trip. You can also use it to make simpler crossword puzzles for younger kids.
13. Rainbow Game
Your kids are going to love the rainbow game! First things first, I’ve included the free printable download below that you will need to play. The way you play is find objects on your trip that have the colors in the rainbow. You can only use one object per color. So if you saw a red fire truck, you would then draw a picture of a red fire truck in the red box. If that same fire truck had a orange light on it you couldn’t use it, because you already used it for red. Once you complete the rainbow you’ve finished the game and then you get a new sheet and start all over.
Bonus Tip: Bring Skittles for your kids to eat while they play the Rainbow Game. That way they can see and taste the rainbow.
14. Rock, Paper, Scissors
Your probably thinking, “Oh come on, Rock, Paper, Scissors are you serious!”. I’m not trying to be lazy and come up with simple games. I truly believe that people overlook this game because it is such a simple little game. On a trip you need to have all sorts of games to keep your kids entertained. Rock, Paper, Scissors while extremely simple is a lot of fun and a great game to tell your kids to play.
I’m almost 100% sure that everyone in the world knows how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, but if you don’t this explanation is for you. To play you have to players and each player makes a fist and turns their wrist up forming a “rock”. They then hold out their other hand flat and in unison say, “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!” each time they say a word they pound their fist on there flat outstretched hand.
As your pounding your fist when you get to the word shoot you make your choice of “rock”, “paper”, or “scissors”. To indicate rock you just keep your fist, if you want to be scissors then you make scissors with your pointer finger and middle finger, and if you want paper then you just lay your hand flat. Each person makes this decision at the same time, if you go later then you cheated.
The most important part is knowing what beats what. So rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock. You could go best two out of three and whoever wins gets to pick the next game or the next song or the next whatever.
15. Fruit Game
I saved the best for last! Your family will be dying with laughter when you play the fruit game. This is not just a game for traveling, but is also a great game for family parties. One of the best things about this game is it doesn’t require any materials other than your mouths to play.
To play you need two or more players, the more the merrier with this game. The object of the game is to not laugh and come up with a different fruit every turn. When you are playing you have to keep your lips wrapped around your teeth so it looks and sounds like your toothless.
Then you pick a fruit for yourself and say another fruit. For example if I was starting I would say, “apple to orange” then the person to my left would have to come up with a new fruit and say, “orange to pear” and so on. If a player laughs, shows their teeth, or can’t up with a fruit they are out. Get someone that’s not driving to pull out the phone and record this one. You could probably post the laughs on YouTube and pay for your trip.