road trip games for 2 year olds

45 Road Trip Activities for Toddlers That Will Keep Them Entertained For Hours

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Road trips are a great way to bond as a family during travel but little ones can get antsy sitting for so long.

If you're planning a road trip with your toddler, it's important to be prepared with activities to keep them occupied.

After all, a bored toddler in the backseat is a recipe for disaster! 

To help you out, we've put together a list of road trip activities for toddlers that are both fun and educational.

With these 45 road trip activities for 1-year-olds and 2-year-olds, your little ones will stay busy (and happy) throughout the entire journey.

No time to read? See the shoppable list of our suggested travel toys on Amazon!

Road Trip Activities for 1-year-old Toddlers

My 1-year old absolutely loves pop-its . They are quiet, easy to find, and light to pack – the perfect travel toy!

2 Audiobooks

Playing an engaging audiobook will help distract your toddler. Be sure to choose books with a very animated narrator to catch their attention.

3 Little People

Little People are a hit with toddlers. They love to look at them, hold them and explore them. Consider grabbing a set and offering them to your toddler on the road trip.

4 Bristle Blocks

A few bristle blocks can go a long way on a road trip. Toddlers will love building with them, and they can even teach some basic shapes and colors.

5 Fabric Books

While 1-year-olds aren't the best book handlers, they can still explore soft fabric books . Choosing one with different textures and interactions is a great way to keep them busy.

6 Finger Puppets

A finger puppet set will keep your toddler's hands busy. They'll love putting the puppets on and moving them around.

7 Vtech Remote

There's just something about the remote that is highly fascinating to 1-year-old toddlers. We love the Vtech toddler remote which is complete with functioning buttons and sounds – the perfect road trip activity for toddlers.

8 Chewbeads

If your toddler is in the chewing stage, silicone chew beads should be on your road trip list! These links are not only safe for chewing, but your toddler can bend, fold, and connect them together.

9 Magnatiles 

If you're looking for a more educational road trip activity, consider packing a few Magnatiles . These tiles are great for little ones to stack and build with in the car and at home!

10 Animal Figurines

From dinosaurs to farm animals , your toddler will enjoy handling animal figures on a road trip. Look for lifelike figures with distinct features to grab their attention.

11 Cheerio Bracelet

Snacks are a hit for 1-year-olds on a road trip, but try offering something a little more creative than a snack cup. Look for some flavored cheerios and string them on yarn for a ring of snacks they can see and enjoy eating! Bonus – there's less chance of them throwing them on the floor!

12 Textured Bean Bags

Toddlers love exploring sensory items and these bean bags are one of the best road trip activities for toddlers.  The toys are brightly colored and have interesting textures that will keep toddlers engaged. Come up with some sorting games or ask your toddler to hand you a certain bean bag.

13 Buckle Toy 

This soft pillow buckle toy has plenty of activities to keep your toddler busy. They can zip, lift flaps, and learn to buckle.

14 Hot Wheels Cars

Hot Wheels are a fun toy for you toddlers to bring on a road trip. These are something small they can hold, and you can point to out similar cars on the road.

15 Blocks & Balls

Infantino Balls, Blocks and Buddies set is a something 1-year-olds will love for a car activity. They can touch different surfaces and even chew on them them. Divide them up by type and offer them at separate times for more variety.

16 Baby Dolls

A soft baby doll will not only be a cuddle toy but a great road trip activity for toddlers. They can dress the baby and give her a bottle.

17 Sing-Alongs

One of the best road trip activities for toddlers is music . Sing-alongs are always a hit, and there are plenty of classic kid songs to enjoy. Choose a kid's music channel on your favorite streaming service.

18 Peek-a-Boo

This simple game is one that never gets old. You can play it with a stuffed animal, blanket, or your own hands. Peek-a-boo is sure to get some giggles from your 1-year-old during your trip.

19 Snack Breaks

Snacks are essential for a fun road trip, but they're especially important when you've got little ones in tow. Hunger and thirst can lead to crankiness in even the happiest of toddlers, so make sure to pack plenty of snacks and drinks for the journey. And if you're looking for healthy snack ideas, see our list of road trip food for kids.  

20 Playground Stops

It's important to take breaks often when you're on a road trip with toddlers—both for their sake and for yours! Consider making pit stops at playgrounds along the way – they'll love getting to run around and explore!

Road Trip Activities for 2-year old Toddlers

1 the quiet game.

This is among many parent's favorite road trip activities for toddlers! If your toddler is any good at this game, you'll be enjoying plenty of relaxation on your trip! See who can be quiet the longest and that person wins a special surprise!

2 Paint with Water

Paint with water sets are the perfect toddler road trip activity. Water Wow sets from Melissa & Doug include a fillable pen that holds the water and comes out the brush. Virtually mess-free and very amusing for your little one.

3 Sticker Books

We love sticker books to keep toddlers entertained on a family road trip. They love peeling the stickers which is a great fine motor skill.

4 LCD Drawing Tablet

If your 2-year-old loves to color, LCD drawing tablets are a must. They can color whatever they want and erase it when they want a new canvas. Not only is it mess-free, the tablets are an inexpensive travel toy!

5 This or That

One of our favorite road trip games is one we made up. I played this with my oldest when she needed to be distracted in the car. Say two things and ask which is their favorite. You can use animals, food, or toys for example. It's a great activity to avoid meltdowns when things are going south.

6 Counting Things They See

Keep your toddler learning by counting the things you see. Look out the window and see 3 birds – 1, 2, 3! This is a great activity to help keep them occupied while on a road trip.

7 Squigz Suction Toys

These suction toys are a great road trip activity for toddlers because they will keep them entertained with building and creating new designs. Additionally, the suction cups on the toys will stick to windows and other surfaces, providing an extra level of fun.

8 Magnetic Puzzles

Magnetic puzzles can keep toddlers entertained for hours while on a road trip. The puzzles are easy to carry and keep toddlers busy as they try to move the pieces with the magnetic pen!

9 What Do You See Out the Window

Practice object recognition, colors, and shapes with your 2-year-old by asking them what they see out the window. If they see a tree, ask what color is the tree? Continue the conversation with questions for them to answer.

10 Connectable Fidget Tubes

Fidget tubes can be connected together to create a chain, and your toddler can twist and turn them to their heart's desire. This will keep them occupied and happy, which is essential on long road trips.

11 Lacing Cards 

The repetitive motion of lacing and un-lacing helps to develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. We love these small lacing cards as they are portable and offer just enough practice for a 2-year-old.

12 Lego Duplo Blocks

Let their creativity run wild with Lego Duplo Blocks. They can build towers, cars, and other structures with the blocks that come in various size kits.

13 Memory Game Cards

While 2-year-olds may be a little young to play Memory, they will certainly enjoy looking at the picture cards. Memory cards are durable and the perfect small, learning toy to bring along on a road trip.

14 Vtech Laptop

The Vtech laptop is a fun learning game for toddlers. It's not quite screen time, but it is interactive with songs and games that will keep them engaged.

15 Glow Sticks

Road trip activities for toddlers don't have to be limited to just watching movies or looking out the window. A great way to keep them entertained is by bringing out some glow sticks . If you're traveling in the dark these are an ideal way to have some fun when you're almost to your destination.

16 Reusable Sticker Scenes

Reusable stickers are a great car activity because they can easily be moved and manipulated by your toddler. They will enjoy creating stories and using their imagination. Just ask them what they made!

This classic road trip game is perfect for toddlers because it's easy to adapt to their limited attention span. Keep it simple by spying something that's a certain color or shape.  Keep the “spied” objects inside the car to give time for your toddler to find them!

18 Masking Tape

Toddlers love playing with random objects, and masking tape can be used to your advantage. They will enjoy peeling it, balling it up, and making designs on the windows. This is a great way to keep them entertained in exchange for a little cleanup.

19 Mess-Free Coloring

Coloring is a great way to keep toddlers occupied, plus it's a quiet activity that won't disturb other passengers in the car.  Crayola Color Wonder is an amazing gift to parents. The markers only draw on the special paper and leave no other mess. They come in cute sets and are sure to keep your toddler busy.

20 Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

Make a scavenger hunt list of things they can look for outside the car window. Include things like different colors, shapes, and animals.

21 Seek and Find Books

Seek and Find books are excellent road trip activities for toddlers because they can keep them busy and engaged. Bring along a few beginner seek and find books to look at together when they need a break from looking out the window.

Limiting screen time is one thing, but you may need a little more of it on a road trip with toddlers. Download some age-appropriate apps on your phone or tablet for them to play during the drive.

23 Story Time

Reading stories is always a hit with toddlers. Bring along some of their favorite books or download some digital ones before you hit the road.

24 Pack Some Surprises

Save some of your toddler's favorite snacks or toys as “surprises” for later in the trip. This will help break up the monotony and give them something to look forward to. These are also great to take out when things aren't going well (i.e. traffic.) 

A portable DVD player will give your toddler the comfort of their favorite movie. Use movies to wind down before rest time on your road trip.

Road Trip Activities for Toddlers

A road trip with toddlers doesn't have to be stressful—as long as you know how to survive a road trip with kids !

1-year-olds and 2-year-olds have unique needs when it comes to car activities.

They have a shorter attention span and need a larger variety of things to keep them occupied.

However, with these 45 road trip activities for toddlers, you can rest assured that your little ones will stay entertained the whole way!

And who knows, you might even have some fun yourself in the process!

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25 Easy Road Trip Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers

Packed for Life contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of these links, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. See my Disclosure policy for more info.

Road tripping with kids? The thought of entertaining  toddlers and preschoolers on long car rides can have even the most laid back of parents reconsidering their trip. Which is why I’ve gathered our tried and true easy and fun road trip activities for toddlers and preschoolers. 

After years of taking road trips for summer holidays, to visit family and to move across the country I have some pretty cool tips, tricks and ideas to make your next road trip more fun, and less stressful for everyone.

Practice and preparation are key. The more you do it, the more your can’t sit still in one place for even 2 minutes toddler or preschooler will know what to expect, and the easier it will become. In our experience, the best kids car activities are easy, mess free and something they can do on their own.

Here are what we think are the best road trip activities for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, and preschoolers 3-5 years old that you can buy, make or do yourself. Plus some road trip tips to make your family’s journey smoother.

  FUN TODDLER ROAD TRIP ACTIVITIES

Don’t forget to grab our Road trip planner so you can stop stressing about trip planning & logistics, and keep everything organized and in one place. Other tips:

• Use a surface to play / color on : You can use a small shallow box, a small metal baking tray or a car seat activity tray like this one . But don’t stress if you don’t have one. We’ve done many family road trips without an activity tray.
• Plan ahead: The trick I’ve found is to plan ahead and have a variety of activities you (and they) can pick and choose from.
• Small, easy age appropriate activities: Toddlers and preschoolers don’t always have long attention spans, so we’ve found that lots of smaller activities can really save the day.
• You know your kids best. Choose one’s you think they’d like.

If you have babies in the family too, these are some of the best travel toys for babies to keep them happy & entertained.

1. Mini Coloring Kits 

Coloring activities were always a favorite for our kids. To manage the likelihood of said toddlers throwing crayons around, keep only a few in a small container they can easily open. 

If you are short on time (who isn’t?), then mini coloring kits like these  were always a hit when our youngest was little. 

Or you can make your own.

• Grab a small empty first aid kit from the Dollar Store or local box store like Target or Walmart.
• Hot glue gun a square post-it pad on the inside (top).
• Put in a couple of crayons, or pencil crayons. Whatever fits.  Learn how here .

2. Mess Free Coloring – Melissa and Doug Wow Books

We’ve loved these WOW books for years. Super handy to keep the kids entertained on long or short car rides, at restaurants, or even much needed quiet time at home.

No mess! Your littles will just paint with the water brush and color appears. 

Melissa and Doug have lots of great products for toddlers and preschoolers. 

3. Best Road Trip Kids Activities: Kids Activity Books

I created these fun kids activity books to help keep your kids (& my own) from saying “are we there yet?!?!?” every 30 seconds.

Sometimes you just have those long stretches of road you need to get through. Plus they are educational, and screen free.

What are their interests? Try one of these kids car activities:

• Dinosaur coloring book with fun dino-facts
• Magical Unicorn Activity Book
• Baby Animal Mazes and Coloring
• Road Trip Activity Pack (perfect for multi-age families)

4. Scavenger Hunt

Your kidlets will be spending lots of time looking out the window. Why not get them to do a scavenger hunt. My youngest always loves doing this, even now that she’s much older.

Or if they are a little older, this  Road Trip Bingo game would be a fun car activity. 

PRO TIP : What always worked well for us is to have a travel backpack for each kid. Inside they can keep all their toys, books, road trip activities & some snacks all in one place. Check out our list of the best travel backpacks for kids and toddlers.

5. Magnetic Puzzles 

Anything magnetic will help reduce tears from having their pieces fall on the floor every 5 seconds where you can’t reach. Just make sure there are no small magnets or pieces for them to swallow. 

Magnetic puzzles or Magnetic dress up kits will keep them busy and entertained for a good long while.  

6. Toddler Busy Books

If you have the time, there are a lot of super cute, and fun DIY busy books you can make out there.

But if you aren’t so crafty, or are short on time, this Montessori busy board is ready for your toddlers to have fun in the car. While they also learn key motor skills to help them dress themselves.

7. Seek and Find Books or Hidden Picture Books

We always used to hit up the library before heading out on a road trip.

Seek and Find Books and My First Hidden Picture books are always a crowd pleaser. One that keeps our kids busy for up to an hour or more some days.

8. Wiki Stixs

Sticky, bendy sticks you can make trains, cars, flowers, bracelets anything your kids can imagine out of. 

Check out this cool Wikki Stixs article for more fun ideas .

9. Magnetic Drawing Board

A no mess road trip activity for toddlers & kids.

The Magnetic Drawing Board can be a great sensory toy, and a relaxing screen free activity for the car. Put on some road trip music, and the kids will have focused fun for a long time.

10. Boogie Board – Reusable Writing Pad

Best gift ever. A Boogie board is an LCD writing tablet that comes with a special pen (stylus) you can draw on and erase over and over again.

You may want to consider grabbing an extra stylus or two, given these tend to get lost or thrown on the floor of the car. Yes, I am speaking form experience.

11. Reusable Sticker Books

Kids love stickers. A reusable sticker book is even better as they can move their stickers around more than once. Plus you don’t have to worry about peeling stickers off car windows, your seats or somebodies hair. Guess how I know?!?!

Melissa and Doug make great ones. Including these super cute make-a-face sticker books .

12. Screen Time – Watch Movies & Play Games

When little Miss S was younger we tried to avoid much screen time if we could. However sometimes you need a little something to distract them when they get antsy. The IPad or a tablet does make an easy kids car activity. 

You can load up some episodes of their favorite tv show, or a toddler / preschooler friendly movie or two. It’s good to have as a back up,  just in case. Give yourself some grace, and a break. Traveling in confined space for 13 hours with young kids is exhausting. 

Grab a subscription to the Family Amazon Prime or Disney Plus for the month. With Prime you get music and movie/ tv streaming.

Some toddler & preschooler friendly apps we loved, or that come highly recommended:

• LEGO Duplo Trains
• Toca Monster or Toca Nature
• Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Daniel Tiger
• Busy Shapes
• Khan Academy Kids
• Epic – Reading App

13. Listen to Podcasts 

Podcasts are a great way to keep young children focused and happy. Now that my daughter is a little older, she still likes listening to them while she draws, cleans her room or for those long travel days by lane or car. Some of our favourites include:

• Wow in the World
• Story Pirates
• What If World

14. Listen to Audiobooks

I almost said books on tape….Showing my age there. Listening to audiobooks is another great way to skip the screens on long car rides and family road trips. And avoid the hoarse raspy voice from having to read Peppa Goes to Ballet Class for the 7 gazillionth time. Ask me how I know!

Grab an Try Audible Plus if you want to listen to adult books too. Or the Epic reading app just for the kids. 

You may also like the Best Walkie Talkies for Road Trips

15. Create a Road Trip Playlist

Think epic 80’s tape mix, but for the 2020’s and the younger crowd. My partner is the DJ in our family. He has an eclectic taste in music; everything from German metal bands to classical music, country, ska and pop.

You don’t have to be stuck to just kids music from Sesame Street (unless you want to be.)

Play Old School Car Games

Sometimes the simplest things are the easiest, and cost the least. Pull out some of those old school games you used to play on road trips when you were a kid.

16. License Plate Game

See if you can spot license plates from all the States (if in the US), or provinces / Territories (if in Canada. Whoever spots it first gets the point. The one with the most points wins at the end. Or skip the points. 

17. Story Time 

Invent a story as a family. Each person takes a turn telling part of the story with a sentence or two. Create your own fairytale…start with once upon a time. You can make a time limit for the story, say 10 minutes, or after each family member has had a chance to say 3-5 sentences. 

If ever there was a game that evokes summer vacations and riding  in the back seat of my childhood car, squished between my brothers to keep them from fighting, it’s I Spy.

One person chooses an object, and the rest of the players have to guess what it is. 

19. Road Trip Questions & Would You Rather

Road trips are a great time to ask your kids about the world and their thoughts. You never know how they  will respond, but there is guaranteed smiles and laughter.

Especially if you start a round of would you rather…… Would you rather have to drink everything from your nose or eat everything with your belly button…. 

Check out our list of road trip questions to ask. 

DIY Road Trip Activities for Kids

When I had more time ( and energy), I made all sorts of DIY travel activities for my youngest when she was a toddler and preschooler. Pinterest has lots of great low-cost DIY ideas , if you are looking for screen free, fun car activities. 

I used to put these in their own individual soft pencil case to keep them organized. If you grab the ones with holes, you can make a travel binder to keep your kids road trip activities all in one spot. 

20. Popsicle Sticks with Velcro

Grab a pack of popsicle sticks (multi colored for more visual interest), and stick-on those velcro circles from a craft store or the dollar store. Stick the velcro circles on each end of the popsicle sticks. Your toddler can then make different shapes with them. Little Miss S loved this one the best out of all the DIY road trip activities I made. 

21. Make A Word Popsicle Sticks

Continuing along the popsicle theme, create sight word popsicle sticks. You will need:

• Metal tin or lunch box or small cookie sheet in a pinch
• Popsicle sticks 
• Roll of magnetic tape
• Sheet of pictures with simple words underneath they can make (optional). 

Attach pieces of magnetic tape to the popsicle. Write letters with a sharpie on each popsicle stick. Have your kids try to make words out of the letters.

Or alternately, you can  use a First Words magnetic poetry kit , or magnetic letters. Just make sure they’re old enough not to swallow anything.

22. Lego Mini Boxes

Make use of all that lego that is underfoot and driving you crazy. You can grab most of the crafting items cheaply at the dollar store. What you’ll need for mini lego boxes:

• Small square plastic lunch container with lid
• Small square thin lego board
• Handful of lego pieces

Glue the base lego board to the lid, put a handful of lego pieces in the plastic container once dry, and there you go. Cheap and easy in car entertainment for kids. 

Or if for some reason you don’t have lego (tell me your secret!) grab this travel lego building case 

23. Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Spools of Ribbon

Unrolling and then rolling back up spools of ribbon can be a fun toddler car activity that can be used again and again. You may just have to be the one that rolls it back up though.

24. Pom Pom Skills Activities

Get those fine motor skills working. Pom Pom tweezer activities can be fun. What you will need:

• Big and small pom poms
• 3-4 small plastic cups ( take out sauce sizes) 
• Kid friendly tweezers

Get your kids to sort by color, or number of pom poms into the empty plastic cups. 

25. Make Cereal Bracelets or Necklaces

Give your kids some cheerios or fruit loops and a pipe cleaner and have them make cheerio bracelets. Bonus, they can have a snack when they get hungry.

But we forewarned – it can be messy.

26. Play with Glow Sticks

If you are driving at night, kids will get a kick out of playing with glow sticks. 

27. Joke Books

Bring out the jokes! Whether you are naturally funny….come on, parent jokes are the best, or need a little help, everyone will be smiling. 

Here’s a great option for kids 3 to 6.  

PREPARING FOR YOUR FAMILY ROAD TRIP

Quick Tips for successful road trips with kids aged 2 to 5

Taking long car rides with kids can be challenging and exhausting. Here are a few of my family’s tips that I use to make our road trips easier:

• Age appropriate road trip entertainment – Make sure your road trip activities are age appropriate and suit your child. 
• Bring a variety of kids road trip activities you can switch out regularly
• Begin your day with some quick & easy road trip breakfast ideas
• Start your day early  – There’s usually a sweet spot where kids are still happy in the mornings. Start earlier, and they may even nap for a bit in the car. 
• Make frequent stops to let the kids run around and use the washroom.
• Prioritize some fun kid friendly stops along the way your children will enjoy. A trip to the zoo, a cool playground,  a short hike or a stop for ice cream.
• Drive less each day if you can.
• Load up on kid friendly road trip meals & snacks – hangry kids are no fun!
• Prepare for the unexpected. Bring a first aid kit, a clean up kit (wet wipes, hand sanitizer, extra clothes, small garbage bucket), and a container in case a kid gets sick.
• Bring a couple of large towels – Clean up unexpected diaper explosions, or use as picnic blankets, rolled up as a pillow and even shade for a back window. 
• Check out our camping with kids hacks – to make camping easier and more enjoyable for everyone.

Conclusion: Kids Car Activities 

You really can have fun family road trips with young kids. We’ve made so many fun memories on road trips with our littles. They often bring up special or funny moments we’ve had long after the road trip is finished.

But if you’re planning a long drive with a toddler or preschooler, make sure you plan some great road trip activities to keep them entertained. You’ll be glad you did.

Preparing for your Road Trip

• Road trip packing list essentials for the family
• Yummy Road trip snacks. Kid (and adult) approved!
• Summer travel tips to stay on budget & maximize family fun
• How to save money on road trips (and not miss out)

Donna Garrison is the founder of Packed for Life, an ever curious traveler with a passion for making memories with her family. With a unique perspective on travelling on a budget gathered over 30 years, 20 countries and 5 continents she gives families the tools & resources they need to experience the joys of travelling more for less through practical solutions. She helps over 20,000 families a month plan & take the family travel, camping and road trip adventures of their dreams in Canada, the USA and around the world. Contact her at: Donna [at] packedforlife.com

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The Best Car Activities for Toddlers: 30+ Fun Road Trip Ideas

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When you think of a long road trip with two or three year olds, what comes to mind? Whining, crying, temper tantrums? Trying to get out of their car seat? It doesn’t have to be that way, not if you have the right car activities for toddlers! If you’re taking a road trip with young children, it’s tempting to just stick them in front of a screen and call it a day. But as a mom of 4, I can tell you that if you plan a few activities to break up the screen time, everyone will be much happier!

And while a little bit of screen time isn’t bad, it really isn’t good for them for a 7, 8, 9, or however many hours-long car ride. When it comes down to it, you do what you gotta do to survive, but ideally, you can throw in some other activities with the screen time.

Fear not, because there are other ways to keep the kiddos occupied that don’t involve screens. Many of these activities are not only fun for toddlers, but also stimulate their brains and hone those fine motor skills, all while you’re on your way to grandmas!

Toddler car activities don’t have to be expensive, either. In fact, most of these things are free or inexpensive, the sort of things you can find at home or at the local dollar store.

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links.

Family Road Trips With Toddlers: A Survival Guide

I have 4 kids right now, ages 10, 8, 8 (twins!), and 3. At one point, I had THREE TODDLERS and we have always traveled with them. My husband’s family lives 12 hours from us, and so it’s a long road trip that we have made every year, at least once.

I’ve picked up some tips and tricks along the way. I’m going to share a LOT of activities and ideas but please don’t try to cram in every activity on your road trip. Simply pick a few of your favorite ideas!

Traveling with tots is not the impossible feat you might think it is, but there are some very helpful ways to prepare! Having the right car activities for toddlers is a great thing, but there are some other tips and tricks to make it even easier.

I have a whole post on how to travel with kids overnight (and why I prefer it to traveling during the day!) but regardless of the time of day, here are several practical tips to keep in mind:

• Pack a VARIETY of activities! That’s what this whole post is about, after all!
• Pack snacks! Even a short road trip still needs some road trip food. Your toddler will look forward to it and it’s an effective way to break up the time and keep things from getting too boring!
• Pack an emergency bag: this includes extra clothes in case of accidents, a first aid kit, and a PUKE BUCKET or BARF BAG . I’m serious. We made this mistake on a road trip last year and let me tell you, not pleasant! I highly recommend these portable barf bags . They are affordable and easy to pack!
• Pack a travel potty if your toddlers are potty training or just recently became potty trained.
• Plan some toddler-friendly stops: especially if you’re on a long road trip, it helps to have some fun, family-friendly pit stop locations planned! It takes the edge off the boredom and lets them get some energy out! Googling local parks or free attractions is great, but sometimes even an empty parking lot is good in a pinch!
• Have a schedule : if your toddlers are used to a certain schedule during the day, try to stick to it on the road trip. Meal/snack time, nap time, quiet time, and playtime can all be incorporated during a long drive. Just don’t be surprised if the change in location throws things off a little bit! That’s okay!
• Introduce new things as you go: start with one toy or activity, and if your toddler starts to look bored, give them something new to do, or surprise them with a special snack, or anything to make the trip seem less monotonous!
• Break it up with screen time: of course it is okay to allow some screen time, in fact, it might be a good idea to let them take a break and watch a movie or an educational show, especially during a longer than 4-hour road trip!
• Tip to limit screen time: During long car rides with younger children, I try to hold off on screen time until after they took a nap. I also plan it strategically around stops, so if there’s an hour-long movie for them to watch, I’ll put it on an hour before we have a stop planned. This way, they won’t be too upset when it’s time to turn it off, because we’re about to get out of the car.
• Hotel Room Bag: If you’re stopping overnight, make sure to pack a hotel room back, with all of your overnight essentials! Don’t forget sound machines, night lights, and a few fidget toys or sensory toys to keep the kids entertained in the small room.

Related Content:

• Traveling With Kids
• Traveling With Kids Overnight
• Flying With Twins

Car Storage and Organization

Before we get too far into the post, I’m going to tell you how I organize our car. In the past, I’ve let the kids each pack a backpack with their activities, but then their backpacks are on the floor and their stuff gets everywhere. For our last trip, I ordered these car organizers that hook onto the backseat and it was a game changer!

They come in a 2-pack, so I had one in the back with Josie and Margo (8-year-old twins) and one in the 2nd row with Theo and Beckham (10 and 3). Theo is a huge help with Beckham, giving him the toys he requests, setting up his headphones, etc.

We also used this car seat organizer to keep our snacks in. Each kid had a ziplock bag with their snacks in it and we refilled it from this container.

Foolproof Toddler Car Activities

I’m sure this goes without saying, but as always, use discretion with which of these are appropriate for your toddler (especially if they involve smaller pieces). Every toddler is a little different and depending on their age and development means that different toys and activities will be better for them.

These are all great travel toys that I’ve used for many years. As my kids get older, I’ve updated this post each year, so now this is really just a big post full not just the best travel toys for toddlers, but the best travel toys for all of my kids!

Travel Tray for Toddler Car Activities

These travel trays look AMAZING. My kids are constantly dropping things in the car and asking for me to retrieve them for them. These trays would prevent things from falling to the floor!

If you don’t mind investing a little bit of money into your car activities for toddlers, a travel tray is a great way to pack everything in one place and let the little ones entertain themselves. There are compartments on the sides for books and snacks, and sometimes even a stand for a tablet.

I like this one a lot for a long car ride because it has a dry-erase board and activities!

We recently used this on a 22 hour road trip from Rhode Island to Florida and it was great. We used it for our 3-year-old, Beckham. It was the perfect tray to help him with his snacks, and he used the road tape and some toy cars to play with. It’s also perfect for coloring, but Beckham didn’t want to color.

Encourage independent play with toys that are easy to play with and easy to clean!

Toy cars travel easily and don’t need a flat surface to be entertaining. However, you can enhance the play experience by creating a road on a travel tray or cookie sheet with this road tape . They are the perfect toy for little hands and the toy that Beckham prefers the most.

Did you know young kids have better reading comprehension by listening to books than reading them? Obviously, most toddlers can’t read yet, but audio books are still a perfect way to stimulate their brains and their ears! 

You can get free audiobooks from the library or snag a free 30-day subscription to Audible and download new books right onto your phone! And if you already have Audible, then you’re ahead of the game.

Pro tip: If you have a DVD player in your car, play a DVD over the stereo without turning the screen on and BOOM: audiobook. We do this with Daniel Tiger DVDs all the time!

Yoto Player

Beckham got a Yoto Mini (currently out of stock everywhere so I am linking the full-sized one) for Christmas and it was such a good investment. Our older 3 kids love to read and they all have kindles, so they can read for hours in the car. When they are reading, we set Beckham up with his Yoto and headphones and he happily listened to books! They are the perfect screen-free activity for long trips.

Physical Books

Space may be limited on a long car ride, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let them pack a few of their favorite books to flip through on the drive! It’s great if you have some interactive books they can engage with, too, or if your older kids are willing and able to read to them!

My 3 big kids (10, 8, 8) love to read and they all have the kids Kindles. The kids kindle is actually a regular, adult kindle, BUT it comes with a case, ad-free, and a year of kindle kids unlimited. Kindle kids unlimited is basically like Netflix, but for e-books. I had my kids download dozens of books before we left, and if they ran out, I simply connected their kindles to the hotspot on my phone so they could download more.

Here are some of our favorite books lists:

• The Best Children’s Books For Twins (About Twins!)
• The Best Spring Books for Toddlers
• The Best Fall Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers
• The Best Christmas Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers

I purchased these on one of our recent road trips and they were a huge hit with my kids! They made little people and my son even made glasses to match his sisters. I loved that they were using their imaginations to create things in a non-messy way. I made sure to pack them away in our box of travel items so that they are still fresh and exciting the next time we travel.

Buy them here: Wikki Stix

Magnetic Cookie Sheet

I’ve seen this idea before and it’s brilliant! Put some magnets on a cookie sheet and let them play with it like they would fridge magnets! I love using these vehicle magnets or gear magnets!

Play kid-friendly music

Entertain your toddlers with a little car-bound singing and dancing to their favorite tunes – children’s music, movie soundtracks, or light pop music are all good options.

Road Trip Games: Play “I Spy” 

This is probably easier for older toddlers and preschoolers but you can still call your toddler’s attention to neat things out the window, like big trucks or mountains! My toddlers were always upset when the big trucks left until we made a big deal out of waving “bye-bye” to it.

Road Trip Games: Play “Simon Says”

If “I Spy” is a little too advanced for your younger toddlers, then a fun game of “Simon Says” may be an easier way to keep them entertained.

Road Trip Games: Scavenger Hunts

My kids had so much fun with this scavenger hunt game on our most recent family vacation. Not only was it fun on the drive, but they enjoyed it while we were driving around Florida as well!

No-Mess coloring books

If your child loves to color but you love keeping your car marker-free, then no-mess coloring books are a real lifesaver on road trips! I absolutely LOVE THESE.

Here’s another no-mess coloring book option that I’ve recommended before and have heard others recommend: Melissa and Doug’s Water Wow books, designed for on-the-go! Just fill the pen with water and let them go to town with no inky mess. These are hands down one of the best toddler travel toys out there.

Portable Travel Games

These are an absolutely perfect travel toy for older siblings and they’re also perfect to keep in your bag for a long wait at an appointment or a restaurant. It comes with hangman, connect5, tic-tac-toe, dots & boxes, and categories. My older kids loved playing this, and my husband and I were able to play hangman with them from the front seat.

Magnetic Drawing Board

One of our favorite toys is another mess-free drawing option: magnetic drawing boards .

Wooden Matching Game

This wooden matching game can be played with a single player, so it works for a kid sitting alone in a row, but can also be played with multiple players. It is for ages 3-6 and while this isn’t a toy that we have owned, it looks like a great road trip toy.

Magnetic Dot Art

Let me tell you a funny story about this magnetic dot art toy . We traveled to Ohio in November, and my 3-year-old refused to play with ANYTHING. Everything bored him. Fast forward to our 23 hour road trip a short 3 months later, and I didn’t pack him many toys because I’d learned my lesson.

Guess who whined for something to play with the ENTIRE RIDE? You guessed it. While I had packed him a few things, it wasn’t nearly enough to keep him occupied for the ride there and back. So, I headed to Target and purchased like the only travel toy I could find. And this is it and it was a huge hit with all of my kids!

Tetris Stax

This Tetris is a fun 1 player game that my oldest got in his stocking. It’s the perfect size for a stocking stuffer! It’s for ages 8+ but it’s pretty hard and my 8-year-olds have difficulty with it! Because of this, it does occupy my 10-year-old for quite some time!

OK, hear me out! The age on this is 4-9, but my kids ages 3-10 LOVED THIS!! It is so much fun, but it is a tiny bit messy for a car ride. If you’re like me, you’ll take a little bit of mess that can be easily cleaned up, if it means happy kids on along journeys.

While toddlers cannot do this alone, they can do it if they have an older sibling to help. Theo was able to help Beckham with this activity and it was a huge hit for everyone!

Super Sliding Puzzle

This is one we don’t own, but I’ve been eying it for a little bit. I especially think my 10-year-old would like it! He loves puzzles and this looks really fun, although it is a bit on the pricey side.

3D Mind Puzzle

This 3D puzzle is for ages 3-8 and it looks like a blast! I know that my big kids would love this as much as my 3-year-old, and it’s on my list to purchase as a surprise for our next road trip.

Light Up Pop It Game

What kid doesn’t love pop its? And a pop it game that lights up is an amazing idea. This if or ages 5+ and is one of the best toys for older kids.

Sticky notes

Another creative idea that’s cheap if not free if you have lots of these lying around: sticky notes! Toddlers can go to town sticking them all over the car without consequence… I mean, you do have to clean up a bunch of sticky notes eventually, but it’s a small price to pay.

Rainbow Scratch Pads

There are many different sets of these rainbow scratch pads, and they are one of my kids all-time favorite activities and are perfect for long trips. They do leave a bit of a mess because of the scratch aspect, but nothing a little wet wipe or vacuum can’t take care of.

Magnetic puzzles

This is similar to the magnetic cookie sheet idea above, except that you stick magnets onto the back of puzzle pieces instead. These are a wonderful option for a long car trip.

Here are two options: magnetic farm puzzle or these magnetic animal puzzles .

Magnetic Play Scene

I just purchased this magnetic play scene as a Valentine’s Day present for our toddler, knowing that we have 2 trips coming up (both by air and by car!) and this looks like fun activity for a long trip.

It comes with a magnetic puzzle, a play scene, and a dry-erase pad with some markers.

I’m super excited about it, AND the fact that it is all self-contained!

Here are some other adorable options for magnetic play scenes. These are truly some of the best road trip activities for toddlers!

Here are a few more really fun ones that I found. Please note that some of these are for a three year old and up due to choking hazards. And, depending on your kids ages, some of these magnetic play scenes can be something that the whole family can enjoy.

Magnetic Dress Up Studio

Dress up the girl with magnetic clothes, jewerly, and accessories!

Magnetic Funny Faces

This is like a magnetic Mr. Potato Head. I am tempted to grab this for our next trip because it looks so fun!

Busy bags and busy boxes

A “busy bag” or “busy box” refers to pre-packed activities designed to keep kids’ hands and brains busy, but that leaves it pretty open-ended, right? Check out this post to learn more about how to put a good busy bag together!

However, I do like the idea of using a metal lunch box because you can stick magnets to it, maximizing the number of activities available!

Much like the sticky notes mentioned above, stickers are a great option for toddler entertainment.

A big sticker book with lots of different animals and shapes is always a win!

This obviously depends on the toddler and whether or not they can handle the temptation of plastering the car window with stickers.

Out of my 4 kids, I would trust 2 of them with stickers in the car at this age.

Reusable Sticker Books

Another option if your toddler loves stickers, and you can’t quite trust them with real stickers, is to invest in some reusable stickers like these ones here.

And when I say reusable, I mean, you can wash them and reuse them! They don’t actually have a sticky back and come with a scene to place them on.

I seriously LOVE these sticker pads and they entertain my toddler at home for quite a bit of time. They are a really good option for both younger and older children.

This sticker pad with the roads and rails is also super cute! I am leaning towards the vehicles because my toddlers have always loved vehicles, but they are also availabe in dinosaur , animal , around the town , and fairy tale themes.

And finally, I haven’t tried these, but I have heard great things about these puffy stickers ! There are so many options for reusable sticker pads, and I promise you, they are such an easy way to get hours of entertainment.

Many of these portable ideas benefit from a plastic tupperware container of some sort for easy travel and storage – a mini art kit of crayons and colored pencils is no exception!

Glow Sticks or Glow Bracelets

If you know you’ll be driving as it gets dark, glow sticks are a fun way to shake things up and give them something exciting to play with!

I’ve seen travel kits on Pinterest with normal-sized legos, but personally, I think that’s a little risky… maybe it could work for older toddlers and preschoolers, but for younger kids, I’d use big legos like these!

Edible necklaces and bracelets

String cheerios, Fruit Loops, or another ring-shaped snack food into necklaces and bracelets for a fun snack that keeps their hands busy… and might just minimize the number of cheerios that get all over the backseat!

“Presents”

Break up the monotony of a long car ride with unplanned snacks and activities, given as “presents.” You can even wrap them up for even more fun! Even if it’s a little toy or trinket they already have, the thrill of the unexpected is sure to delight them!

No, seriously: plain old masking or washi tape (so it’s easy to get off of surfaces) works wonders as a car activity for toddlers. They have a ball tearing off pieces and sticking them to things. You may not need to spend a dime on this, but here’s a pack of colored masking tape just in case!

Popsicle stick velcro puzzle

Stick pieces of velcro to the ends of colored popsicle sticks for a simple DIY activity that toddlers can use to make shapes. Alternatively, stick magnets to the ends and use on the cookie sheet from above!

Easter eggs

Whether it’s spring time or not, you can make an easy game out of empty Easter Eggs: fill them with trinkets or snacks, or draw dots on one half with the corresponding number on the other so toddlers can practice number matching!

Another craft supply you might just have on hand that toddlers love: pom poms! Much like pipe cleaners, you can cut holes out of a cardboard box or container and let them have fun poking them through. Just make sure they don’t decide to put them in their mouth.

Matching card games

Practice numbers, letters, pattern recognition, and more with some simple matching card games designed with toddlers in mind!

Pool noodle stacking

Here’s another busy bag idea that could translate well to a road trip, especially if you have a travel tray: cut a pool noodle or two into disks and create a stacking game. This can be color matching, number matching, or just for the fun of stacking something and knocking it over.

Stuffed animals

A favorite stuffed animal, blanket, or lovey is always a good call when it comes to keeping toddlers occupied on long road trips. They can provide some entertainment as well as comfort from home.

Travel Felt Board

Felt boards like this travel set are a great activity for road trips because they’re quiet, reusable, and fun. They are similar to reusable sticker pads and magnetic boards, where the felt will stick to the board and not fall to the ground.

Toddlers can let their imaginations run free and you don’t have to worry about messy clean-up.

Calculators or Old Cell Phones

Seriously, something with buttons that your toddler can press and play with will keep them entertained for hours. Pick up a cheap calculator from the local dollar store or donate an old flip phone and you will not be disappointed with the result!

Car Activities for Toddlers: Final Thoughts

I hope this has given you some fun ideas to entertain your toddler on your next family road trip.

Don’t forget some healthy snacks (and some fun treats!), some good entertainment, and of course, a little bit of screen time.

It is absolutely possible to have a fun, relatively stress-free travel experience with little kids along for the ride. The key is to keep them entertained because if they’re bored, you WILL hear about it.

However, there are definitely more car activities for toddlers out there than the ones I’ve suggested here. If there are any not on this list that you think are also foolproof, feel free to let me know in the comments! Until then, happy travels!

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30+ Awesome Road Trip Activities & Hacks for Kids

• Kindergartner
• Preschooler

INSIDE: 30+ Road Trip Activities & Hacks for Kids! Are you heading out on the road with the kids this summer? Check out this list of games, activities, toys, tips and hacks from some of the top kids activity bloggers around! This list of ideas will help make your road trip this summer a bit more bearable!

Road Tripping with Kids

Oh yes! the joys of a long journey on the road with a toddler, preschooler or a kid. We all look forward to it but the reality is often far from what we were hoping or even expecting!

Don’t worry you aren’t alone . And although I can’t promise you a perfectly entertained toddler for your entire journey I can promise you that this list will have you well prepared for your trip! From printable; activities; busy bags and binders; travel organization tips; travel toys to travel hacks and more. This list of ideas will definitely inspire you to organize the best road trip ever for your family!

The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids

Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.

Our Sensory Play Kits are a fun and easy way to keep your child engaged while at the same time capitalizing on the benefits of sensory play to nurture their mind!

Shop our ready made play kits here .

I am so excited to announce that I wrote a book! Super STEAM Activity Book: Launch Learning with Fun Mazes, Dot-to-Dots, Search-the-Page Puzzles, and More!  ! It comes out June 8th. Click here to order it now !

30+ Road Trip Activities for Kids

• Sensory Kits – Happy Toddler Playtime

• Super STEAM Activity Book – Happy Toddler Playtime

• Road Trip Toys – Happy Toddler Playtime

• Would You Rather Questions for Kids – Happy Toddler Playtime

• Toddler Travel Toys – Happy Toddler Playtime
• Portable Lego Kit – The Gingerbread House
• Portable Car Play Kit – Mama Papa Bubba
• Dry Erase Road Trip Activity Book – Glue Sticks and Gum Drops
• EASY Portable Activity Kit for Road Trips – Mama Papa Bubba
• Road Trip Drawing Prompts – Free Printables – Pickle Bums
• Easy DIY Travel Felt Board Tutorial – Mama Smiles
• Take Along Activity Kit – Mama Papa Bubba
• Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printables – Party Through the USA
• Cereal Box to Foldable Doll’s House DIY (perfect take along house) – Red Ted Art
• String Cheese Road Trip Games with FREE Printables – Arts and Crackers
• DIY Mini Road Trip License Plate Game (with free printable) – Comic Con Family
• Awesome Alphabet Road Trip I Spy Printable – Sunny Day Family
• Pipe Cleaner in a Bottle for Toddlers – The Piri Piri Lexicon
• Yellow Car Game Busy Bag – Adventures and Play
• Lego Suitcase Hack – Stir the Wonder
• Car Trip Game: Are We There Yet – Growing Book by Book
• Road Trip Activities: Travel Bags & Buckets – KCEventures
• Car Yoga for Kids – Sugar Spice and Glitter
• Create a Travel Art Kit to Keep Kids Busy on the Road – Mama Smiles
• Road Trip Kits — Easy Altoids Tin Craft – The Soccer Mom Blog
• Road Trip Bingo for Kids – Only Passionate Curiosity
• DIY Road Trip Activity Kit for Kids – Comic Con Family
• Our favorite road trip games for young kids {12 free and fun ideas} – Playful Notes
• DIY I Spy Bag – Handmade in the Heartland
• How to beat backseat boredom: 5 easy travel games for Roadschooling – Board Games for Learning
• Snack Ideas for Road Trips with Kids – 3 Boys and a Dog

The Best Travel Hacks For Traveling with Toddlers, Preschoolers + Kids

• The Best Toddler Road Trip Ideas – Toddler Approved
• Road Trip with Kids – Days With Grey
• 15 Brilliant DIY Car Organization Ideas That Prevent Clutter And Mess – Crafts on Fire
• Tips for Successfully Traveling with a Preschooler – Thrifty Little Mom

Age Suitability

These activities vary in skill and ability. Depending on the activity they are good for kids 3 years and up. My kids are 3, 3, and 6 year old.

The Best Book of Sensory Bins

Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids . Or grab your copy at Amazon .

WILL YOU TRY ANY OF THESE ROAD TRIP ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR KIDS? PIN IT FOR LATER!

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21 easy children’s Car Games & Road trip activities for kids

Looking for the best games for children to play in the car on a road trip? Want ways to keep them entertained, quiet or playing nicely? Here are some ideas for the best car games and road trip activities for kids of all ages.

*We work hard to make this the best motorhome travel blog and road trip website possible, full of helpful content for you. The website is supported by our readers, so if you buy through links on this site we may earn a commission- at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain our own .

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Car Games for Kids

Hands up if you have ever been stuck on a road trip with children under the age of 15?

I’m so sorry.

(If you haven’t, and that’s why you’re reading this, err…. good luck! ?? )

Kids struggle with road trips. Even if, like our daughter, they’ve spent a lot of time travelling, they still struggle with the concept of ‘how far there is to go’, sitting still for long periods and changes in their routine.

Children’s Car Games – What NOT to Do!

I remember one memorable trip with our toddler about 15 years ago. I was woefully unprepared and didn’t have any children’s car games handy.

I improvised and created the infamous road trip game “Can you see the Monkey in the tree…?”

Not familiar with it? Every time we drove past a tree, ANY tree, I had to ask “Can you see the Monkey?”

Our beloved daughter would look at the tree, ponder the question thoughtfully as she stared at it, then declare “YES” really loudly.

I should point out that we were in Northern England. There were no monkeys. But, if I forgot a tree, she started to cry because “I’d missed the monkey in it.”

So, I was stuck.

We played this game, non-stop, for two hours on our car drive. TWO HOURS. Yes, that warrants excessive use of capital letters.

It also warranted a double vodka when we arrived…

I won’t tell you what I was thinking. It certainly didn’t give me any mother-of-the-year points.

So, to help you avoid the same pain and misery, here are some better ideas for road trip toys, games & activities for children. They’re mostly quiet (you’re welcome) and generally EASY and suitable for kids of all ages.

(You can also find ideas for baby toys for road trips.) Good luck with your trip!!

Fun Driving Games for Kids

Many of these car games for children can be played without any extra accessories. However, did you know you can buy ACTUAL i-spy packs or Road Trip bingo wipeable sheets??

If you do a lot of road trips, or are enjoying van life with kids , you’ll be glad you have wipe-able ones!

Depending on the age of your kids, this may not be the best road trip game; once you start you might get the word ‘sky’ 17 times in a row. We play the rule that the object has to be visible at all times (no “there was a sheep back there!”) and also that you cannot repeat a word.

Another option for younger children (where spelling is an issue) is to do i-spy with a colour. “Something coloured… blue” (yep, it’s sky again)

If you prefer, one of these amazing i-Spy books might be just the thing, especially if you’d like a break. You can various ones, covering road trips, animals, vehicles etc, or get one like this which covers everything.

Pink/ Yellow Childrens Car Game (adults can play too!)

This car game is strangely addictive for all the family.

In a nutshell, you’re looking for yellow and pink cars.

You get one point for a yellow car, two points for a pink car (I’ll allow your judgement on what is pink and what is red!) If you see a car of either colour, the first to shout it out wins the points.

Keep track of the score and play until a set point or until a certain score. For us, we play the first to 50 points chooses dinner. Or gets first bathroom break. Or the loser has to do the washing up!

License Plate Game

Depending on which country you’re road tripping in, this can work in several ways. You can print off a map and get the kids to colour it in as they spot licences for each country or state.

This works best somewhere like Europe or the USA, not the UK- we don’t have such a large range of different countries. (In Europe, you’ll be spotting the EU badges)

If you are road tripping in the UK, try and go through the alphabet- find licence plates with an ‘A’ on it, then ‘B’ etc. (Just a note, we don’t use ‘I’ or ‘O’… don’t try to find those!!!

Another option is ‘Mapominoes’. Best played with plenty of space, this is a great way to encourage kids to learn more about the countries you’re visiting.

Ah, road trip bingo. It was one of my favourite car games when I was a child. I’m pleased to say it’s evolved a bit now.

You can get some brilliant printable free for various car bingo activities. Print them off, give everyone a pen or pencil (ideally on a string around their necks!) and let Road Trip Bingo commence. It’s surprisingly fun! Alternatively, buy a wipeable, reusable pack.

I like the fact that the game is played with road signs and animals- makes it easier to spot things for younger children. If you want to make it harder, only the first to see and shout gets to mark it down.

Best Board Games to Play in the Car

If you’re going to play board games in a car with children, prepare yourself for things to get lost on the floor or tantrums. BUT, board games are a way to pass the time and there are some great ones without many loose pieces!

Some of our favourites include:

Guess Who Travel Car Game

Did you know you can get Disney, My Little Pony and many other editions of this popular childrens car game? It used to keep me and my brother entertained for hours!

Skillmatics

Great fun and learning for kids, that will keep them entertained while on your road trip!

Battleship- Easy Travel Game for Kids

Another perfect kids car game with very few moving pieces. Battleship is also a great car board game for adults to play with a single child on their own in the back.

Pop-up Car Board Game for Kids

We used to call this ‘Frustration’ when I was a kid, but now there are many versions available. It’s a great board game for car journeys- the dice is contained so can’t roll under the seat or fall down a gap. And the pieces are pretty large, so not easily dropped.

Quiet Road Trip Activities for Kids, Tweens & Teenagers

Once the initial excitement wears off, it’s a good idea to have some quieter activities for them to get on with by themselves.

READ NOW: More quiet activities for kids – perfect for both at home and while travelling

Magnetic Drawing Board

These are brilliant! Allow your little one to draw again and again- without running out of paper or dropping their pencil. Hours of entertainment!

Tell me I am not the only person who remembers these!?! I can’t believe they’re still going. I used to play with my Spirograph for HOURS when I was younger (like, last week…)

Sticker Books

These were a godsend when Jade was younger. We’d buy her a couple of sticker books and let her stick them in as she liked. Just expect stickers on your car doors- Princess Jasmine is destined to be in your car forever!!

Puzzle Books

My daughter has no patience for puzzles, but I used to do them for HOURS when I was young. (Still would, if I had time!)

I love ones like the Puzzle Quest range, where the puzzles are interconnected to create a story for them to solve.

I’ve only recently discovered Perplexus – but they keep ME entertained for HOURS. It’s a giant maze inside a ball which you have to get a metal ball through. It’s ridiculously addictive… just what you want from a road trip game. They come in different age ranges- there is even a Star Wars and Harry Potter version!!!

Best Children’s Audiobooks for Travel

We’ve tried all sorts of audiobooks and podcasts and there is a HUGE variety out there. My absolute favourites are the Harry Potter ones read by Stephen Fry – if you enjoy Harry Potter this is one for the whole family to listen to.

You can get them (and many other kids audiobooks) FREE as part of Audible – the audiobook subscription service which allows you to rent audiobooks for an unlimited time; each child could pick their own to enjoy.

If you only listen to one book a month, it’s already paid for itself! Try Audible FREE for 30 days . It’s also full of great books for adults so you can get something for everyone.

Best Travel Activities for Kids- Books for Road Trips

If your little ones enjoy reading, books are a great way to keep them entertained. There are LOADS of children’s road trip books on Amazon. 

Alternatively, make use of your local library if you’re only away a short time- it’s a great place to get new books each trip.

Colouring Books

If your kids will colour quietly, this is a great idea. There are plenty of free printables you can print off and let them enjoy. They might even enjoy a map of the route so they can see where they’re going. Maybe you could get them to write notes and make a small journal for the trip! But you can also get colouring in packs if you don’t have a printer at home. Just add a car tray to avoid dropped pens!

Childrens Car Games and Road Trip Activities- Make Them a Surprise Toy Bag!

I LOVE this idea. Pick up some cheap toys and put them in small bags (or even wrap them in foil) to be unwrapped at certain stages in the journey (first fuel stop, first 100 miles, first toll etc.) This gives them something to look forward to. You can also include some travel-friendly snacks, and some funny jokes to keep them amused

TOP TIP: Keep one toy back as a surprise in case of dire emergencies!

Best Car Games for Kids Online

Nintendo switch.

I’m a Tetris girl myself (and now I’m humming the music!!) but a handheld game console like a Nintendo Switch is a great children’s quiet car activity. There are a HUGE range of various games, for all ages and level of ability. Some of them are even educational.

Just insist they play either without the sound or with headphones on- or the beeps will drive you crazy!

Disney Now – Best Childrens Car App

Put Disney Now on an iPad, put their headphones on and enjoy a little quiet time. There are hundreds of shows to choose from- just remember you either need Wi-Fi or a way to stream if you haven’t downloaded anything in advance.

Get a seat organiser for the back of the seat, let each child pick a movie to watch. If you want to save your sanity, get wireless headphones that they can listen to at the same time. Hang an iPad on the back of the chair and turn the backseat into a movie theatre. (Popcorn optional but likely to end up on the floor!)

Road Trip Activities for Kids- Tips to Help Your Road Trip Go Smoothly!

I may have only had one child to deal with, but I remember road trips when I was a kid- and how my favourite activity was torturing my little brother! So, your most important job is to stop squabbling. This only happens by setting firm, clear boundaries, ideally before the road trip starts.

If something goes under the seat , it is lost until the next break. We had to be very careful what we dropped (hence the string around the neck!) In the same vein, make sure their portable travel car seat is secure and approved- they will be doing a LOT of wiggling and squirming!

Try not to put things where kids can see them but can’t get to them – this will only lead to tantrums. Give them a few things to play with and hide everything else. You can change the toys at each rest stop.

A lot of these activities will depend on your little (or big!) ones. From the age of about 12, Jade would sit quietly with her headphones on, listening to music she’d downloaded. The only meltdowns came when she realised she was out of battery and/or wifi.

Plan breaks in advance – ideally somewhere with a park for them to let off some steam. If they know how far they have to go between stops, it can help them mentally prepare. Just add some extra time in case of traffic!!

If you are going hiking or camping with kids , make sure you have enough food, drink and changes of clothes; wet, tired and hungry kids are worse on the way home!!

I hope these tips helps keep your road trip go smoothly! Eventually, everyone gets sick of sitting in one place and kids are no different. The tantrums seem to happen just when you’ve had enough too!! Keep smiling – the adventure will be worth it! 🙂

More ideas you might find useful:

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Amazing.. This article has very interesting ideas for road trips. I just love your ideas and will share this article with my groups. Thanks a lot for these great ideas!

We used to play ‘Legs’. You spot a pub first and get one point for each leg in the pub name. “The White Heart” == 4, “The rose and Crown” == 0, etc. “The Kings Arms” was an interesting one as the ‘Arms’ are not actually body parts!

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PS PK K 1 2 3 48 Comments

Road Trip Activities for Kids Ages 2-8

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We are planning a very long drive this week.  We’re hitting the road before sunup and driving until way past bedtime.  As a survival strategy I’ve prepared a giant set of road trip activities for kids.

(This post contains affiliate links. Click here to see my full disclosure policy.)

In just a short while our family is going to be taking a road trip.

A very loooong road trip.

As in, start driving at 3 AM and reach our destination after 10 PM.   With five kids ages 7 and under.

And no, we don’t have a DVD player in our van.

This may sound a little crazy, but seriously?  Putting all seven of us in a hotel room with a baby still waking up every two hours sounds a whole lot crazier.  So I’ve been working at a creating and collecting a variety of activities to keep my crew busy for our big adventure.

I have seen some amazing DIY lapboards on Pinterest.  But I don’t sew beyond buttons.  I don’t do well with wood, foam, or stretching fabric.  I don’t even cut a straight line.  So this is my version of a DIY lap board.

Find a cheap magnetic baking tray (tip – they’re not all magnetic; check first).  This 9 x 13 tray cost 99 cents.   Then get some markers or crayons and hot glue magnet strips to them (even adhesive strips can use that extra glue).

Anything to keep my toddler from dropping a marker every five seconds.

The sketchpad was from the dollar bin at Target.

Books on CD

Our number one activity on long car rides is reading.  Thankfully, my Seven and Five can read on their own. But my Four in particular does not have patience for long trips, and he’s not ready to read independently.  I’ll read aloud periodically, but it’s not something I want to do for ten hours!  That’s where books on CD come in.  I borrow them from the library, store them in my CD holder , and reserve multiple copies of each book so each of the big kids can follow along.

I also referred to my Best Picture Books for Kids Pinterest board and found a huge stack of new-to-us books to take along.  (The hard part has been keeping my kids from reading them before the big trip!

Road Trip Printables

I searched high and low for free road trip printables. These were the best I could find because not only are they from talented bloggers,  they’re also easy to download and print.

The beautiful road trip drawing prompts (empty road and truck) are from Picklebums.

The lovely hand-drawn BINGO games are from Housing a Forest.

The Car Scavenger Hunt is from a giant set of road trip printables from 123Homeschool4Me.

Sticker Scenes

This reusable sticker pad from Melissa and Dog is totally awesome as is.  But I wanted to find a way to make it work in the car. The scenes are too large for laps, and definitely for our little trays.  So I decided to cut each scene in half and cut the stickers into sections.  Then each child can have part of a scene and a set of stickers to play with.  The scenes won’t be as striking as they would be with the full sheets, but you can’ t be choosy when you’ve got seven people jammed into a seven-passenger van.

Conversation Cards

These are 100 conversation starters in the form of “would you rather” questions. I love these!  Would you rather have a pet chicken or a pet elephant? Would you rather lounge  in a pool of marshmallows or M & M’s?  Learn more and get your free printable cards (or simply a list of questions) in this post .

Drawing Prompts

This Complete the Picture drawing pad from Melissa and Doug  is brilliant.  It’s definitely too advanced for my Two and probably my Four. But I think it’s something my older two kids, ages five and seven, will really enjoy.  I had to trim the pages to fit them into the small baking sheets.

Beginning Sounds Coloring Pages

I don’t do a lot of worksheets with my preschool boys, but a car trip is the perfect time to pull some out.  I created this set of 26 coloring pages.  They simply need to color the pictures on each letter that begin with that letter.  You can get the free printable in this post .

Magnetic Matching Activities

I created these simple matching activities for my Two.  He loves this sort of thing, and it will give him something to do when he’s starting to get antsy.  Since there are magnets on the back of each piece to keep him from spilling them, I’m hoping that this will be easy and fun. This does take some time to assemble, but I think it will be worth it.  See the tutorial and get the free printables in this post.

Color by Number Addition Pages

My Seven asked for color by number pages.  I wanted to create something that would challenge her as well as give her something she enjoys, so I put addition facts on these fairy tale characters.  You can get the set of ten free pages by visiting this post .

Magnetic Pattern Block Activities

We already have pattern blocks, but for this trip I bought a magnetic set of blocks  so the kids can use them on their baking sheets.  I found the large pattern block activities at PreKinders.  I printed a transportation , snowflake , and animals set.  The kids can each set a paper on their board and cover it with the magnetic blocks.  I also printed the small set of designs from Kelly’s Kindergarten and bound them with a ring . (You will need to shrink her designs before printing them if you want them small.)  My older kids can recreate these pictures on their boards.

Snacks, Snacks… and More Snacks

And what would a long car ride be without snacks?  We don’t usually have prepackaged snacks at our house, but I’m making this trip an exception.  I’m packing mini chocolate chip cookies , honey graham sticks , crispy cheddar crackers , granola bars ,  and bunny snacks .  I’m also packing some dry cereal (a rare treat – our kids have plain yogurt with just a sprinkle of cereal for breakfast), string cheese, snap peas, and baby carrots.  Plus a brand new water jug  filled with ice water.

We’re ready for our trip!

After I pack the suitcases, of course…

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48 comments.

August 10, 2018 at 7:54 am

Thank you so much for your great roundup of ideas! We are traveling in Canada through Ontario and Quebec, to see sights in New Brunswick and P.E.I. I’m looking forward to using your ideas on our trip! Blessings! 🙂

August 13, 2018 at 9:08 am

You’re welcome!

September 9, 2017 at 3:01 pm

Just stumbled on this site and am delighted. I’d like to offer an alternative idea for your travel activity tray which offers built in storage. 1) Buy a roasting tin and a baking sheet that fits on the top of the roasting tin. 2) Attach magnetic strips around the top of the roasting tin, and on the bottom of the baking sheet. The sheet needs to exactly cover the roasting tin. 3) Place either a magnetic sheet, or magnetic strips on inside base of roasting tin. 4) Magnetic sheet to fit base of baking sheet (if big enough you can ignore stage 2) You can now add magnetic strips to crayons, organza bags from Poundland/Dollar store, toys. These things can be safely stored in roasting tin. The combined roasting tin/baking sheet are now a storage/lap tray. Little items can be stored in the organza bags or magnetized to stay in the storage area or to be used on the tray. You could also spray paint the roasting tin/baking sheet, drill small holes at one end and using whatever you choose can be hung from the seat in front. For very young children safely secure small magnets in small stuffies, these can be stored in the roasting tin and then stuck on to the baking sheet.

October 5, 2017 at 12:56 pm

What a cool idea, Lucy! Thanks so much for sharing it!

October 5, 2016 at 9:03 am

I love these ideas! We are planning to drive to Disney in February with another family. The thought of four little girls ages two and five on a 20 + hour car ride is terrifying the parents.

Anna Geiger

October 7, 2016 at 5:24 pm

Yes, I get it! 20 hours is a long time. Snacks will be your best friend. 🙂 In December we are planning a road trip to Texas with all six kids. I think it’s about 15-20 hours… I’ll have to pull out some of these to use again!

December 22, 2015 at 6:39 pm

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful ideas and resources. I’m now actually looking forward to our upcoming road trip with our 2 and 4 year old boys (plus an infant, but she won’t be participating in the activities :)).

January 1, 2016 at 5:54 pm

You’re very welcome, Cassy! I hope you have/had a great trip!

December 14, 2015 at 9:22 pm

Thank you so much!!!!! I got a 17 hour car trip coming up and didn’t want to go out and buy a ton of things for my preschooler to do. Yes we are breaking the trip up but he is not a great car rider so this is exactly what we need.

December 19, 2015 at 3:46 pm

I hope you have a wonderful trip, Cora!

Stephanie H

March 11, 2015 at 10:00 pm

Thank you for the wonderful ideas and printables. We are ready to venture out on a 15 hour drive for Spring Break with a 7 and 2 year old. Thanks to your post my “Activity Box” is complete and I have something checked off my to do list! THANK YOU!

March 20, 2015 at 6:35 am

Yay! I hope you have (had) a wonderful trip!

January 9, 2015 at 11:02 am

Man, you are so creative!!! Thank You sooo much for this!! We’re leaving in less than a month, this is doable!!

January 12, 2015 at 4:30 pm

Way to go for getting started ahead of time, Jennifer! I hope you have a great time and as peaceful a car ride as possible. 🙂

December 28, 2014 at 5:58 am

I am probably the first dad in here. This is really cool stuff. Thanks for sharing all this. I am printing away as I speak

December 28, 2014 at 2:42 pm

Not quite the first, but maybe the second. 🙂 I hope you have a great (and somewhat quiet) trip, Nick!

July 24, 2014 at 5:15 am

I loved your Tip Me Tuesday link. {thanks girl!} Would you like Tip Junkie to feature your blog post to over 200,000 creative women? If you upload this blog post into your Tip Junkie craft room using at least 2 images, 2 steps, and blog post URL then I can easily feature it in my RSS feed, home page, and all my social networks instantly. {squealing with delight} ~ Laurie {a.k.a. the Tip Junkie} http://www.tipjunkie.com/post/how-to-add-a-craft-room-project-on-tip-junkie/

July 24, 2014 at 5:19 am

Yes, yes, yes, Laurie, of course! Thank you!! I will head over to do that right away. I was just thinking yesterday I was going to send you a note to thank you for your Mom Blog to Money Blog course. I completed it this summer and learned so much, just in time to apply everything I learned to a site redesign coming next week. Excited! Thank you!!

July 14, 2014 at 8:57 pm

Thanks so much for these! I’m traveling 16 hrs with a 4, 2.5 & 10 month old so looking for some activities to keep us all sane

July 17, 2014 at 8:02 am

That’s a long trip, Ali – been there! I hope it goes well for you and that you have a nice peaceful trip. 🙂

July 9, 2014 at 10:02 pm

Thankyou so much, this is exactly what i was looking for to amuse my kids on our next trip!! Thankyou so much for sharing!

July 17, 2014 at 8:01 am

You’re welcome, Steph! I hope you have/had a peaceful ride :).

June 20, 2014 at 12:01 pm

These are some AWESOME suggestions. I’m planning a vacation for July and we’ll be traveling roughly 13 hours in a car with a 2 and a 5 year old. Thanks so much for sharing!

July 9, 2014 at 5:32 am

You’re welcome, Brandy! I hope your kids stay content on your long trip!

May 28, 2014 at 8:17 pm

This post couldn’t have come at a better time for my family. In the next month, we are taking 3 16 hour road trips. I have a 1 year old, a 2 year old, and a 4 year old and we will definitely be using some of your ideas! Thank you so much for all your hard work. We are planning on driving from 9pm until we get there!

June 1, 2014 at 7:53 pm

Good for you for driving through the night! We are probably a little older than you, as that’s pretty hard for us. On our way to our destination we ended up getting the kids up at 4:30 AM with the plan that they would go back to sleep for a few hours. Nope! Not sure if leaving even earlier is a good or bad idea..

little island studios

May 28, 2014 at 11:17 am

Great Ideas! We traveling and always looking for ideas…love to bring magnetic fun!

June 1, 2014 at 7:52 pm

Love your recent post about Virginia Beach… my home town!

May 28, 2014 at 9:16 am

My family is flying from SC to WA this summer. My daughters are 7 and 6, but the 6 yo is more like a 4 yo. The color pages will be WONDERFUL for them to do on the planes and at grandma and grandpa’s house when they claim to be “bored”. Thanks a lot for these wonderful resources.

June 1, 2014 at 7:51 pm

You’re very welcome, Christine! We are currently enjoying our vacation, and the pages we did not do in the car (mainly the Melissa and Doug activities) have been great to fill some time at our destination.

May 27, 2014 at 2:24 pm

Can’t wait til you get here!

May 27, 2014 at 7:48 am

I love this!! We regularly make a 9-10 hour car journey to see family and am always looking for ideas to keep my pre-schoolers entertained (without having to reach for dropped bottles or toys every few minutes!) Thank you.

June 1, 2014 at 7:50 pm

You’re very welcome! I hope your kids enjoy a few of these ideas. As it turned out, my kids were happiest with the coloring pages, books on CD, and drawing pads. They did a little bit with the magnetic shapes and of course loved the snacks most of all. 🙂

October 25, 2018 at 8:03 pm

Thats great! ??

[…] Finally, when it comes to making your car as child-friendly as possible, do remember to think about ways of keeping your little ones entertained.  […]

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31 Best Road Trip Games for Kids: Definitely Bookmark This

Are you planning a road trip and looking for the best road trip games for kids? We totally understand that doing long car rides with kids can be hard and stressful, especially when not using any screens.

“Are we there yet?” “I’m hungry!” “It’s too long”

Does that sound familiar?

Family road trips can be stressful for parents and long for kids, so it’s better to be prepared with some ideas. That’s why we listed 31 of our favorite games to play in the car on a road trip to pass the time. They are all fun games for kids (but also for the entire family, from toddlers to older kids and adults).

And the cool thing is that most of them don’t require much and can also be played at the destination.

Disclaimer: Just a heads up, this free article contains affiliate links . If you purchase after clicking one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost . Also, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Your support helps me continue to provide helpful and free content for you .

Get Your Road Trip Activity Book Journal (Only $9.99)

Our TOP 5 Road Trip Games for Kids

We do a lot of road trips as a family, short and long car rides . We even took the kids on two cross-country road trips (for the first one the boys were 18 months old and 3.5 years old). We had to get creative with road trip activities, especially that we don’t really allow the kids to watch TV in the car.

Here are our favorite road trip games for the family and the kids:

• License plate game : I love this game, especially when we travel to the USA where we see many different license plates. This is a perfect game for older kids since they need to be able to see outside the windows, but it’s a lot of fun and doesn’t require any material.
• Audiobook & Stories : We have a Spotify account and download many kids’ stories. We don’t have them on for the entire trip, but we put a few stories occasionally when we all need some quiet time.
• Smart Games : The kids received some Smart Games for Christmas this year and we are hooked. They are easy to pack for a road trip and kids can play alone. We have the Smart Games Jump In and the Smart Games Ghost Hunters .
• Drawings & Coloring: We always pack coloring books or sketchbooks, and the kids love drawings when we drive.

💡 PRO-TIP There are so many different kids’ car activities that can played by simply using everyone’s imagination skills . Of course, all those travel games for kids may require the parent’s participation (at least a little if your kids are the youngest, but older kids should be able to play alone).

1. Activity Booklets

There are TONS of activity books with mind games, riddles, and puzzles for your kids.

The hard part is that they don’t always keep the kids interested for as long as we want. Sometimes we can get a solid 45 minutes out of these booklets, but other times we get a few seconds of peace.

You might find that one of your kids naturally likes one type of activity (sudoku, crosswords, etc.) and your other kid likes another. Try to find the activity that matches your kids’ interests to pique their interest.

2. I (Eye?) Spy

I Spy is a classic for a reason (and I still think it makes just as much sense to spell it “eye spy,” for the record). There are no simpler games to play on a road trip than the I Spy game . This game also helps to hone your kids’ powers of observation.

How to play I Spy:

• The person choosing the object chants, “ I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… ” and then gives the first letter of the word they are thinking of.
• Everyone else tries to guess and the person who guesses correctly first takes their turn choosing an object.

How to adapt this road trip game for toddlers: Naming the color of the object instead of (or as well as) the first letter.

If you happen to be driving through an area with lots of wildlife, you could also try “ I hear with my little ear ” and crack out your best animal impressions, a great hit with toddlers.

👉 You can also purchase a I Spy travel card game to help your little ones with the game.

3. Rock Papers Scissors

Rock Papers Scissors is one of those fun games that your kids should be able to play together (and alone) as long as they sit relatively close .

How to play Rock-Papers-Scissors: The game is pretty simple. Each player will simultaneously do one of the three shapes (rock, paper, or scissors) with one of their hands.

• Paper beats rock
• Rock beats scissors
• Scissors beats paper

There are many other versions that can be played by adding a few extra shapes.

4. “I’m Going to a Picnic”

This game is another great fun car game for kids that requires no material .

How to play I’m Going to a Picnic : Whoever is starting gives a short list of things they are taking on their picnic, and everyone else tries to guess the rule that connects these objects .

Here’s a simple example. If I say, “I ’m going to a picnic and I am going to take some eggs, some earplugs, and an éclair, you’d probably be able to guess pretty quickly that I’m only taking objects that begin with an “e”.

Of course, you can get creative with your rules. Perhaps every object at your picnic is round or has four letters in the word, or rhymes with a cat.

Players can also ask if an object would be allowed on the picnic to help them figure out the rule. Or the person in charge can give some examples of things that aren’t allowed.

Adapt the difficulty of the rules depending on the age of your kids.

5. Make Up Stories 

You don’t have to be a master storyteller to keep the kids entertained with some inventive tales . Some of the best stories come when you take turns adding bits and embellishing the details.

How to play Make Up Stories : You could try one-word stories , where each person says just one word, and you build the story together—the same works with single sentences too.

If the kids struggle to get inventive, you can handle the bulk of the storytelling but still leave plenty of opportunities for their input. Start with “ once upon a time there was a giant… ” and let the children fill in the gaps. Who knows where your imagination might take you?

6. Twenty Questions

Most of us have played this family classic game at one time or another, and it is an easy travel game for kids.

How to play Twenty Questions:

• One person thinks of an object, person, animal, or plant. It must be something everyone is likely to know about.
• Then, the others ask questions to help them determine what the person is thinking.
• The person can only respond with “yes” or “no”. The goal is for the others to guess the word correctly before they ask more than 20 questions.

In some versions of the game, the person specifies whether they are thinking of an animal, a plant, or a mineral (an inanimate object) before they start.

You can increase or remove the question limit if your kids get too frustrated or struggle to guess the word within the 20 questions.

7. Quiz Time

Quizzes are fun road trip activities for kids and are also a great way to slip a little learning into your trip.

We like to call them pop quizzes .

For the 2-6 age group, this works best if you give multiple-choice options and take it in turns to be the quiz master. Keep the questions age-appropriate – you want to stretch your kids but still make it fun by sticking to questions they will likely know the answers to.

If you are feeling organized, you can prepare some questions before you go so that you have them already to hand when boredom sets in on the road and the nagging for the iPad starts. There are also quiz cards available to buy if you need some help thinking of questions. This kid’s car activity is also a great way to start road schooling lessons .

8. Categories

This wordplay game is one the whole family can join in with and is a fun option for road trips. Your kids can pick a category and see how many things you can name within that category. Categories can be :

• types of fruit,
• colors, … – you can keep going for hours.

If you want to make it more challenging, set a time limit. Or you could go competitive and make each family member take a solo turn to see how many items they can name.

9. License Plate Game

This is an old-time favorite that you’ve likely played with your parents in the past. I won’t lie, it’s one of my favorite travel games to play. This one works best in the United States, though it could work through the Canadian provinces, too (it’ll just be a lot shorter).

The game is simple : look for license plates from states other than the ones you’re either currently in or coming from.

At any rate, everyone in the car should try to find as many license plates as possible until someone gets all 50. You can also play collectively if you have young kids since it will be harder for them to compete.

💡 PRO-TIP You can use this travel games for kids to start teaching your little ones about geography and teach them a little history about how modern North America is laid out (aaaaand from there, you can go into the history of the continent in whichever way you feel most comfortable).

10. Grocery Store

This is a twist on the classic “Alphabet Game. ” In this version, you say you’re going to the grocery store and buying ingredients. You need to list out what you’re going to buy starting with the letter “A.” For example, the first person would say, “I’m going to buy an Apple.”

The next person repeats what was said and adds a new item with the next letter. In this case, it would be B. For example, the second person would say, “I’m going to the store. I’m going to buy an Apple and a Banana.”

And this memory game continues throughout the entire alphabet.

11. Would You Rather

You likely played this game in college, so you’ll want to make it more tame (and since you’re driving, probably without the beer). The game is easy to play: you give two terrible scenarios and ask someone to decide which one they would rather do.

For example, would you rather wear wet socks or a diaper for an entire week?

This game can get as silly as you’d like it to be.

💡 PRO-TIP : Set a number of questions each person will ask per “round.” So you can say, “everyone is going to give 3 scenarios we all have to answer.” Then, when the 3 turns are up, you can choose to start over or play another game.

12. Can You Name the Most

This is a fun road trip game even toddlers can play . Plus, it will help them build vocabulary and word associations. Have one person in the car choose a category. For this example, let’s say “superheroes.”

Now go around the car and everyone has to say a word related to superheroes in under 5 seconds. The first person who can no longer think of words closely associated with the category is eliminated.

The last person standing wins!

Remember, you don’t need to say exact superhero names. Instead, you can use words associated with heroes, like:

• Super speed

The goal is to have fun, so don’t get too “nit-picky.”

💡 PRO-TIP Make one parent and official judge for this game, as siblings will probably fight over what counts as “closely associated.”

13. Movie/Song Quotes

In this game, everyone will think of their favorite quote from a movie or song. Start easy and make sure these are things your kids are familiar with. That said, you can get more advanced to try and trick your road partner, too.

For example, you would think of a quote like, “Man… there are just no jobs in this town. Yeah… unless you wanna’ work 40 hours a week !”

Which, of course, comes from the great cinematic masterpiece, Dumb & Dumber .

You’ll need to adjust the quotes you use depending on the age of your kids.

14. Fortunately/Unfortunately

I like to think of these travel games for kids as the “home stretch” activity . It’s when you have a stop coming up and your kids start feeling “antsy.” In this game, one person begins by saying, “Fortunately…” and describing a hypothetical situation that was really good.

For example, you could say, “Fortunately, there was a mistake at the factory, and all the broccoli in the world is going to turn into marshmallows.”

Then, the next person continues the story with “unfortunately.” In this case, they could say, “Unfortunately, these marshmallows also shrink you to 3 inches tall.

And you continue with the “fortunately/unfortunately” structure until everyone has had a few turns.

💡 PRO-TIP : When you reach the end, you can discuss your hypothetical situation and pose more questions. In this example, the ultimate question would be, “Would you still eat the marshmallows?”

15. The Rhyme Game

Here’s an easy one: someone in the car thinks up a word, and everyone has a maximum of 5 seconds to think of a word that rhymes when it’s their turn.

If someone gives duplicates or a word that doesn’t rhyme, they’ll be eliminated.

Again, this game is perfect for those awkward 10 minutes before reaching your destination or a quick distraction if one of your kids is starting to go into crisis mode.

16. New Rule

This is a great game for the oldest sibling and young kids who like the taste of power. Everyone in the car gets to think up a “new rule.” It can be anything (appropriate) and would be something like, “Every time we pass a Wal-Mart, you need to burp.”

I like to make this game the prize of another fun game.

So when a kid wins at another game we play, they get to invent a “new rule” that will last until we reach the final destination.

17. Yellow Car

Yellow car is a game that’s a classic twist on the old “Punch Buggie” or “Slug Bug.” Basically, you get to punch someone else in the car whenever you see a yellow car.

This game is fun because some places tend to have way more yellow cars than others. Emilie and I played while driving through Quebec , and I only got punched once or twice.

Then we played in California , and my arm looked like it had seen the wrong end of a fight with Mike Tyson.

18. Spelling Bee

You can recycle activities your kids do at school for the car. This one is great for helping your kids learn to spell .

Work from a list of age-appropriate words for your kids to spell. Have them take turns and see how many they can spell correctly.

Here’s a good list of spelling bee words around the kindergarten age-level that you can use if you need help thinking up words.

19. Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep kids occupied during a road trip. It’s another game that gets your kids paying attention to their surroundings while in the car.

This works best if you have a list prepared before you go. Combine things you are guaranteed to see, like a speed limit sign, with some that are less common, such as a specific make and color for a car.

You can use types of vehicles, buildings, and natural features in your list. Give each kid a copy – illustrate it with pictures so pre-readers can still join in. Leave space for each player to tick off objects as they see them.

If you like, you can turn it into a version of bingo and race to see who can complete their list first.

For those who don’t have time to make their own scavenger hunt, there are plenty of printable options available online . We’ve created a printable road trip game package that includes a scavenger hunt

20. Hangman

Another classic game, hangman , helps new readers practice new letters of the alphabet and spelling in a fun (and competitive) way.

All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. However, everyone playing will need to see the paper, so the driver will want to sit this one out.

How to play Hangman:

• The first person acts as the host. They think of a word and then mark out blank spaces for each letter.
• The players take it in turn to guess letters. If they get one right, the host fills in the letter wherever it appears in the word. If they get it wrong, the host marks the letter at the top of the paper and then draws one piece of the scaffold.
• The game continues until the players guess the full word or the host draws the full scaffold and the stick man hanging from it.

Of course, you may want to avoid images of death in a kids’ game, even if it is a stick man. You can make the game more child-friendly by drawing a snowman or a rocket blasting into space. Or you could draw a line of balloons and have one pop each time someone makes an incorrect guess.

You can increase or remove the question limit if you find your kids get too frustrated or struggle to guess the word within the 20 questions.

❤️  You may also like to read: The Best Road Trip Snacks

21. Squares

Best played with two people, this is an easy travel game to teach your kids and all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil or pen.

The object of the game is to make as many squares as possible . Start by drawing a dotted grid on your piece of paper. You can choose how big you make the grid – begin with three by three when you first teach the kids and it can grow from there.

The two players take turns to join two dots together by drawing a straight line between them. You can’t go diagonally.

When someone completes a square, they write their initials inside it and get a bonus go. The game ends when the whole grid is joined up. Then you count the number of squares each person has claimed to determine the winner.

22. Build a Cootie Catcher

I remember learning how to do this in second or third grade. It was never as popular for the boys in our class (though maybe that’s changed), but it did keep me busy on long car rides with my brothers, who were busy playing Yellow Car with me.

Typing out all the directions would do two things:

• Help exactly 0% of the people reading this

Instead, here’s a great video tutorial 🙂 :

23. Make a Comic Book

I’ve noticed that my oldest son is super addicted to certain TV shows. But I realized it wasn’t necessarily the show he was in love with… it was the story .

He LOVES stories, and lately, we’ve been trying to encourage him to come up with his own. The car ride is a great time for kids to think up their own superheroes and draw their very own comic books.

You can stab some scrap pieces of paper together in advance or just have the kids work from individual pages. The comics will probably be silly, but they stretch the kids’ imaginations. Our son, for example, made a comic about aliens on a different planet at a park with slides that go “up” instead of “down.”

24. Draw What You See

The name pretty much says it all on this one! For long stretches of road around mountains, forests, rivers, oceans, lakes… anything… have the kids draw the landscapes they see as you go.

This doesn’t always work, but when kids get into the drawings, it can make a great coffee break for the parents.

25. Pictionary

This isn’t a game that the driver will be able to participate in, but you’re probably familiar with how it works.

One person draws something and the other must guess what it is. This works if you’re driving with more than one child or if one parent can participate safely.

👉 You can also purchase a Pictionary game to help your little ones with the game.

26. Audiobooks or Stories on Spotify

Reading their favorite stories aloud is a sure way to keep children entertained on a road trip.

Unlike watching videos or playing games on screen, listening to an audiobook allows their imagination to run wild as they picture all the scenes in the story. There’s a huge amount of choice out there for kids – search “stories for kids” on Spotify, and you’ll have plenty of options.

If your kids are a little older, they might also enjoy a factual podcast. There are several podcasts and audiobooks aimed at kids of kindergarten age that are both educational and entertaining. And you may be able to find some that are related to your road trip.

💡 PRO-TIP Don’t forget to download some stories before you head off in case you hit any areas without an internet connection during your journey, especially if you are planning to visit some national parks .

27. Drawing & Coloring

Drawing and coloring are great screen-free road trip activities  for kids at any time. There is no reason you can’t embrace them while you are on your road trip as well.

Pack plenty of coloring pencils, crayons, paper, and coloring books to keep the children entertained in the car. If you are worried about the mess, choose pencils instead of pens and steer clear of paint, glue, and glitter.

It helps to get some trays and organizers so that the kids have somewhere to keep their art supplies while you are traveling. Plenty of inexpensive options and the tray is also useful if you are eating meals on the road.

We bought some craft trays from IKEA , and they work perfectly. For crayons, we opted for the twistable Crayola one, which is more robust and less messy.

28. Sticker Books

When you need a bit of peace and quiet, sticker books are brilliant for keeping kids occupied in the car. You can even get reusable ones that can be brought out repeatedly.

It is worth laying down some ground rules before you hand stickers over – they get stuck to the book, not the car, their siblings, or the family dog.

For younger kids, look out for stickers that are large enough that little fingers can peel the backs off without help from an adult. Some sticker books involve fragile or fiddly shapes, which will only lead to frustration when they inevitably rip.

👉 There are many sticker books options, but we love the Melissa & Doug Reusable Sticker Pad .

29. Mazes and Puzzle Books

Mazes and puzzle books are easy to find and are an inexpensive way of keeping kids entertained on the road without resorting to screens.

Make sure you choose options suitable for your children’s ages, like this one from Amazon if for 4-8 years old . Word searches and verbal reasoning puzzles are great for those already reading, while pre-readers might like ones that ask them to join the dots, follow a wiggly line, or match pictures.

Again, there are also plenty of free printables available online, which you can print off before you get in the car. If you are feeling especially organized, you can laminate them and have your kids complete them with a wipeable marker so they can be reused.

👉 Buy Mazes and Puzzle Books on Amazon

Never underestimate the power of a good book. Long car journeys are the perfect time to encourage your kids in their love of reading . 

Have plenty of engaging, age-appropriate books available for your journey. Even pre-readers can get involved by “reading” familiar picture books to themselves. Or enlist older siblings to read to them – this gives them a chance to hone their own reading skills while keeping their younger brothers or sisters entertained.

31. Mad Libs

This can be something you can prepare in advance or just buy a booklet for . Mad Libs aren’t only fun, but they also teach your kids about grammar and sentence construction.

If you’ve never played the game before, it’s easy. There’s a pre-written story with a few keywords missing. People in the car must supply the word based on its function in the sentence (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.).

You fill in the words with random selections and read the story when it’s over.

Here’s a great resource for building Mad Libs with your kids .

Final Thoughts on Fun Road Trip Games for Kids

This ends how the list of kids car activities. I hope it gave you enough ideas to feel ready to pack the car and leave on a road trip with your little ones. If you end up on the road using one of our road trip activities with your kids, please share your pictures on Instagram and tag us @lovelife_abroad .

I’ll be honest here, we don’t always entertain the kids in the car. We do lots of the fun games above, but we also ask them to entertain themselves a little along the way.

Road Trip Activities for Toddlers (That They Will Really Love!)

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Going on a road trip with a toddler can seem stressful. But it really can be an enjoyable experience if you’re prepared. And one of the best ways you can prepare is by bringing awesome toddler road trip activities!

On all the road trips we’ve been on with our toddlers (and there have been a lot), we’ve found that if our toddler has interesting activities to hold their attention, everyone has a better time.

And oftentimes, toddlers really aren’t as hard to entertain in the car as we think. I’ve found that road trips with my toddlers usually go much better than I think they will.

The trick is plan ahead and bring a variety of different activities that you can use to hold their attention. Toddlers don’t always have the longest attention spans, so you’ll be glad to have multiple activities you can switch between when they start losing interest in whatever they’re working on.

If you have a variety of ways to keep your toddler entertained during the drive, the whole trip will go much more smoothly. Trust me.

So read on for some awesome car activities that are sure to keep your toddler entertained on a road trip!

For more helpful travel items, see our ultimate list of toddler travel essentials !

Road Trip Activities for Toddlers

You’ll want to have plenty of great activities to keep your toddler entertained during your road trip. This is one area where I tend to overpack, but I’d much rather have too many activities than not have enough. And when you’re road tripping, usually you have the space for a few extra small activities (unlike flying).

Tip: It really helps to have a table of some sort for your child to work on their activities. We like this car seat travel tray . In a pinch, we’ve also used shallow, wide boxes for them to work on their activities and to keep everything contained.

Some of these road trip activities for toddlers do have small parts, so if your child is still in the stick-everything-in-the-mouth stage, skip those or do them with supervision.

Portable construction site

If you have a truck-loving toddler, consider making them a little construction site! Use mini trucks to move “rocks” (pom poms) from one place to another. This can entertain a toddler for a ridiculously long period of time, trust me…

These little working trucks are the perfect size to use with pom poms .

Pom pom fine motor activity

A great fine motor road trip activity is using tweezers to move pom poms from one container to another. For this activity, you can use the regular sized pom poms or the mini pom poms for a bit more of a challenge. 

When we were planning our most recent road trip, this activity was specifically requested, so obviously it was a hit with our kids!

DIY Car Track

For a creative DIY road trip activity, make your own car track! Bring along some of this road tape to create a little road on your child’s travel tray . Pack some small cars and let your child pretend to drive on a racecar or around a make-believe town.

You can also used mini sticky notes to draw houses, a fire station, a hotel, etc. Our son had a great time driving his cars all over his little “town”.

One of our favorite road trip activities for toddlers is listening to music. It’s is a nice way to pass the time while you’re driving and it’s also a good method for diffusing tension if emotions are rising.

Our kids love singing along to their favorite songs for long stretches of time. Some of the classics are Raffi songs and songs from their favorite movies (mostly Frozen and Moana over and over).

Magnets and cookie sheet

Bring a cookie sheet and some magnets and set your child loose! (The cheap dollar store cookie sheets are perfect for this activity.)

Alphabet and number magnets are great for kids learning their letters and numbers. Or you can cater it to your child’s interests with something like animal magnets or dinosaur magnets for some creative play.

Podcasts/audio books

Podcasts and audiobooks can be fun to listen to for the whole family, or you can give your child some headphones and let them listen independently. 

My son loves the Little Bedtime Stories podcast. The stories are fun and good for young kids, plus it’s ad free!

Cheerio bracelets

Combine food and activity by making Cheerio bracelets!

Give your child some Cheerios and have them string them onto a pipe cleaner . We love this activity activity because it’s great at keeping a toddler’s attention and it doubles as a snack!

Bring along some books or magazines and read to your toddler or let them look through the pictures. They might like looking through a book with pictures of where you’re going on your trip (or where you’ve been if you’re on your way home).

If your child is like mine, you can bring some of their favorites (mine are obsessed with the Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site books ) and they will know every word without your even having to read it to them!

Screen time

Screen time is probably one of the most popular road trip activities for toddlers. When you’re on a road trip, screen time can be a convenient way for your toddler to pass some time and it’s a nice break for the adults. 

Everyone has different ideas of how much screen time is right for road trips and you’ll have to find your own balance for what is best for your toddler. 

A road trip tradition that we love is having a family movie night while we’re driving. 

I make popcorn before we leave and then when we’re driving, we pass out the popcorn and treats and settle in to watch a movie. It’s a fun activity that we can all do together (even though the driver can’t see, the kids usually pick movies we’ve seen a million times anyway so they know what’s going on just by the sound). We usually plan it for later in the day when everyone is starting to get bored and tired of their car activities. 

If you have a budding artist, they might enjoy drawing for part of the car ride.

There are lots of options for drawing activities, depending on what your child prefers. You can go the traditional route by getting a toddler coloring book with crayons or colored pencils. Or you can choose to bring a boogie board or whiteboard for them to use to express their creativity.

This car seat tray has a built-in whiteboard, which makes it easy for your child to create art whenever their heart desires!

Puffy Sticker Activity Set

One of our favorite road trip activities for toddlers are these cute puffy sticker sets by Melissa and Doug.

Your child can use the detailed stickers to create a scene on the background provided. And they are reusable, so you can get multiple play experiences out of them. We’ve used our sets many times and the stickers are still sticky!

These puffy stickers are something that has really kept our toddlers’ focused attention while traveling. On a recent road trip I forgot to bring them and my son was so disappointed (luckily I didn’t make that mistake the next time!).

Water Wow! Water Activity Pad

Water Wow! books are a great, mess-free road trip activity for toddlers. As you color over each page with the water pen, a picture appears. As it dries, the picture disappears and it can be reused again and again.

This is one of our favorite toddler activities for travel by car, flights, or just as a quiet activity for appointments or church when we’re at home!

Create a book of photos for your child with pictures of noteworthy events, important people, and special memories from their life. Toddlers love looking at books where they are the star, with places and people they recognize.

For our toddlers, this is a sure way to capture and keep their attention!

This buckle toy is perfect for a kid who loves clipping and unclipping buckles. It has various colors and different kinds of buckles to keep their attention. There’s also a little pocket at the top where they can store some of their treasures.

When I bought this toy, I wondered how much use we would really get out of it, but my toddlers have been obsessed with their buckle toy during trips, both driving and flying.

Look and Find Books

Look and find books are a great way to keep a toddler busy. I’m always amazed at how long my toddlers can stay focused when they’re searching for items in a book.

Some of our favorite look and find books are the Very First Book of Things to Spot and 1001 Things to Spot on Vacation . The Very First Book of Things to Spot has cute and simple pictures (better for younger toddlers), while the 1001 Things to Spot book has much busier, more complex scenes.

Dimple fidget popper toy

Dimple fidget poppers are a fun way to keep your child engaged while you’re driving.

Our kids loved pushing the buttons in and out and I was surprised how long this activity kept them entertained. And it’s a great calming sensory activity for when children (or adults) are feeling agitated.

Some road trip activities for toddlers don’t have to involve any special gear. Another option for keeping a toddler entertained on a drive is to talk about what they see out the window (my kids get so excited whenever they see trucks while we’re driving) or play a game like I Spy.

Your toddler will love guessing the object you are thinking of, just make sure it’s not something you pass before they can guess what it is.

Wiki Stix are a non-messy way for toddlers to practice fine motor skills and express some creativity. The wax sticks can be bent and formed into various shapes, letters, and designs.

To make anything very elaborate a toddler will need a little help, but our toddlers have enjoyed just manipulating the sticks or squishing them into colorful balls. And they love it when we help them to make words or small objects (crude animals, flowers, etc).

Tell Stories

A fun way to pass the time while driving is to tell stories to your toddler. You can recap what you did on your trip or what you are going to do. Or you can make up stories about whatever interests your toddler.

One of our boys’ favorite things is when dad tells “truck stories”, which are just stories he makes up about trucks at a construction site.

On our most recent road trip, this was one of our toddler’s favorite ways to pass the time. He would say, “Tell truck stories, daddy!” and then listen with rapt attention to whatever story his dad made up.

For toddlers, snacks definitely count as a road trip activity. If they are starting to get whiny or are heading towards a meltdown, pull out a snack! I am constantly in awe of the power of a good snack to reset a toddler when they are starting to lose it.

And it’s just a nice way to keep your child occupied for a little while during the drive. Be sure to bring a snack catcher so that your toddler can feed themselves without accidentally dumping their snack all over the car.

For ideas of awesome road trip food and snacks, see this post .

Looking out the window

If your child is content sitting and looking out the window, let them! 

Often we’re so focused on keeping toddlers entertained that we don’t follow their cues and allow them downtime when they want it. 

My children can be entertained for hours just sitting and looking out the window when we’re driving. As long as they are content, I just leave them be. I don’t bring out activities for them until they ask for something to do. 

Final Thoughts

You really can have a great family road trip with a toddler along. We’ve made so many fun family memories on road trips with our young children.

But if you’re planning a long drive with a toddler, make sure you have some great road trip activities to keep them entertained. You’ll be glad you were prepared!

Other posts you might be interested:

How to Have a Successful Road Trip with a Toddler

50+ Road Trip Food Ideas- Easy Meals On the Go!

7 Essential Tips for Road Tripping with a Baby

Baby Travel Essentials (Everything You Need to Bring)

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20 Toddler Activities For Long Road Trips

We are heading on a long road trip to Maine and I thought I’d update this old post with toddler friendly activities for the car. While I’m all for using the iPad to watch movies and shows on long road trips I definietly don’t want Piper glued to a screen for 15 hours. Many of these work for airplanes, and going out to eat too! Remember to save some of these activities for your way home so you still have some “new” tricks up your sleeve! Also THESE are the packing cubes I posted about!!!

Mini Coloring Boxes – Use an empty first aid kit box ($1 in the travel section at Target) and attach a new square size post it with hot glue or double stick foam tape to the back and stick a few crayons in. It’s the perfect size to hold everything and you can toss it in your purse for when you eat out, too. Just don’t leave the crayons in a hot car! Got the idea here .

Popsicle Stick Puzzles-  This genius idea could not be easier and will keep toddlers entertained for a while! Use it on a small cookie sheet and the fridge after you travel! See how to make it in this post!

Popsicle Sticks With Velcro – Add velcro dots to the back of colored popsicle sticks and let your child create different shapes. Will be fun to use out of the car too, be sure to pack in a small box to keep everything together.

Magnetic Puzzles – Pick up a few new puzzles and stick on adhesive magnetic dots to the back  and stick it on a cookie sheet.

Clipboard Coloring – Attach sheets from coloring books to a clipboard to allow your little one a better coloring experience on the go!

Lego Boxes – Can’t wait to see how these little lego boxes go – I got everything at the dollar store and the idea here .

Sticker Matching –  This could not be easier to make before you leave, just clip your sticker sheets to a clipboard with a crayon or colored pencil and let your little one practice fine motor skills +  development. Got the idea here .

Snack Boxes – Fill up tackle or craft boxes (I found for $3 at Michael’s) with various snacks. Not sure how our 3 year old will do with these and spilling so we may let her pick her snack from each section and put in a spill proof cup for eating.

Truck Spotting- Piper is really into looking out the window now that her car seat is turned around– though it may be better for 3-4 year olds and up – you could make a simplified version for younger kids. Idea found here .

Water Painting – Water Wow books from Melissa & Doug are a lifesaver as are their Paint With Water coloring pads – simply put a little bit of water in a cup in your child’s cupholder on their car seat and let them go to town (use a clip board)!

Window C lings – These won’t work for children sitting in the middle seat too well but older ones may enjoy sticking window clings to the windows.

Discovery Boxes – Every few hours give your child a new box or bag full of discovery items — this can be anything from kitchen utensils to small toys, the name of the game is offering them items they haven’t played with before or in a while.

Spools of ribbon or crepe paper  – This kept Piper busy during our last road trip, she enjoyed unrolling spools of ribbon, and then I would just roll them back up for her, over and over and over….

Play kids music – Have your child’s favorite tunes cued up — they almost always calm Piper down and she has fun singing along to familiar music.

Stickers- No-fail and always on hand. I cut up some new sticker strips and put them in a little coupon organizer I got at the Dollar Store to make them a bit more exciting for Piper.

Magnet or felt board – I’m hoping these entertain Piper… here is a great post on how to make a magnet board and here’s one for a felt board  – I’m going to make mine with cardboard in a smaller size.

New books – Head to the library before your trip to surprise your little one with plenty of new books!

Busy Wallet – I’m so excited to make this for Piper and give it to her during our trip, I read about it here . She loves to take my wallet out of my purse and pull it apart. I can’t wait to give her one to play with in the car!

Mini Post Its – We’ve used these on the airplane before with success — simply let your kid go to town with post it’s – sticking them on the back of the seat, a book or peeling ones off that you’ve stuck.

iPad – When all else fails I’m not above resorting to the iPad. We have two games we let her play in the car ( Fisher Price farm animals & shapes ) and we’ll also download some Pixar Shorts and episodes of Sesame Street. Piper’s usually not too interested in really watching long but it does help calm her down if she’s really upset.

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Home » Blog » Travel » Ultimate Road Trip Activities for Kids: Printables, DIY, & More

Ultimate Road Trip Activities for Kids: Printables, DIY, & More

With summer there is usually lots of time spent in the car, and if you have little ones, you’ll want to keep them entertained. If you’re likely gearing up for plenty of travel—visiting family, summer camps, and vacations with the kids, check out these Ultimate Road Trip Activities for Kids, featuring printables, DIY, & more.

Introducing: The Best Road Trip Games and Activities for Kids!

While my kids would happily watch movies non-stop during our road trips, I prefer to use this time for learning, bonding, and creating lasting memories. With the engaging road trip games and activities below, a little preparation goes a long way in keeping kids entertained for hours, all while having fun and learning along the journey.

1. Road Sign Scavenger Hunt

Thanks, TripSavvy!

This was my favorite road trip scavenger hunt printable that I found, but there are hundreds more if this isn’t what you are looking for. This will keep the kids paying attention, talking, and will for sure strike good friendly competition up in the car!

Plus, this is one that all ages can do. You do not have to be able to read to be able to do this! Just match!

2. “Find That Thing” Scavenger Hunt

Thanks, Carla!

Here is another road trip scavenger hunt game that I found, but this one is only for readers. It is a little more advanced, but the objects are a little harder to find! I would suggest this one for your 4th – middle school-aged kids! They will love this.

3. Make Face Magnets

This is one of the best road trip games for toddlers! They will LOVE this game!

Just find pictures of faces online or even use pictures of your own family member’s facial features and allow your child to build whatever face they want! All you need to do is put a little magnet on the back of each paper and you are good to go!

Thanks, TheIowaFarmersWife.com !

4. Cookie Sheet Chalkboard

This one is so fun! All you need to do is go out and buy some chalkboard paint , paint your cookie sheet, and hand your child some chalk ! They will be entertained for hours on end just drawing away.

This is a super inexpensive way to entertain your kids and you won’t be wasting paper on coloring books! You can just erase and draw over and over again!

Thanks, SunnyWithAChanceOfSprinkles.com

5. Alphabet Pictionary

This one is awesome for any little kid just learning their ABCs but can honestly be used with kids of all ages. All you have to do is print out these printables , put them in a binder , and hand them out to each kid! Let them bring along crayons , pencils or markers and draw away!

Hours will have passed by the time they draw something for each letter . Once everyone finishes, Mom or Dad could judge the drawing and give out a winner for each letter!

Thanks, Lalymom!

6. Travel Memory Game

All you need to make this awesome road trip game is some felt , scissors , glue , and cardboard ! After a little prep, your child will be able to play either with siblings or by themselves, all day long.

This is SUPER easy to make and will last a long time . Not to mention how cheap these supplies will be! Your kids will adore this handmade memory game set.

Thanks, Kids Activities Blog!

7. Truck Spotting/Car Spotting

This is a huge hit in my house for little boys! All you need to do is print this out, hand them a pencil, and see who can spot the most trucks first. Your boys will love this!

Some of these trucks are a little dated and you won’t see too often (like the TV van with the satellite on top) so I would suggest just having a timer and seeing who can get the most in the specific amount of time!

Thanks National Post! 

iSpy is one of my favorite go-to car games but sometimes it is hard to think of things to SPY! I found 2 lists that were perfect for car rides! They are suited well so that you will be able to find everything right from the window of the car.

This will take up a good 30-60 minutes and can be played over and over again!

Thanks, A Pretty Life in the Suburbs & Live Laugh Rowe !

9. License Plate Game

All growing up I played this will my siblings and my kids still play it today!! This awesome printable will help your kids keep track of all the license plates they’ve seen throughout the trip.

I would suggest this one for the longer road trips that go across multiple states . If you’re stuck in one state the entire time, you might not see too much diversity!

Thanks, TheSuburbanMom!

10. ABC Spelling Game

I love this idea! It’s a road trip game that’s fun and educational . And we all know how it goes when a little one is learning to read and write. They are all so eager to learn and this is such a fun way to help them improve their spelling.

All you need is a metal lunch box , magnetic tape , and alphabet letters ! Give your child the lunch box and tell them which words to spell!

You could be sitting in the front seat saying, “dog” “meow” “purple” “truck” and they could be in the backseat spelling away! Or, you could give their sibling little flashcards with words to help quiz them along the way!

Thanks, As the Bunny Hops!

11. Roadtrip Bingo

Bingo is an awesome option when you have a car full of kids! What I love to do is simply give them a book or a notepad, let them set their board up, and simply use fruit snacks or goldfish as markers!

The first one to get a bingo gets to call out the objects the next time. My kids could go on and on for hours with this! I’m sure yours will too!

Thanks, Everyday Reading!

12. Travel Journal

A travel journal is a great way for your kids to pass the time, practice their writing, and write down all the fun memories they make while on family vacations . You can find many different options of printables for a travel journal but I like the one above because it is good for all ages.

Maybe attach a blank piece of paper to the other side and have them draw their favorite part of the day and write a paragraph about what they loved the most about today! Your kids will love to look back on this once the trip is over.

Thanks, Voluntown Housewife!

13. Word Search

Word Searches are fantastic ways to pass the time while in the car. What I love to do is put them in sheet protectors , hand them a dry erase pen , and let all your kids have a try!

This way you will only have to print out one puzzle and they will all get to use it. All they need to do is wipe off their writings once they are done!

Thanks, iHeartNapTime!

14. Would You Rather?

This game looks amazing! I haven’t tried this one yet, but I am going to totally make this for our next road trip. All you have to do is print out the questions and make the book! You will then have dozens of questions for your kids.

This will entertain them for such a long time and they will love it! And if you’re planning a Disney vacation , this is even more perfect.

Thanks, GetAwayToday!

15. Racetrack Binder

I love this idea. You could fill up a little 3 ring binder with word searches, puzzles, games, and maybe even their journal and then add this little race track to the end . You’d then have an entire binder full of road trip games.

With this one, your little kids will love pretending to drive their race car all around as you are on your road trip. Just head here and print out the printable! All you have to do is put it in the sheet protectors and you are good to go!

Thanks, Design Dizzle!

16. Ticket Time

If you have kids that love to ask, “Are we there yet?” This is the game for you!! All you need to do is determine how long your trip will be. If it will be 6 hours, give each kid a baggie with 12 tickets in it (one ticket for every 30 minutes).

After 30 minutes go by, they can hand you a ticket. If they ask, “are we there yet?” they don’t get to turn in a ticket. Once the trip has ended all the kids who have given back all the tickets can get a treat!

I love this simple idea! It helps the kids know how much longer they have left without even having to ask!

Thanks, Crafting Chicks!

17. Car Ride Presents

This idea takes a little prep, but I love the concept of this. This sweet mother decided that she would make a hand-made gift for her kids each time they went on a road trip. Whether it was a journal, a doll, a bracelet, etc… she wrapped it up and took it on the trip with them.

I think this would be an awesome motivator to help your kids be on their best behavior. Tell them that if they behave, they can open their present in the last hour of the trip!

Note: This doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive.. just give them a handmade treat that they would love! Check out these Homemade Gift Ideas Perfect for Any Occasion for ideas.

Thanks, Grey Luster Girl! 

18. Brain Quest

My kids love these games! Their cards are awesome and will get your kids thinking. There are different decks for different ages and they will keep your kids entertained forever .

The deck is full of questions that your child will quickly need to answer. This can be played with siblings or with you leading it! Whatever works! If you’ve never tried this game, you need to! It’s the greatest.

Check it out here!

19. Geography Quiz

Make it a competition and your kids will love it even more. I even have a little prize sometimes for the winner.

20. Dry Erase Activity Book

This is one that can be 100% customizable . All you need to do is gather a bunch of printables that your child can use over and over again. I found word searches, essay prompts, coloring pages, and crosswords.

All you need to do after is laminate them! You can either go to a store to get this done or do it yourself! Afterward, punch holes in the paper and let your kids draw away. This book will last forever because all you’ll have to do is erase the markings and start over after every road trip.

Thanks Simply Kierste!

21. Hangman

This is the perfect game for road trips. It is a wooden slab that has letters that you can flip over and a dry erase marker. All you need to do is throw this in the car and it is there ready for them to play. My kids love this and it keeps them occupied for hours and hours. 

22. Road Trip Grab Book

I decided to put this as the last homemade game because it is the perfect way to combine all of the other road trip activities and games I have mentioned above. All you need is a 3 ring binder and some pencil cases .

Once you have those, all you need to do is fill each pencil case with different activities. You can put coloring pages, legos, treats, cards, etc. Honestly, anything you want! All you have to do is fill it up and hand it to each child.

You can customize each binder and fill it with things specific to them OR give everyone the same thing . I like to put all the same things in each binder just to avoid the fighting!

Thanks, MamaPapaBubba!

23. Premium Scratch and Sketch Art Notes 2 Pack

This is the perfect item for any of your children that love to doodle. This pad will eliminate crayons, markers, and pens because all the colors are already there under the paper! Once they draw, the colors will appear. Your kids will love these.

24. Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game

This game is perfect to play in the car. All you need to do is put it in the pocket of your car and let it sit there. Whenever your kids are bored, they can pull it out and use it! They will love having it around to keep them entertained on long rides.

25. Games on the Go

If you’re looking for a bunch of simple road trip games in a compact format, this Games On the Go product is perfect. It has 50 games and can fit right in your pocket!

Final Thoughts

I hope that you found some car games that struck your attention on this list! Give a few of them a try on your next road trip and let me know how it goes.

I know that sometimes as moms we just DREAD long trips in the car, but with the right preparation, you can have the best road trip ever!

What road trip activities do your kids love doing in the car? Comment below! I can’t wait to find out.

Essential Road Trip Item:

This would be awesome on the back seat of your car to keep snacks and supplies off the ground! There is nothing I love more than squished fruit snacks or crackers ALL OVER THE CAR 😉 and this will prevent that from happening!

Plus it will keep your kids energized while they play all the road trip games above. Check it out on Amazon here .

This post was insanely helpful. Thanks for all your hard work putting this together.

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28 Fun Car Road Trip Games For Kids And Families

By: Author Nakia Pullen

Posted on Published: September 29, 2023  - Last updated: March 23, 2024

It seems that family road trips are making a comeback, especially for people who are interested in seeing the country from the ground instead of the air.  

We all have the advantage of knowing how kids can start to feel antsy during road trips because we have experienced it ourselves as children.  

Having a list of things to do during road trips is helpful for the entire family.  The miles go by much more quickly for a child who is busy and parents have the joy of happily entertained children.

With all the things you already have on your to do list for going on trips (which includes packing for pretty much everyone!), we thought you would appreciate some assistance with the in-car entertainment!

These games do not have to be complicated at all. 

For most of them, you only need your imagination and the optional piece of paper, so there is no worry about overpacking the car with a ton of activity related paraphernalia.

Keep this list at the ready for that time (probably within the first hour of your trip) that you hear the words dreaded by most parents….”I’m bored!”  or, my personal favorite, “Are we there yet?”

You will be able to quickly change the vibe in the car by introducing any of the fun road trip games we have listed below.  Best of all, you might all have a ton of fun and be at your destination before you know it!

Road Trip Games For Kids

1. Play Road Trip Bingo

I remember looking at road signs a lot when I was on a long road trip as a child.  Younger kids would love playing road trip bingo to make the miles go by faster.

A great way to help supplement this game is with this colorful and fun  road trip BINGO printable .  Playing this game will help the kids keep their eyes on what is outside instead of spending hours on screen time!

2. Have A Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

One of the best ways to pass the time is to have the kids have something to look for.  

Our  road trip scavenger hunt printable  will help set you up to get started with fun ideas for your next road trip.

The kids will be on such good behavior because they will be so busy looking for all the of items of their scavenger hunt!  

For an added bonus, the winner could have the first choice of a treat at a fast-food restaurant!

3. See Who Can Find More Of Each Color Car

This next option is a road trip classic!  It is a great game especially for kids who are getting more familiar with colors.   

Everyone looks to see how many cars of each color they are able to find along the way.

To help keep track of the cars, we have this cute  car color find printable  to help keep track of everything.  

You could also include bonus points for unusual colors, interesting designs or trucks with different store logos on them!

4. Spot Items Of The Alphabet

Starting with the letter A, spot items on your trip that start with corresponding letters.  This is definitely a game that can include the entire family. 

 If you have little ones, it may be better to take turns and help them so they do not get lost in the shuffle of competition.  

5. Ask Each Other Fun Questions

Road trips are great ways to get to know each other even better than you already do!  Asking each other different questions can really give you a new insight into each member of your family.

The sky is really the limit with what types of questions you can ask.  Sometimes the easiest way to start on these questions is to ask some that make your kids laugh.  

A funny example of this would be  gross would you rather questions !  In addition to gaining instant interest, these questions will also get everyone laughing.

If your road trip happens to be during the summer, you can try out some great  summer would you rather questions  to celebrate the season of sun and fun!

Other questions that will get your kids chatting include  fun questions to ask kids  and the ever entertaining  this or that questions .  

You will definitely be surprised at the variety of answers you get as well as the priceless insight you may get into the personalities of the people in your family! 

The most important thing is to listen and take in the answers from your little ones!

6. Tell Funny Jokes

There is nothing better than hearing jokes from little kids!  It’s one of my favorite car activities.

If your joke bank is running low, we have you covered with  jokes for young children .

If you have kids that have outgrown their car seats and may have a more sophisticated sense of humor, we have also included  jokes for older kids .

Leave room for your kids to bring up jokes they have heard or even better, jokes they have made up by themselves!

7. Play Sevens

Each person in the car takes turns counting and anytime the number is a multiple of 7 that person has to say BUZZ or else they are out.

If you need to modify this game for younger kids, you can start with multiples of 2 and maybe work in teams so that an adult can help.

8.Play Cows And Graveyards

Each person in the car counts the number of cows they see, but when you see a graveyard, it cancels everyone’s cows. Designate one person to keep a tally of cows and graveyard losses.

The person with the most cows at the end wins.  

9. Play Hey Cow

If you spot a herd of cattle, one player rolls down their window and YELLS “Hey COW!!” as loudly as they can. You get one point if the cow looks at you.

10. Play I Went To The Market

The person who starts says “I went to the market and bought (something that starts with A- apple, maybe). The next person has to remember apple and add something with B.

This memory game will give everyone’s brain some needed exercise!

11. Play The License Plate Game

Who knew that you could use license plates to help teach your kids about United States geography?  That is precisely what this classic game is all about.  

Print off a map of the United States for each family member.  The maps will be used as score cards for everyone- kind of like a bingo card.

During the long car ride, each person keeps an eye on license plates of the cars on the road.  If the license plate is from the state you are in, it counts for zero points.

If the license plate is from a state touching the state you are in, it counts for one point.  Every state that touches a one point state is worth two points and so on.

When someone spots a license plate, they must call out the state to get the point for themselves.  This is a perfect way to help your kids learn about different states and their locations!

At the end of your long trip, you can tally the points on each score card to declare a winner!

12. Play Guess The Animal

This is one of the best games to keep everyone busy and learning at the same time.  

One person thinks of an animal and everyone takes turns asking only yes or no questions to figure out what animal that person chose.

For young kids, your best option is to keep answers and questions more simple to meet them where they are in their animal knowledge.  

However, the entire family will be surprised at how much your kids really know about animals!

13. Play Name That Person

Select a person in a passing car and make up their life story.  The story can be as silly and magical as you want.  

Make sure you give them a good backstory and a lot of side characters to follow the main character on their life story journey. 

14. Play The Strange And Unusual Game

Each time someone sees something strange or unusual, they get a point.  

15. Play The Counting Game

One person in the car starts with 1, then someone else (randomly without being signaled) says 2. If two people say it at the same time, you start back at one. The end goal is to get to 20.

You will be amazed at how much this will make everyone laugh!

16. Play Name The Song/Artist

Playing this game is such a good way to have your travel music playlist work double duty for you!  

It is also a one of the better road trip activities to take part in for those of us who experience motion sickness and have a challenge looking at things inside the car while it is moving.

There are a few variations of this game.  You can play the beginning of the song to see if people can guess it.  

You can also have someone say the lyrics to a song and everyone guesses.  

Make sure you have a kid safe playlist that has songs that kids of all ages can identify!

17. Play Triple Threat

Someone says three random nouns and the other people in the car have to tell a story about the three items.  

You could either have one person tell the tale, have each person tell a different story, or have everyone take turns and be involved in the same story.  

No matter what you choose, this game will score high in the creativity and fun category!

18. Have A Rock Paper Scissors Tournament

Among some of my favorite road trip games has to be rock paper scissors!  Make sure you go over the rules: rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper and paper beats rock.  

If there is a tie, the people who tied get to go against each other again until there is no tie.  The people who lose could wash the car windows on the next stop or help get snacks for the winners.  

The tournament could resume after each car stop.

19. Play Punch Buggy

Also called Slug Bug or Punch Bug, this game consists of looking for Volkswagen bug vehicles.  Make sure the kids are clear on what one looks like before you begin!

When someone spots a bug, he or she lightly punches the person next to them and says “Punch Buggy!”.   A variation of this can be to include the color of the bug vehicle that was spotted.  

You can designate a person to keep a tally of each family member’s finds.  Designate one point for a found bug and take away a point for each time punch buggy is called in error.

Go over the level of punch with your kids to start or you can change the rules to have them tap each other.  Sometimes the excitement of the game can lead to and overexcitement in the punch category!

That being said, keep the game light and fun and give each other kudos for their finds.  The only out of bounds area for this game is when passing by a Volkswagen dealership, or else mayhem may ensue!  

The winner can be declared the bug champion of the trip!

20. Play Mystery Phrase

It’s like telephone, but you spell the phrase out in a person’s hand.  To help ease the guessing a little bit, you could come up with themes, like summer items, animal names or shapes, for example.

This game is sure to get the laughter going in the car!

21. Play Fortunately, Unfortunately

This storytelling game will help you all create a story with tons of exciting ups and downs!  

The first person says something like:” Fortunately, I remembered to bring sunscreen”, and then the next person says something like “but unfortunately, it made my skin green!” and so forth while telling a silly story.

Every sentence starts alternately with Fortunately or Unfortunately, thereby changing the story for better or worse with each sentence.  Kids will enjoy the general silliness of this game!

22. Play Mad Libs

These road trip-themed Mad Libs are perfect for your next trip!

If you would like to reuse stories, depending on the length of the drive, you can put them in clear pocket folders and use erasable markers to fill in each blank.

23. Play I Spy

Each person starts their turn with the phrase “I spy with my little eye….”  and then they give some form of description about an item they happen to see out the window of the car.

For example, someone might say “I spy with my little eye something green” and then everyone else in the car starts guessing items outside that are green until someone guesses correctly.

24. Play The Quiet Game

For the times when things have gotten too loud and rambunctious (especially in the back seats!), this game will help chill things out, at least for a while!

As the name suggests, the point of the game is to stay quiet.  The last team or person to stay quiet the longest, wins the game.

While I can not guarantee that this game will last long, it will give at least a short break and most likely end in laughter!

25. Play The Category Game

One person chooses a category and a letter (for example, animals and the letter G).  Then each person takes turns naming items in this category that start with the chosen letter.

So for our example we would have gorillas, goats, giraffes, gerbils, etc.  The first person who can not think of a word for the category is out and gets to pick the next letter.

The remaining players continue to name items in the category, but now using the next letter that was chosen.  You continue to play the game this way until everyone but one person is out.

The winner gets to choose the next category and letter for the next game.

26. Play The Name Game

The first person in this game starts off with the name of their choice.  Then the next person has to figure out a name that starts with the last letter of the first name and so on.

For example: Adam, Mary, Yolanda, Aiden.  Anyone who can not think of a name or repeats a name already used is out.  The last person left at the end wins the game!

27. Play Two Truths and a Lie

One player tells everyone two things that are true and one thing that is a lie.  Everyone else has to guess which of these is the lie.

This can be quiet challenging since you are most likely traveling with people who know you pretty well!

28. Play Tic-Tac-Toe

For this simple game you can use a piece of paper and pass it back and forth.  If you want to do something a little different, you can find tic-tac-toe magnets and use a small cookie sheet to stick them to.

For a bonus, you can add other fun magnets with pictures of the alphabet that can encourage some independent play as well!

We sincerely hope that this list will help ease some of the pressures that can come with a long road trip.  

Time together with family can be wonderful, but it can also feel like a lot when you are all crammed in a small space for hours at a time!

While not every minute has to be life changing and amazing, it is good to have a plan to keep the kids (and adults!) busy and happy.  

Remember that it is also ok for the kids to do their own thing at times as well.  While it is nice to do things together, you also need a break every now and then and that is definitely ok!

Have fun and enjoy those sweet moments where you are all enjoying yourselves and laughing so hard that your eyes are watering!

Happy trails and as always, you’ve got this!

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Saturday 7th of October 2023

What an incredible post about fun car road trip games for kids and families! I absolutely love the idea of "See Who Can Find More Of Each Color Car." It's such a fantastic way to engage everyone in the car and keep them entertained while enjoying the journey. "Play Name The Song/Artist" is another brilliant game that brings the joy of music into the road trip experience. And let's not forget about "The Quiet Game" – a classic game that can provide some much-needed tranquility during long drives. Thank you for sharing these fantastic ideas! They really make car journeys more enjoyable, memorable, and filled with laughter.

Brenda Kosciuk

Thanks for the appreciation!

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Friday 29th of September 2023

[…] a bunch of these car games for kids and car activities for 2 year olds, 3 year olds or 4 year olds ready to go will help you to not […]

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Family Life

Fun Road Trip Games for Kids that You Can Prep in 3 Minutes or Less

Created On: March 6   |   Updated: March 29   |   Leave a comment

Have a long car ride with kids coming up soon? Use these fun and easy road trip games for kids to keep your little ones entertained without electronics! These easy games to play in the car are perfect for all kids, toddlers to teens.

You’re 30 minutes in to an 8 hour drive and you’re already hearing “Are we there yet?”.

The bag of snacks has somehow already disappeared, and your kids are already bored of the games that were supposed to entertain them for the next 7 1/2 hours.

So, what’s a Mom to do?

Back in the day, before 8 year olds had their own iPads and cell phones, we had to get creative with our road trip entertainment.

I remember taking road trips to Florida with my family and playing fun games that my Mom seemed to just make up on the fly. Games like “My father owns a grocery store and he sells…” – I’m sure that’s not the proper title of that easy road trip game, but I DO know that it was a favorite of me and my siblings.

And I remember playing the game “Dots” with my sister in the backseat. I’m not sure who invented that easy and addicting road trip game that just requires a pad of paper and a pencil, but I’m pretty sure it was my grandma. 🙂 We used to sit around her kitchen table and play for what seemed like hours on end.

So, yes, there is such thing as non-battery powered road trip fun!

If the batteries in your kids’ iPads are beyond dead, and every page in their coloring books has been scribbled on, then try one of these easy games to play in the car with kids!

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click a link and make a purchase then I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure here .

Fun Road Trip Games for Kids that Don’t Need ANY Supplies

Alphabet grocery store game.

That’s what I’m calling it, anyway! Your kids will LOVE this easy game, PLUS it will help them use their brains (rather than their two thumbs like that handheld electronics device!).

Here’s how to play the Alphabet Grocery Store Game:

• Pick one person to go first.
• The first person thinks of something that is sold in the grocery store that starts with the letter “A”. Or, if you don’t want to go in alphabetical order, they can choose ANYTHING that’s sold in a grocery store.
• Player one says, “My father owns a grocery store and he sells something that starts with the letter _____”. ( Insert the first letter of whatever they are thinking of ).
• The other players try to guess what grocery store item player one is thinking of.
• Whoever guesses correctly gets to take the next turn.

The great thing about this fun car ride game is that it requires absolutely NO prep work! No printing anything out prior to leaving the house, no pen and paper, nada!

So, when the kids start to get cranky, just shout out “My father owns a grocery store and he sells something that starts with B”. If your kids are younger, it could be “bananas”, but if you’re playing this road trip game with teens, it could be “bouillon”.

And for teens, you can use multi-word items, giving the first letter of each word as a hint… like “C-B” for “chicken breasts”.

Alphabet Sign Game

This easy road trip game for kids was another one of my favorites growing up. It’s fun to play, and it’s GREAT for elementary aged kids that are familiar with the letters of the alphabet. This is another game to play in the car that doesn’t require a road trip printable or pen and paper.

Here’s how to play the Alphabet Sign Game:

• Everyone starts at the letter “A”.
• All players look out the window for a billboard or street sign that has the letter “A” on it.
• Once someone finds the letter “A”, he or she points it out to the rest of the car riders, and then moves on to letter “B”.
• Each sign can only be counted for ONE player, so if Lucy finds the letter “A” in a Subway sign, then no one else can use a letter from that sign.
• The person to get through the entire alphabet first wins!

Alphabet License Plate Game

The Alphabet License Plate Game is played the exact same way as the sign game above, except that instead of looking for the letters on billboards, you look for letters on license plates.

So everyone starts by looking for letter “A” in a license plate number (not the state). Each license plate can only be used by one player, or you can omit that rule to make the game easier for younger kids.

The Color Game

This road trip game for toddlers is great if your kids don’t know their letters yet.

Here’s how to play The Color Game:

• Pick one of your kids to go first.
• Say the name of a color and a number 1-5. Or, if you packed flashcards in your car ride bag, then you can draw a color and a number card.
• The first player has to look out the window and find the proper number of items in that color. For instance, if you say “Yellow 3”, then your child needs to find 3 yellow items.

20 Questions – By Theme

Here’s how to play 20 Questions for an easy car ride game:

• Pick a category – Food, animals, etc.
• Player one thinks of something in the category, but doesn’t tell everyone what it is. For instance, if the category is animals, they could pick “dolphin” as their secret item.
• All other car riders ask questions Yes or No questions to try and guess what player one’s secret item. For instance, does the animal live on land?
• The object of this easy road trip game is to try and guess the secret item in LESS than 20 questions. Once 20 questions have been asked, player one tells what the secret item is, and the next player gets a turn at picking the secret item.

I Spy – Colors or Letters

I know you’re familiar with the classic I Spy game… and it’s probably a classic because it doesn’t require ANY supplies, and it’s perfect for kids of all ages.

You can play I Spy with colors (“I Spy something yellow”) OR for a fun car ride game for older kids, you can play with letters (“I Spy something that starts with letter F”).

Road Trip Games for Kids that Use a Pen and Paper

If you’ve packed some pencils and paper for your car ride, then you can have your kids play one of these fun road trip games.

My girls have also played these easy car ride games using a BoogieBoard ( affiliate ). If you’ve never heard of a BoogieBoard, then you need to check them out!

BoogieBoards (not to be confused with the surf toy!) are perfect for car rides because they can be used to play writing games, to draw pictures, etc. without worrying about your kids getting pen marks on your cloth seats.

License Plate Game

So many car ride games to pass the time can be played just by looking at license plates. If you’ve got a pen and paper, you can easily make up your own license plate game. Here’s one variation of the classic road trip game:

How to Play the License Plate Game:

• First, set the duration for the game… will the game last for one hour or the entire length of the car ride.
• Set different point values for different states or license plate numbers. For instance, a personalized plate can be worth 2 points, a neighboring state can be worth 1 point, and 2 of the same letters or numbers in a row can be worth 3 points . License plates for the state that you are driving through could be worth 0 points to make the game a little more difficult.
• Then, pass out pens and paper to your kids. Let them keep track of what license plates they see by writing down the state and using tally marks.
• When the time has expired, add up everyone’s points and the highest score wins.

This 2 person road trip game is great for older elementary-aged kids. I remember playing this game with my sister for hours on end in the backseat.

It may sound complicated, but it’s actually really easy once you get the hang of it…

Here’s how to play the Dots game on your next road trip:

• Draw a grid of dots on a piece of notebook paper. Leave enough space to connect the dots to make 1/4″ to 1/2″ squares. Draw your dots on the lines of the notebook paper to help keep your dot grid straight. Or, you could easily play this game on dot grid bullet journal paper.
• Pick someone to go first.
• The first person draws one line connecting two dots. The line can ONLY be horizontal or vertical and it can only connect TWO dots. No diagonal lines.
• Then, the second person draws a line connecting two dots. He or she can build on the first person’s line, or start their own square from scratch.
• The object of the game is to be the person that draws the 4th side of the square.
• Whoever finishes a square by drawing the 4th line gets to put his or her initials inside that square.
• The person with the most initials on the page at the end of the game (when all of the dots have been turned into squares) wins!

This is an easy game of strategy, and it’s PERFECT for car rides!

Hangman & Tic Tac Toe

These classic road trip games don’t take long to play, which means that your kids could end up blowing through an entire pad of paper pretty quickly. This is where the BoogieBoards ( affiliate ) come in handy, because once your kids are done playing one game, they just push the button to erase the screen and start another game!

Printable Road Trip Games for Kids

These printable activities for car rides are GREAT to pass the time without electronics devices! You can print these road trip activity sheets off before you leave for a long trip, and laminate them to use them over and over again with dry erase markers!

Road Trip Scavenger Hunts

Printable scavenger hunts are a great way to pass the time on long car rides. Have kids search for specific road signs, restaurants, or cars.

You can grab my printable Road Trip Sign Scavenger Hunts and other car ride games for kids HERE!

Road Trip Questions for Kids

Use the time on your road trip to get to know your kids more and encourage them to talk to you instead of burying their faces in an iPad.

You can grab my printable list of Questions to Ask Kids in my FREEBIES library (I’ll send you the password as a FREE gift when you subscribe to my FREE email newsletter!)…

OR, you can check out my 100 Questions to Ask Kids Printable Cards HERE!

Just print out the PDF on card stock, cut into question cards, and let your kids draw a card!

We used the question cards as dinner table conversation starters recently, and my girls took 15 minutes to answer the very first question. So with 100 different question cards, this is a GREAT way to take up time and make the car ride go by a little faster.

Printable Road Trip Bingo Cards

This Road Trip Restaurant Bingo from The Suburban Mom is a fun take on road trip bingo games.

Or, you can grab my Printable Bingo Cards (with 3 different cards) in my Road Trip Games Bundle HERE!

Printable License Plate Game

I LOVE this FREE printable license plate game from The Suburban Mom! Just print it out before you leave for your car trip, and pass out the printables to your kids when the road trip boredom sets in.

Printable Road Trip Word Search

Printable word searches are also great for car ride activities. Here’s a great car trip word search you can grab for FREE from Artsy Fartsy Mama!

Other Fun Road Trip Games for Kids to Beat Boredom

If you’re more of the Amazon Prime type of Mom (no judgement!), then here are some awesome car games for kids that you can buy. By the way, if you’re NOT an Amazon Prime Mom then check out this post on How Amazon Prime Can Make Mom Life Easier!

Travel Bingo Cards

We have these travel Bingo cards and my kids LOVE them! These road trip bingo cards make PERFECT car ride games for toddlers!

Rubbernekkers – Everyone’s Favorite Travel Game

Rubbernekkers is a highly-rated road trip card game for ages 8 and up. This fun game pits car riders against each other to spot the items listed on their cards.

Wikki Stix Traveler Playset

My kids used to LOVE playing Wikki Stix when we went out to eat. I remember being first introduced to Wikki Stix at a little cafe in Jackson Hole, WY, where they gave out mini packs of the fun moldable wax sticks and encouraged kids to make designs on the walls.

This Wikki Stix Traveler Playset is PERFECT for fun road trip activities for toddlers! And they’re reusable so you can take them to restaurants or on road trips over and over again.

What are your favorite road trip games for kids to play in the car? How do you keep your little ones entertained when the iPad just doesn’t cut it anymore? Leave me a comment down below!

And don’t forget to PIN this post for when you’re prepping for your next car ride!

Created by Amy

Amy is a busy working Mom of two girls, and she has been happily married to her high school sweetheart for almost 20 years. Amy has created hundreds of printables and other resources to help women manage their household and thrive in their family relationships. Whether you need a template to help track your monthly bills, an easy teacher gift idea, or conversation starters to connect with your husband, Amy has designed a resource to help you!

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30 Fun Road Trip Games for Kids and Families (Updated 2024)

By: Chrissy

Posted on Last updated: March 22, 2024

Planning your next family road trip? Keep your kids happy and occupied with these amazing Fun Road Trip Games for Kids and Families.

Getting excited about your next road adventure? Before you hop in the car for your next road trip with the kids take a look at these Fun Road Trip Games for Kids and Families to have a happy, relaxing and screen-free road trip.

In this fantastic round-up, you’ll find a selection of DIY portable games you can craft yourself, travel Bingo games, road trip scavenger hunt games, word games and riddles, printable sheets for travel binders and the best all-around road trip games for families. That means fewer squabbles and less complaining so you can all have fun on your family road trip.

And if your road trip is also a camping trip, be sure to also take a look at our useful list of  What To Bring Camping With Kids .

Happy and safe travels!

Table of Contents

DIY Road Trip Games for Kids

Love crafting? Be inspired by these creative portable games you can make for your car trips to keep the kids happy.

1. DIY Portable Tic-Tac-Toe Game

This DIY Portable Tic-Tac-Toe Game is a sweet little game that kids of all ages will love. For this lovely project, you will need a metal case with a lid, magnetic and sticker paper and free printables included in this tutorial.

Learn more: A Beautiful Mess

2. Calming Find It Game

If the kids get bored on your road trip get them concentrating on finding fun objects in this Calming Find It Game. It’s super easy to make with a plastic bottle, rice and small objects and perfect to take with you on trips.

Learn more: Lady Behind The Curtain

3. DIY Fabric Marble Maze

Fan of sewing? Make this lovely DIY Fabric Marble Maze for your kids. This DIY fidget toy is a pocket-size fabric marble maze sewn from fabric scraps. Get your free marble maze template and instructions in this tutorial.

Learn more: Apple Green Cottage

4. DIY Magnetic Travel Game for Kids

We created this DIY Magnetic Travel Game to keep the kids busy when we’re out and about. It includes free printable Monster cutouts and kids can mix and match the monster body parts with different eyes and mouths creating all kinds of silliness.

Learn more: Fun Loving Families

5. DIY Battleship Sweets Game

This DIY Battleship Sweets Game must be the cutest game we’ve ever seen. What an adorable spin on the classic Battleship game. Find out how to craft it in this fun tutorial.

Learn more: Lovely Indeed

6. Magnetic DIY Travel Tangram Puzzles

Have you heard of Tangram Puzzles? This simple activity will keep kids busy for a little while as they explore making new shapes and because they will stay put it makes it great for trips.

Learn more: Delia Creates

Road Trip Games for Kids

If you’re not a fan of crafting your own games and want an easy solution check out our family favorite road trip games picks.

7. Wikki Stix Traveler Set

Wikki Stix are a fun, mess-free, creative activity that my kids have always loved and I love this Wikki Stix Traveler Set that is perfect for kids who like to be creative.

8. Melissa and Doug Hangman Travel Game

This Melissa and Doug Hangman Travel Game is another favorite travel game in our house. Once your kids can spell a few words, they can start playing hangman. It’s a game that is built to last, so you’ll be able to keep it and use it for years. We’ve had ours for about 5 years, and it’s still going strong!

9. License Plate Game

You can’t go wrong with this License Plate Game. If your kids like to play this game, then this is something you’ll want to keep around. It’s easy to keep track of which states have been spotted and all of the pieces stay connected…so no missing pieces. Ever.

10. Travel Bingo Games

Grab a set of these Travel Bingo Games and have fun spotting the various sights along the way. This bundle includes the Original Interstate Highway Travel Bingo Set and the Highway Hunt Card Game.

11. Rubber Neckers Game

Rubber Neckers Game is a really fun challenge game where players earn points for completing challenges. I love that many players can play this game together, so it really makes for a fun car ride game. Each card has a challenge (e.g. get a person in another vehicle to wave, be first to spot a picnic table, etc.) with a point value, and you can play to however many points you choose.

12. Games on the Go Set

This Games on the Go Set is a collection of portable guessing games, word games, memory challenges, and more. They’re great to keep in your purse to play with the kids in the car, or while you’re waiting for your food at a restaurant. I love this set because they’re games that the whole family can play together.

Printable Road Trip Games for Kids

Whether you want to save a few dollars or are short on time, these printable travel games are a great way to add some time-fillers to your arsenal on the road.

13. Road Trip Alphabet Race

This Road Trip Alphabet Race is a fun engaging game to see who can spot the first thing beginning with each letter that is drawn from the pack. Whoever has the most letters at the end of the game wins! Check out this free printable and the instructions below.

Learn more: Handmade Charlotte

14. Little Red Riding Hood Finger Puppets

Let your kid’s imagination flow with these adorable Little Red Riding Hood Finger Puppets. This free printable includes six finger puppets from the Little Red Riding Hood story.

Learn more: Easy Peasy and Fun

15. Would You Rather Printable Game

I love the representation of this simple DIY Would You Rather Printable Game. Use this free printable to create one for your road trips and get the whole family talking and sharing.

Learn more: Typically Simple

16. Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Printables

This Road Trip Scavenger Hunt has just the right level of challenge for any age kid in the car. Print as many as you need for your toddlers, big kids, or tweens and teens. Grab the free printable via the link below.

17. DIY I Spy Game

Are you intrigued by this DIY I Spy Game? This one is created as a collage of different objects found around the house and then photographed and printed out. You can print out this one or be inspired to make your own.

Learn more: Dabbles and Babbles

18. Car Game Printable Games

Here is a fun set of free printable, re-usable dry-erase Car Game Printable Games. Head to this tutorial for the download and tips on how to create a simple kid’s travel kit.

Learn more: Simply Designing

19. License Plate Coloring Map

I love this coloring version of the license plate game. In this free printable kids color in the states as they spot the different license plates. You can download this License Plate Coloring Map via the link below.

Learn more: Happiness is Homemade

20. The Ultimate Activity Travel Printable Kit

The kids will have plenty of road trip games to choose from with this Ultimate Activity Travel Printable Kit. It includes all the best travel activities for kids to make your car journey a breeze.

Learn more: Moms Who Think

21. Printable Road Trip Activity Pack

Here’s another adorable Printable Road Trip Activity Pack to give you more choices. This one includes a colorful binder cover and seven entertaining activities for screen-free fun.

Learn more: Playdough to Plato

22. Printable License Plate Game

Keep it simple with this Printable License Plate Game. Kids can check off the states as they see the corresponding license plates. You can make this a cooperative game with all kids working together to finish the sheet, or print off multiple copies and make it a race to see who can find them all first.

Learn more: Raising Whasians

23. Restaurant I Spy Printable

This Restaurant I Spy Printable is a fun game that is perfect for road trips. Kids will have fun spotting the different logos on billboards and the roads with this bingo game.

Learn more: 3 Boys and a Dog

24. License Plate Game

License Plate Games are so much fun on road trips. Kids can see what the different state license plates look like while they play this printable license plate game. This post also includes handy 5 Road Trip Survival Rules For Traveling With Kids.

Learn more: The Suburban Mom

25. Kids Road Trip Scavenger Hunt

This Kids Road Trip Scavenger Hunt is great for the younger kids. The cute illustrations of cars, animals, buildings, street signs and more are perfect for preschoolers.  

Learn more: Kristen Duke Photography

26. Busy Binder with Printable Road Trip Games

Here’s a fantastic Busy Binder with Printable Road Trip Games. The “Which Colors Can You Find” is one that I hadn’t seen before, so I had to include it here. I’m sure the variety of games in here will keep the kids happy and engaged.

Learn more: Cutesy Crafts

27. Road Trip Word Search

Add this Road Trip Word Search to your game printables and put them all in a binder to keep them organized. You can also have it laminated and use a dry-erase marker to use it over and over again.

Learn more: Artsy Fartsy Mama

28. Road Trip Sticker Activity Set

This fabulous Road Trip Sticker Activity Set includes four different activities that correspond to four different sticker sheets that after printing you can have bound into a handy little workbook.

Learn more: The Homes I Have Made

29. Road Trip Games Printables Pack

Grab this Road Trip Games Printables Pack. This design would speak to the older kids who will have fun with it and be entertained.

Learn more: Today’s Creative Life

30. Printable Disney Theme Would You Rather Game

Disney fans will enjoy this Disney-themed version of the popular Would Your Rather game. Get this free printable via the link below for the hours of fun.

Learn more: Or So She Says

Final Tips on Road Trip Games for Kids

• You can print all of these free printable travel games and put copies in a binder for your kids to keep everything neat and organized.
• Some families like to ration out the games so that the kids don’t rush through everything in the first hour of the trip. You can set a timer or use post-it notes to remind you of when to pull out a new set of games. This is really a great tip because it allows for lots of variety and the kids always have something to look forward to.
• Use a backseat headrest organizer to keep games organized and within reach.

BEFORE YOU GO: See our best  tips for keeping your car clean and organized  before your next car trip!

Similar Posts:

• 32 DIY Backyard Party Games for the Best Summer Party Ever
• 50+ Things To Do On A Rainy Day: Games and Activities for Kids
• Road Trip Scavenger Hunt: Free Printable Lists for Toddlers to Teens
• 31 Fun DIY Backyard Play Areas The Kids Will Love

9 Old School Road Trip Games You Have to Play With Your Kids

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Family road trips are not just about getting to a destination.

They are also about the journey. I’m all for iPads and DVD players and other technology but there is something to be said for turning all that off and actually coming together to pass the time. This is when memories are made.

Even with all the technology in the world, there will come a time when the battery runs dead, the headphones break, or *GASP* you travel through an internet dead zone. Be prepared for this on your next family trip with these old-school road trip games for kids.

9 Road Trip Games For Kids

1. twenty questions.

Who can play: Ages 5 and up

Items needed: None

To play Twenty Questions, you just have to have one person choose a person, place or thing. Then everyone else gets twenty questions to try to figure out what that person is thinking about. It might be difficult for smaller children, but you never know. Sometimes it’s the youngest ones who have the best questions!

2. License Plate Game

Who can play: Ages 7 and up

Items needed: paper and pencil for each player

This is one of the old school road trip games that works best during those long cross-country hauls. Start when you pull out of the driveway and as each player sees a new state on a license plate, they mark that state down on their paper. After a certain amount of time, like to the first bathroom break, you count up how many states each player has found and the person with the most states is the winner. Feel free to continue the game or start over.

Old school road trip games are not just a relic of the past. With the massive takeover of handheld technology and wireless internet access, it may seem like they are needed about as much as a CB radio is needed. However, there is a reason they survived so many years of family road trips. They are fun and (don’t tell the kids) educational too!

3. The Name Game

Who can play: Ages 4 and up

Items needed: none

The fun thing about this game is there are endless variations. The basic one is that you start naming names as you go around the car. You have only 3 seconds (or 3 hand claps or some other appropriate time scale) to come up with a name for your turn. If you fail to think of one, then you’re out. Be sure to say what qualifies as a name (first name only? Last names? Fictional names?). Also, we give my five-year-old two “misses” before he’s out. Consider doing that for the younger kids so they can still play along and you avoid unnecessary meltdowns. Done with names? Play the same game with colors, cities, countries, feelings, etc.

You may also enjoy this article: 100 Things To Always Keep In The Car

Who can play: All ages

This is one of the perennial old school road trip games. Everyone can do it, though little kids may choose some obvious objects. Be sure to start the game saying if the item the person “spies” should be inside or outside the car. This may be a little difficult if you have color-blind family members.

5. Name That Tune

Who can play: All ages but best for tweens and teens

Items needed: None (unless you want to keep score)

Use one of the streaming services on a phone to let one person control the music in the car. He or she will play up to 5 seconds of a song and the rest of the group has to guess which song that is. You may want to limit the songs to one genre, like Disney music for example, so little ones can play too.

Planning to trip to a Disney Theme Park? Check out this Disney family road trip playlist. 

6. Road-trip BINGO

Items needed: Pre-made travel bingo board games

There is a reason BINGO has remained popular over the decades. Everyone loves it. We bought $1 travel bingo board games from Target but you can also make your own. The players just need to pay attention to the passing landscape and find the items on the board. On long road trips you may want to get creative and decide what constitutes a BINGO (four corners, all-board, X, etc).

Who can play: Ages 6 and up (readers)

Items needed: Pencil and pad of paper

One player thinks of a word and puts the corresponding number of dashes on a piece of paper. Other players guess letters that may be in the word. If they guess a letter that is not in the word, a part of the hangman is created. We use head, two arms, body, and two legs. This gives the player six chances to get letters wrong before they lose. Ultra-competitive family members can make this hard by choosing very hard words so be wary of that. Also, early readers may not know the correct spelling and should check with someone not playing that the word they want is spelled correctly.

Need help keeping the car clean while on your trip? Here are  9 Easy Road Trip Hacks To Keep Your Car Clean.

8. Story Starter

This is one of those really fun games that is sure to end in fits of laughter. One person starts a story but doesn’t finish the sentence. The next person finishes that sentence and starts another, continuing that story. Even little ones can play and often provide some hilarious additions.

9. Alphabet game

The Alphabet game works best on long, cross-country road trips, especially those that travel through small towns. Simply find words that start with each letter of the alphabet. First to find them all wins. Word to the wise: just eliminate Q, X and Z. Make it easy on yourself and your kids. For a different variation, have each player write the alphabet out on a piece of paper. As they see a word, have them cross out the letter that the word starts with.

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Maria Smith is the founder of MamaliciousMaria.com, one of the top parenting, travel and auto blogs in the country.... More about Maria Smith

Categorized: Car Culture