Car Games to Occupy The Kids

Heading out on a road trip soon? Or maybe visiting friends and family who live a while away? It’s tough keeping kids entertained on a long journey, but car games always help things feel speedy! As well as occupying your kids long enough that you won’t hear the dreaded “Are we there yet?” question.

We’ve scoured the internet for the best games you and the family can play in the car! They’re great for when you need something fun to do for a few minutes or hours, so whether it’s just you and the driver or if you have a few kids along for the ride, here are our top picks:

Nowadays, there are so many different car brands, more than you can count on both hands! Whether they’re German makes like Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Italian like Fiat and Ferrari, or British like Aston Martin, Jaguar and so on. There are even new brands that aren’t as common in the UK like Subaru, Polestar and the Chevrolet… So, why not make a game out of it?

On a piece of paper, make a 4×3 grid and either write the names of the brands in the boxes or stick a picture of the logo! The first one to win a line or even the whole bingo card wins! What will they win? Treats…dibs on the front seat when they next get out of the car or even to be in charge of the music.

This is a classic car game, but lots of fun! Take turns in picking a character, person, animal, country and so on… And the rest of the road trip gang has to ask 20 questions to guess what you’re thinking of!

If you parents are really competitive and want to win, I suggest you pick something really obscure… But hey, your kids may still outsmart you!

So, this is a bit tricky, but it’s good fun and helps encourage memory function! How it works is you make a scenario like “I’m going to the beach and I’m bringing…” and list a few items that you’d take to the beach. Now the next person has to repeat what was said and ADD an extra item to the list.

Everyone has to do the same thing and add extra items to the list – if you forget what someone said, you lose the game!

Now, this isn’t always a party game parents… You can make it child-friendly!

By asking questions like ‘Would you rather have gills to breathe or only live in trees?’. You can also choose to make it really challenging to pick, like ‘Would you rather put your hand into a bowl of eels or walk across a path of legos?’.

Neither is very appealing, but you have to pick!

Another easy(ish) one. Think of a category, like fruit, Harry Potter characters, kids films and the first person says whatever comes to their mind. Now, this is where it can get tricky, the second person has to say an option that begins with the letter that the first person’s ended with.

For example, say I said Banana, my friend would have to think of a fruit beginning with A, since banana ends with an A. And so on!

So, it could go like this: Banana, Apricot, and Tangerine. The game ends when no more fruits can be thought of.

And because you can choose any category, the game is endless!

This is a fun car game because you can start on one end of the spectrum and end up somewhere completely different! The aim of the game is to constantly say words that associate with the previous word. 

Like if the 1st person says Cloud, the 2nd can say Fluffy, the 3rd can say a Dog and the 4th can say Dalmation. Then you can say Disney, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, then Saturn and so on. So, already we’ve gone from Cloud to Saturn! Where can you go next?

Do you see the link? Have a go!

An easy and simple game to play in the car. Each person picks a colour of their choice, and the first person to count 10 vehicles sporting that colour wins the game! It’s also quite the popular car game because it isn’t too hard and everyone can have a go!

For those with older kids who love to watch movies, this is a tricky game for them.

You start with the name of any actor or actress, and the next person has to name a movie that they’ve been in. The person after that, however, has to name another actor/actress who was in the same movie mentioned before and the following person has to name a movie with the new actor/actress.

It could go on forever and make time zooooom by! Making it the ideal travel game for those road trips that are a little too long.

This is a game for the kids at the back of the car. Each kid picks a side (right or left) and has to find each letter of the alphabet. Whether they spot the letter on number plates, road signs or branded vehicles.

The first person to find all letters of the alphabet wins!

The most classic car game of all time. And it’s a classic for a reason! It’s super fun, can be challenging and it gets everyone involved. Take turns picking something out that everyone has to guess and get the ball rolling!

Now you’re all set for these 10 fantastic car games, you parents can rest assured that your family road trip will be a little easier and not painful! The kids will be occupied, you’ll be relaxed and playing fun games with them and the excitement of your destination will still be on everyone’s minds!

Looking for places to go on a road trip? How about visiting some castles, and English Heritage sites or since it’s summer, have a cool off and travel to some ice cream farms near you!