Kid Travel Games

Preparing enough kid travel games and activities is an important part of planning for a long trip for families with young children.

The following are some kid travel games and activities that do not require anything but enthusiasm and imagination. Make the activities interesting and this will keep the children busy and encourage them to use their imagination.

Counting scenes

Get the children to look out the window as you drive past different places. Ask them to spot a certain number of things when you call out the number.

For example, when you call out “three”, they have to say “three birds” (even when there are more than three). Accept anything more than your given number. Children will try to outdo one another with different things they spot.

Clouded imagination

Look up at the sky. Ask your children what they can see. Younger children will probably describe the clouds and birds. Older children may talk about the different shapes of the clouds. You can tell them that you can see a lion's head in the clouds or perhaps an island surrounded by palm tress.

Treasure Box

Several days before the trip, get a box with a lid and make an opening large enough for a small hand to go through. Collect different household items that the children are familiar with. Store them in the box.

When you are on the road, tell your children to take turns to put their hands into the box. As they feel each object, they can guess what the object is before taking it out of the box. They can then play with these objects. For example, two small teaspoons can be used as percussion instruments for a sing-along.

Colour play

This is an “I Spy” game. You can say to your children: “I can see something blue”, “I can see something green”, and so on. Have your children name what they think you are describing. Reverse the roles and you can be the one guessing what your children are describing.

Recognising different type of vehicles

Have your children recognise and count the different types of vehicles on the road. For example, "How many eight-wheel truck did you see on the road?"

Number plates

Call out the number on a licence plate and see who can add up the numbers correctly. This is more interesting than doing sums on paper.

Favourite theme songs

Take turns to hum TV shows theme songs for the rest to guess. If your children are still into nursery rhymes, then hum the tunes and have them guess the rhymes.

Story starters

Children in their early primary school years enjoy making up stories. In this kid travel game, the adults and the children in the car can take turns to make up stories. Start the story by saying: “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved to travel with her family. There was a special place which she truly loved visiting. It was ?” Children can expand on the story. They can let their imagination soar to great heights with absurd characters and wildly fascinating places.

More kid travel games ideas to keep you occupied for any trip.