Fun Travel games

Over the river and through the woods… the season of holiday travel is here! Need some ideas to make traveling enjoyable for the entire family? Whether your transportation to and fro is by car, plane or train — here are some ideas to keep your travelers entertained. Game winners might get to pick where to stop for lunch or dinner? Be safe and have a blast!

I. Last Letter, First Letter: Word games can be particularly useful — not to mention, fun — for kids who tend to get sick while focusing on something like a book or a DVD. Any family travel game that involves looking out the window can help prevent motion sickness. My family loves to play a game we call "Last Letter, First Letter."

To play: Players decide on a category, such as animals, and one player starts with a word (in this case, say, zebra). Then the next player has to name an animal that starts with the last letter of the animal that was just named (say, antelope), and so on. When someone gets stuck, that person gets a strike. When any player gets three strikes, they are out. The winner is the person who is still remaining after everyone else is out. Tip: Parents may want to help younger grade-schoolers. A 5-year-old probably won’t be able to keep up with an older sibling or adults in the car, so adult help is always a good idea. Older kids with bigger vocabularies will be able to throw more difficult words into the mix.

II. Twenty Questions: This is another classic car or travel game that is great to play with kids of all ages!

To play: One player picks an object (players can decide beforehand whether or not to narrow down the choices by having the questions answerer state the category of the answer. So, for example, the answerer can say, "I’m thinking of a place." (You can decide if your categories are occupations, places, animals, etc.) Then the other players each take turns asking questions that may help narrow down the possibilities, such as, "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" or "Is it edible?"

III. Road Trip Scavenger Hunt: Give each child a list of items to watch for while traveling. Check off each item when found. The list can be made up ahead of time and adjusted for the scenery. For a younger child who can’t read, you might draw a little picture of each item next to the word so they will know what to look for.