Fun games to play in the car with your kids
Are we there yet?!?!
It doesn’t matter whether the drive will take five hours or twenty minutes. I asked it as a kid, and now I get to hear my kids ask it (I’m sorry, Mom & Dad).
But riding in the car doesn’t have to be torture, nor does it have to mean succumbing to the all powerful screen time (although I admit, sometimes it is nice to have quiet in the car). Here are five games my kids and I play to pass the time in the car.
General rules for the games: Don’t force it and don’t be rigid with the rules. Let your kids come up with rules or ideas as well. Make it about sharing the experience and laughing together. You may even come up with some new games of your own.
Alien interviewer. My kids love this game, especially when I am the alien because they get to speak for me as the translator. This game can be played with as many people as want to play, but you need at least two. The premise is that an alien landed on Earth and is being interviewed by a local TV reporter, who does not speak the alien’s language. Luckily there is a translator nearby who can help. One person pretends to be the alien and speaks in a made-up, gibberish language. One person is the TV reporter who interviews the alien. One person translates the alien language so the reporter can understand the answer, and then translates the reporter’s questions into the alien language. This game can be modified so that the alien is giving a speech and the other person is the translator. Or aliens are having a conversation and others are translating it. Or everyone is an alien and having a gibberish conversation. Have fun with this—use big gestures and silly sounds, make the questions & answers ridiculous, act as a cheesy TV reporter, etc.
Mean sounding compliments. Just as it sounds, you say nice things about the person, but in a tone that sounds mean. Try to outdo each other with the exaggerated tone or the quality of the compliment. My youngest daughter always makes me laugh when she uses air quotes to tell me my hair looks “nice.”
Word association. Exactly like your psychiatrist would play. One person says a word and the other person(s) say the first thing that comes to mind. There is no right or wrong answer, and sometimes it’s fun to throw out totally random words. Or try to keep saying rhyming words. Or say the same word five times in a row, followed by a new word, then the same word again a bunch. Or try to be very logical. Or just say things you see in the car or on the road. Or pick a theme and keep saying words with that theme until your kids catch on. Or whatever you or your kids come up with.
Last letter, first letter. My kids made this game up. Someone starts by saying a word, then the next person says a word that starts with the last letter of that word. Example: My daughter says “Funny” so I say “Yikes” then she says “slime” and on and on it goes. A simple game. This can also become a much more complex game where you tell a story or answer a question together by adding one word at a time (each person adds one word at a time to the sentence).
A My Name Is…this is a classic in my opinion. I enjoyed it as a kid and my kids enjoy it now. For those that have never played this game, you run through the alphabet, each person takes a letter in order. The pattern is “A my name is [name that starts with “A”] and my husband/wife’s name is [name that starts with “A”] and we come from [place that starts with “A”] where we sell [thing that starts with “A”]. Then the next person does “B,” then the next person does “C,” and so on. My kids like to get silly with this and make up ridiculous names or funny places that don’t exist. Of course you could also stick to real places or people you know to make it more challenging. In other words, there are tons of ways you or your kids can make this game your own version.
