Thursday, July 9, 2009

Car Games

If you drive a vehicle and you have kids, then you have heard the, "Are we there yet?" phrase probably one to many times. Although we live in a time when gadgets can keep kids busy and quiet, why not play games together and make those miles disappear? I remember playing games in the car with the family on trips to Maine and years later I played the same games with my own family.

Grandmas Attic:
Start with the letter A and go through the entire alphabet with each person saying a word that starts with that letter. You use this phrase, " In grandmas attic there is a Apple." the next person, "In grandmas attic there is an Apple and a Bear." It goes on all the way through the alphabet. This is a great memory builder, so you are not only playing but also stretching those brain cells.

Car Bingo:
This takes a little extra work, but it is worth it. Print up some cards with words or pictures of things that you may possibly see on your trip. Then laminate the cards or put clear contact paper on them. As you drive along the kids find the things on the cards and mark them off with wipe off markers. You can keep all the parts in a holder in you vehicle, then when you head to the road you are ready.

ABC Game:
This is an old favorite of mine. Each person in the vehicle races to get all the letter of the alphabet off road signs, license plates, bumper stickers, and anything that is outside your vehicle. The person has to identify the letter and say where it came from and that place can only be used once by one person. This is a tricky game if your traveling in the country, but if you go through the cities there are plenty of letters out there.

This or That:
My daughter and I played this game a lot when she was young. I would start out by saying, " Would you rather be____ or _____ (fill in the blanks with whatever comes to mind), then she would answer. She would then ask me a new "this or that" question. It's an easy game that really can get you thinking, especially if you explain your answers.

I hope you have fun playing these games!! :o) If you have any more games please feel free to add them in the comments section.

1 comment:

Sarah at SmallWorld said...

My mom had a great store of car games growing up. In fact, she attributes the ABC game to figuring out that I needed glasses at age 9. I was getting so frustrated because everyone was beating me that she took me to get my eyes tested. Sure enough, I was in desperate need of glasses!