Top 10 games for kids to play in the car

We know that car journeys with kids are often peppered with exclamations like, “When do we get there?”, “I’m bored!”, or “Their hand is on my side of the car!”.

I find the best cure is distraction! We have lots of games we play in the car on our everyday journeys to kindy and school drop-off/pick-up, as well as on longer drives, road trips and holidays. It’s fun to play games and have everyone join in.

We even play some of these games when we’re in waiting rooms, on flights or even at the dinner table. As a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au, I’ve had plenty of long journeys to practice keeping kids entertained within the confines of a vehicle – so here are my Top 10 games for kids to play in the car…

Everyone loves Bluey and the Road Trip episode gives you some great games options (and a nice ice breaker if your kids are initially resistant to games during a journey).

Cow Jumping involves making ‘legs’ with your two fingers running on the spot on the car’s windowsill, and every time you pass a cow (or, if you’re on the highway, a car), you have to jump over it (like you would in a computer game). You get one point for every cow or car you jump.

For Car Rainbow, you say the colours of the rainbow and you need to spot a car in each colour in the correct order and call them out as you spot them.

If those still fail to break the ice, there’s always the rallying cry of “Grey Nomads!”.

This is one of our family favourites! One person starts by saying something, e.g. ‘tomato’, and then the next person says what tomato reminds them of, e.g. “Tomato reminds me of… sauce”. Then the next person says what sauce reminds them of, e.g. “Sauce reminds me of… ice cream” and so on. It can go on for a long time and be very funny!

We have James May of Top Gear and Grand Tour fame to thank for this game suggestion, which has become a family hit. The rear passengers look through at the front of the cabin, then they close their eyes for five seconds and in that time the front passenger changes something – they might puts their visor down, change the media screen, move the air conditioning vents or press a button which turns a light on. The rear passengers have to guess what has been changed.

For this one you decide upon a topic, for example, ‘cartoon characters’, and the first person has to call out a character whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Then the next person has to identify one starting with ‘B’, the next person one beginning with ‘C’ and so on. You have to tailor the topic depending on the ages and interests of your kids and this game relies on your child knowing their alphabet. Our little one tries to play along and is learning fast but her mistakes are so cute!

Every parent knows Spotto! Every time you see a yellow car, you shout “Spotto” and you get a point. We have a few extensions to this: if you see a yellow ute you get three points because they’re rare. Yellow trucks or vans get two points. You can also include machinery, so if you go through roadworks with diggers etc, you can really rack up some points quickly! Your family can decide its own point system and you can choose to include other rare car colours like pink and orange.

Another fun word game that can be played by all ages. The first person says to the next, “Quick, quick, quick – name three…” and selects a subject, such as colours. The second person replies quickly with the first three colours that come into their mind. Then it’s that person’s turn to make one up and stay it to the next player, e.g. “Quick, quick, quick – name three superheroes”, and so on. You can also use fictional things like, “Quick, quick, quick – name three made-up book titles about robots”. It can get very fast and very silly!

The most famous road trip game of all! There are a couple of versions we play. One is the traditional one with the first letter of the object you have spotted, as in “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ‘W’”, with everyone guessing until someone correctly guesses ‘windmill’, for example. Clearly this only works once children are old enough to spell. But a version we play for our younger daughter is ‘colour eye-spy’, where we choose something that is a particular colour. Everyone guesses until they find the right answer, for example, the blue sky. Then whoever correctly guesses the answer takes the next turn.

We played this a lot as kids. Each person in the car picks a colour of car and you get a point for each car of your chosen colour you see during the journey. Heads up: we have a blanket ban on white because that always wins!

This was my parents’ favourite car game in the ’80s and it got wheeled out on the long drive on every family holiday. It really tests your memory! The first person starts with “I packed my bag and in it I put…” and they make something up (such as a dress). The next person repeats what the previous person said and adds something new, for example, “I packed my bag and in it I put a dress and some ice cream.” The next person has to say those and add something else, like “I packed my bag and in it I put a dress, some ice cream and an elephant”, and so it goes! It can get VERY long and VERY silly but it’s a lot of fun! If a player gets it wrong they are out and it keeps going until there is just one person left who can remember the long list of items!

Another super-fun game that we play a lot on the school run (again, it’s one for children who can spell). You take the letters from the rego plate of the vehicle in front of you then come up with a word that uses those letters. If they’re all consonants, you can add vowels. On a multi-lane highway, you can use the letters of the cars in the lanes beside you as well to make longer words. There are often some great made-up words too!

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