Our 10 Favorite Road Trip Activities for Kids and Adults
How-To's & Resources, Traveling With Kids, Trip Ideas & Guides
By Carrie Willink
If you’re like us, you love a good ol’ fashion road trip. What’s better than getting out on the open road headed to somewhere you’ve never been before? While this alone can be a great experience with many unforgettable memories, there are plenty of fun things to do in the car to pass the time. Keeping little ones entertained for long car rides can be difficult, but road trip games can make the time fly by. Here are ten of our favorite road trip activities for kids and adults.
8 Road Trip Activities for All Ages
1. Sleeping Beauty
Someone has to fall asleep for this game. While they are asleep, you make up a story that happened while they were sleeping. When they wake up the car has to tell the entire story as if it really happened. The first person to break character or give away that the story isn’t true loses the game!
2. Hello There
This waving game is the easiest game but totally fun and interactive. One person starts and waves to every car or person they pass. If a wave is received in return they get a point and get to try the next car. When there is no return wave it is another person’s turn. See who can get the most! (For an interesting twist, play golf rules and see who can get the lowest score.)
3. Snack Time
This road trip activity is build for the budding foodie. Collect the most locally-made snacks throughout your trip. At each gas station, you stop at, you have to find a local snack. You can only get one food item per gas station and you can’t get the same thing. The food item has to be created within the region the stop is located. Whoever has the most snacks by your destination wins!
4. License Plate Number Game
Make up a story about the people in the other cars by their license plate numbers. Example: BJ65LBT Bob Jones age 65 had lovely bright teeth!
Feel free to screenshot or save the images below of these ideas for your next road trip!
5. Get Crafty
Hold up, before you run away thinking you are not a craft person, listen to these ideas. A craft can not only keep you busy on a road trip, in the end, but it can also be really fun once you make it to your destination. Take a mask for example, not only are they fun to make, you can instantly become the life of the party when you prank your friends with it at the campsite. This will make for some great Instagram videos an interesting Uber rides!
More craft ideas:
6. Travel Boardgames
A great way to stay busy for hours! You won’t regret investing in a few. These can be great for by the fire at the campsite while keeping the packing light! Find some road trip games here.
7. “What Adventures Are Ahead”
This is always fun to do before you go, but if you can save it until you are in the car, include everyone and make a list of top things you want to do. The Escape Camper Vans blog is a great place to start.
8. Activity Log or Journal
On the way home, have an activity log you can document what places, hikes, interesting things you saw, restaurants and more. This road trip game not only passes the time but it gives your crew a chance to relive the memories made!
2 Great Road Trip Games For Kids
1. Pirate Map
We love to make a map of the things we know we will see along the way. It can be specific such as “a large arch” or as general as a “crazy cool tree.” The children can follow along with the map as they go searching for things out of the window and exploring along the way!
2. Travel Scavenger Hunt Cards
These cards are awesome and will keep you busy for hours!
Take Your Next Road Trip in a Camper Van!
We hope this list of our favorite road trip activities helps your time on the road be a bit more enjoyable and exciting along the way! Want to explore some more road trip games? Check out this blog for some additional ideas. If you’re ready for your next adventure, book a camper van rental with Escape for an unforgettable family road trip.
This was great, we tried almost half of these (yes this is a kid reviewing) and it was great, you can also create your own scavenger hunt card, also one additional game we do is (I know, kind of cliche) is one 4 word stories going in a circle.
Thank you for sharing these tips and ideas to manage family road trips.
Regards: Lux Transfers UK
This was helpful!👍
We used this so much and our lovely kids had the time of their life! I honestly think the car ride was more fun than the actually trip for my sweet, beutiful, amazing kids. And me and my wonderful, great husband had a fantastic time also! I would like to say THANK YOU for these ideas! My awsome family loved it! 🙂
Penelope loved this list!