Keeping the Peace in the Car: Fun Travel Games for Children

Summer and traveling as a family goes hand-in-hand. Once school ends, we all seemingly have the urge to pile in the car and hit the road in search of adventure and fun. But the reality is, traveling with children can either be enjoyable, or not-so-much. Due to a number of things including the constant stream of questions, whining and bickering amongst siblings, road trips with the fam can have its ups and downs. However, there are ways to manage the drama and keep your family’s traveling experience as pleasant as possible. Since, “I love it when little Billy and Suzie whine with boredom and fight like cats and dogs…” said no parent, ever… here are some fun travel games for children to play while in route to their summer destination.

Board Games: This is a great option if you have older children. Simply go to your local department store, or search online, to locate travel versions of popular board games like Scrabble to Monopoly or Trouble. Games like Farkle are also simple to bring with since all it entails is dice and a score sheet.

Puzzles: Granted, you can’t bring a 500 piece puzzle with on your trip, you can bring some other types of fun puzzles along. Puzzles like popular word search books, crossword puzzle books, Sudoku books and more.

Dry-Erase Board Games: Have you seen those cute mini dry erase boards in the retail office product sections? These make great “draw what you see” activities for kids. Basically all you need is the board, some low-odor dry erase markers and a rag to wipe with. Kids can use this board to keep busy with games like Tic Tac Toe, Hangman and Pictionary. NOTE: If an “oopsey” happens and someone writes on your dry erase board with permanent marker…no worries. Simply trace over the top of the permanent marks with your dry erase markers and with a little elbow grease the marks will come off.

This list of travel games doesn’t even begin to cover all the fun games that can be played by children while road trippin’. You can also come up with a lot of fun games on your own as well – just use your imagination! Enjoy the ride and enjoy the journey.