car games for long trips?
 

Two girls - 11 and 12 - 12 hr. car trip...any suggestions? Thanks.

Fly.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I have one of those dry erase board that my kids draw and play hangman and things like that. Also books on tape are great for long rides.

Give each of your children a roll of quarters. Everytime they fight, fine them $0.25. By the end of the trip, whatever they have leftover, they get to keep. I know it's not a game but my parents did this to us when we were young (rolls of dimes) and it sure kept us quiet!

Rent one of those VCRs that plug into the cigarette lighter. Let them choose the movie. Trivial Pursiut cards are fun to read without playing the actual game. Mastermind is a good game and there's a magnetic travel version. Also a road atlas or trip tik is good so they know exactly how long, how far etc. Can you stop for a swim along the way beach, public pool?

Hi Bashful,, I know these are kind of corney, but I enjoyed them as a child and my kids liked to play them too. Play the license plate game. Keep a list and see who can come up with the most state license plates. Battleship game was always popular and you can keep it in your lap. Also, prepare ahead of time a LONG scavenger hunt "spy list"..... See who "spies" the most items by the end of the trip..... Have fun and enjoy the time with the girls.......To me "car" time was always some of my best times with my children..... No TV, Phone, Friends, etc........ Lots of time to visit and enjoy them...

We come up with categories (names of candy, names of fish, etc.) and try to find at least one for every letter of the alphabet. This can be done with each person taking the next letter or as a group. We also play &quot;association.&quot; One person says a word (&quot;rain&quot;) and the next says whatever comes to mind. Keep going and see where you end up. <BR>We also like books on tape - the library often has them.

The license plate game worked for us when I was growing up. Or the ol' scavenger hunt-- Make a list of things for them to look for on the way (some you know they'll see, others that will be off-beat). A backgammon travel set when they're tired of looking out the window is good backup. The Trivial Pursuit cards idea is good, but it kinda ruins the chances you can use the cards when you're back home, and have you looked at how much those things COST?<BR><BR>I used to like keeping lists of cool cars I saw-- but then again, I like cars. Might not work.<BR><BR>Good luck to you! Have fun.

I was subject to long boring cross country trips across the midwest. More boring terrain has yet to be invented.<BR><BR>We played the license plate game.<BR><BR>We played a game where you go through the alphabet using letters from signs and billboards. One sign per person, one letter per sign. Cat's cradle was entertaining for a while, as was etch a sketch.<BR><BR>Maybe one of the klutz books of knots? I think they come with short lengths of string/rope.<BR><BR>Books on tape are good for every one in the car, provided it's a story everyone wants to hear.

My family played a word game called Higgy Piggy. One person comes up with two words that rhyme (let's say, Fat Cat) and gives a clue. In this case, rotund tabby. The other players try to guess Fat Cat from the clue rotund tabby. Another example: the clue for House Mouse might be home rodent. The clue for Sneeze Breeze might be kachoo wind. The clue for Star Car might be celebrity auto.<BR><BR>Does this make sense? It was a fun car game for my family...but then we were always a little odd.<BR><BR>One more thing, you have to let the other players know the number of syllables in the words that rhyme.

We always like to play a cumulative license plate game for the whole trip as a group. Then when we get to where we are going we can count how many different plates we've seen. It also keeps the kids occupied with &quot;Hey mom, do we have South Dakota yet?&quot; It's also somewhat more difficult now that so many states have several different types of plates - i.e. WI has endangered species, Packers, sesquacentenial, etc. Another version of this is to find a specific thing to count - i.e. (big orange) Schneider trucks, Missouri always has tons of broken down cars on the side of the freeway (we laugh all the way through there), etc. I sometimes use the alphabet game to keep myself occupied while driving - find a word, not proper name, that starts with each letter of the alphabet in order - no skipping around. And it's not a game but I always take a couple of brightly colored file folders and staple a stack of copier paper to the inside....bring along a couple of pens and some markers and the kids have a doodle pad, trip journal, or whatever they want it to be.

Hey bashful,<BR><BR>Growing up, my family and I took a lot of long road trips and one of our favorite games was &quot;Who Am I&quot;. One of you comes up of a person, male or female, past or present, dead or alive.....whatever they want. The others in the car then take turns asking yes or no questions trying to figure out who the person is. Whoever finally comes up with it picks the next one.<BR><BR>For example: George Washington<BR><BR>Questions may go something like:<BR>Are you male? Yes<BR>Are you alive? No<BR>Are you famous? Yes<BR>Are you an athlete? No<BR>Are you a politician? Yes<BR>etc....<BR><BR>We enjoyed it and (more importantly?) it can kill a couple of hours.<BR><BR>Have fun!

Do they like to read - without getting car sick? How about personal cd players (with earphones of course!) that they can listen to music or a story.<BR><BR>Pillows help of course and one can be used on a lap to support a plastic tray for drawing etc. <BR><BR>Never underestimate the power of plain old markers, crayons, coloured and plain paper, glue stick, safety scissors, stickers....!<BR><BR>Stop somewhere for a break like a park where they can burn off energy, use the washrooms and have a snack.<BR><BR>Bayarea is right, those klutz books are amazing. I can't remember the name of the activity book we got from amazon.com. It had a clipboard and string etc. <BR><BR>If the girls are into beads, use felt to line a shallow box, it helps prevent the beads from rolling all over. Of course they'll still end up losing some!<BR><BR>Hope this helps.

We bought a car game for my daughter called &quot;Rubber Neckers&quot; that is a big deck of cards. Each person picks a card, and they have to find or do what is ever on the card. For example, find a license plate with a certain letter or number in it, a bird on a telephone wire, make someone in a car wave back at you, etc. We got that a couple years ago and she still loves that game (she is 12). She plays it even on trips across town when her friends are in the car. I think we got it either at a bookstore or at Target.

Found a website that describe Rubberneckers and ability to order it I beleive:<BR><BR>http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2000/08/02/p14s1.htm

A map, guide book, brochures, etc about destination help them plan trip and eliminate &quot;are we there yet&quot; questions. If you have a laptop computer with decent battery and some sort of trip planner installed, they can look up routes, distances while in car. My kids spent a half hour mapping locations of Krispy Kreme donut stops. Make sure maps are duplicates of ones you need, because I never get them back from my kids. Keep them up late the night before the trip, and they will sleep some of the time. Plan ahead when and where you will stop and for how long - my kids actually prefer getting from point A to point B as fast as possible and beg for food from the drive-thru on trips. They would prefer we never stop to use bathroom, change drivers, buy gas, but yours may be different.

Ditto, on Rubberneckers. Even adults can have fun with it.

I agree with a lot of what the previous posters said, especially the rhyming game and the famous person game.<BR><BR>The best time-passer in my extended family is listening to good books on tape. I'm in my thirties and I LOVE listening to the Harry Potter books on tape when I travel for business. They're read by Brit Jim Dale, and he even won an Emmy award for the first book. He's terrific--he does different voices for all of the characters. <BR><BR>I have since passed the HP tapes on to my mother (in her 60s) and a colleage (in his 30s) who had never read the HP books because they thought they were only for kids, and they both loved them. <BR><BR>It's something that the whole family can enjoy listening to.

thanks everyone..I have ordered the rubber neckers game...and copied all your suggestions. I don't think either girl has read Harry Potter so that's also a good recommendation...is it as good on tape as actually reading it? I've listened to adult books on long trips but not something like Harry Potter. thanks again for all your help.

My parents were very sneaky ... actually had us learning stuff! I was an adult before I caught on! We played Bizz, Buzz, Bong. Start counting... whenever you get to a # with a 6 or that is a multiple of 6, that person says bizz. Picture going around the car...Dad says 1, mom says 2, brother says 3, I say 4, Dad says 5, Mom says Bizz, brother says 7, etc. When you have bizz down, you add buzz (for 7s). Eventually you get to add 8s (bong). Trying to keep up when you are in the 60s &amp; 70s is hilarious. Played the same game in college as a drinking game :) We all knew our times tables cold!!

A game I learned on a full day (1500 miles) unplanned car trip. The car was packed with people in various states of shock after 9/11 trying to get home because we'd been away at a business conference. Pick a word, like &quot;love&quot; and try to name as many songs as you can with that word in it. If you can't think of any more, the next person picks a word and the game goes on. It really helped pass the time.

This is a horribly intellectual game that my dad calls &quot;Botticelli&quot;. One person thinks of a famous person and gives the initial letter of their name (B for instance). The other players have to think of people beginning with this letter and say &quot;are you a composer?&quot; for instance. The first player has to think of a composer beginning with B and say &quot;No, I'm not Beethoven&quot;. If the first player can't come up with someone (other than the person they are thinking of) in the category beginning with the correct letter, then the other players have earned the right to a direct question to be answered with yes or no - eg are you female, are you alive, etc. The player asking &quot;are you a composer/ rock star/ artist / politician&quot; or whatever has to have someone in mind who fits the category and initial letter, and has to say who it is if the first player fails to think of a name. If they have guessed the right person, they have won. Also, the players can't just ask &quot;are you another composer&quot; in a later turn. They have to narrow it down e.g. &quot;are you a French composer?&quot; Too complicated to explain - yes probably, but I remember playing it on car journeys at about the ages of your girls!

for Ruth: I, too, learned to play Botticelli in the car at a young age, but with the exception of the family who taught it to me, I've never encountered anyone else who knew what it was. Where are you from and how long have you been playing it?<BR><BR>Bashful: Listening to HP on tape in no way replaces the experience of reading. But when I first started listening to the first book, I had tried to read it but couldn't get past the opening chapters. I knew I had to be missing something since all of my friends (yes, all adults) loved the HP books, so I picked up the tape to listen to in the car on business trips. Since I was a captive audience in the car, I pushed on through until the time Harry finds out he's a wizard, and from that moment I was absolutely hooked. I've since read and listened to each book multiple times. Hope this helps.

Well, ejcrowe, I learnt Botticelli from my father who is Irish (I live in the UK). I don't know where he came across it. I've just looked it up on the web, and I see a number of sites describing it and a suggestion that it was a radio programme, though like you I've never come across any other families who played it.<BR><BR>There is a nice description at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/davea/games.html which includes the variations Bratislava (geographical locations) and vermicelli (food and recipes)!

I like Gail's high tech alternative to what I was going to suggest for eradicating the &quot;are we almost there?&quot; blues. I just xeroxed the map and gave them each a copy and a highlighter. <BR><BR>We used to make up a lot of map games.

MadLibs..there are countless books of them.

Thanks for explaining Boticelli. If anyone here reads Laura Lippman novels, the characters talk about playing Boticelli. I hadn't heard of the game but I played something similar one time at summer camp during a forced march with a tick check at the end ('hike in the woods').

We (parents in early 40s, 10 year old boy, 13 year old girl) take several long car trips per year, and never play games. I don't know why. We love books on tape. Some family favorites: Holes, Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Pimpernel, A Tale of Two Cities. We also enjoy taking turns reading aloud. The only book we've done that with so far has been A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Listening is a good way for kids to learn classics, because the books stay more interesting somehow. Adventure books are really good. I think the Harry Potter books would be great, especially if none of you have read them.

We enjoy &quot;Redneck scavenger hunt&quot; Examples: Straw against a house, motor hanging from a tree,refrigerator on front porch, dog chained to junk car, etc.

Here's another vote for books on cd or tape. We started all listening to the same book when my girls were about your girls ages by picking a book off one of their reading lists from school. It happened to be &quot;Holes&quot; and we were all hooked. Harry Potter is a great choice because it is long and everyone in the car will enjoy it. Also consider books by Judy Blume. Each of the girls also have their own cd player if we take a break from the book.

I highly recommend the Harry Potter books on tape. An Englishman reads them, and uses wonderfully different voices for the characters. We listened to the tapes after reading the books, and still enjoyed them!

Check out www.momsminivan.com<BR>All sorts of games for car travel and nice map to print out as well as other printable games.