Free Car Games

5 Free Games to Entertain the Kids when Traveling by Car

When you’re planning a big trip by car, you need to consider how you will entertain the kids.

Sure a portion of the trip may be ruled out with sleeping (if you’re lucky), your kids will no doubt be wanting some snack time also.

However when they are awake you want to be able to keep them distracted, and focused on something other than ‘how long till we get there’. Sure there are plenty of games on the market to keep your kids amused. Nintendo DS, Leapfrog Leapster, MP3 Players, Portable DVD players and if you can afford them, then why not. They will all offer a great level of distraction for your children.

But in today’s financial market, we can’t all afford these toys. Some of us are lucky enough to afford the vacation in the first place.

So we need to look at frugal ways to entertain the family in the car.

Below we’ve listed five free car games for your family to play whilst traveling to your destination. First and foremost they are free, which is what will definitely appeal to the parents and they are fun, which will appeal to the kids.

1/ The Game of Cricket

One person bats and scores a run for every car you pass. However if you pass a truck consider that out and move onto the next person. You decide how many rounds you’ll have and the person with the most runs wins

2/ Paper, Rock, Scissors

Players count to three then make their hands either, the shape of a rock (clenched fist), the shape of paper (flat hand) or the shape of scissors (hands clenched with index and middle finger stretched out into the shape of scissors). Rock smothers scissors but is smothered by paper. Paper smothers rock but is cut by scissors. Scissors cut paper but are smothered by rock. Winner is the best of three

3/ The Rainbow Game

Each person in the car chooses a colour. You decide what the target is, depending on how attentive the people in the car are. In this scenario lets choose 10. Each time you see a car in your choose colour, say the colour for confirmation and add it to your tally. The person to reach the target first is the winner.

4/ The Letter Change Game

Someone start by saying a word and then work your way around the car, with each person saying a different word, yet only changing one letter. E.g. Game, Same, Tame, Fame, etc. This is a great one for those older kids in the family.

5/ Guess the Animal Game

This is a bit like, ‘Who am I’ except is based on animals. This is a game aimed at the younger kids in the car. Take it in turns of being the animal and try and get everyone else to guess what you are. E.g. I am gray, I have big ears, I have a trunk etc. Or to put another spin on it, you can get the people guessing to ask the questions and the person playing the animal just answers ‘yes’ or ‘no’. When someone thinks they know what it is they can guess.

For more free car games for your family to play, or why not start your own family tradition and come up with free car games you can call your own.