We all have memories of long road trips as children, having to put up with our parents’ choice of music and staring out the window for hours waiting for the next bathroom stop. Fortunately, there have been improvements since those days (portable DVD players, ie), when all we had were a few sheets of paper, notebooks, and the trusty Walkman. However, nothing beats old-fashioned preparation. With five kids, I still don’t go anywhere without a pencil case, paper, and snacks to get through the backseat chaos. Keeping the kids (and adults) entertained is still one of the keys to a successful trip. If you have a list of games you can play, especially if you’re planning a driving vacation that includes long road trips, you’ll be one step ahead when the inevitable whining and ‘are we there yet?’ questions begin. Below is a list of our favorite travel games and activities that are easy to explain, as short or long as you want them to be, and are sure to become talking points years later.

1. I spy

There is no such thing as a long road trip without a game of I Spy, even if it only lasts a minute (in my car). This game can go on and on until a parent has enough of guessing an abstract object you passed ten minutes ago. It will keep the kids entertained for a good amount of time if you’re clever. For those who were deprived of this great Australian travel game, just say, ‘I see with my little eye, something that starts with ‘(letter of the alphabet)’ and your partner will have to look around and guess the object. You can set rules as you go, like only getting out of the car or not guessing the same item twice.

2. Who am I?

It’s pretty simple. You think of someone famous and can only answer yes or no to the questions everyone else in the car is asking you (one at a time). For a little variation, you can move on to cartoon characters, movie stars, or someone who isn’t even famous. It just helps if everyone knows who it is. Whoever guesses the correct answer will have the next chance. You can also guess animals or things and change the question to ‘What am I?’

3. Treasure hunt

Have the children prepare these cards before the trip begins. This will add to the fun of playing. Draw or just write the name elements, such as a yellow car, stop sign, gas station, etc., then hand out five cards each during the ride. As soon as the element is detected, it moves on to the next one. The first to finish their five cards wins. You can vary this game to only detect types or colors of cars, or more or the cards per game played.

4. Jumble

This is always a fun game to play with only pencil and paper required. Someone says a street name (preferably more than four letters) and everyone has two minutes to write as many words as they can using the letters of that street name. Once time is up, everyone adds up their scores to find the winner. To qualify, you get two points for each word, but only one point if the word was used by someone else. It’s so much fun that you’ll want to keep playing every time you see a long street name.

5. Letter Games

This is great fun, especially if you go through a series of towns and activities, not for the long lonely stretches. Everyone has to find words that start with letters of the alphabet, starting with A and ending with Z. The words can be on street or store signs, and whoever sees it first must claim it to let others know it’s been taken. The first to reach Z wins.

6. bingos

This game that must be prepared before leaving, but it is very easy to play. Just draw grids for each person (other than the driver) with objects in the grids that you would normally see on a long drive, ie truck, cow, stop sign, etc. Use stickers to cover the square when the object has been seen. It won’t be long before someone can yell BINGO.

7. Animals

We play this game on almost every family vacation. A designated person would begin by saying an animal of their choice, ie DOG. Then the next one would have to say an animal starting with the last letter of that animal, i.e. GOAT. The next one would have to start with the letter T. It continues until someone can’t think of an animal and is left out. There are a number of variations of this game. You can start in the same way, but you need to repeat the animals that have already been called, that is, DOG, GOAT, TIGER, etc. Whoever forgets an animal is out of the game.

8. Game Bags

Every child loves to have a special bag with surprises. This is a great idea if you have time before the trip starts. Simply fill it with a new pack of pencils, a small coloring book, a chocolate bar or lollipop, small games, a torch, a wad of paper, just use your imagination and choose your time carefully when you hand it out as it will be well received. especially if they are bored and start fighting.

9. Registration

This is great fun for the imaginative. Each license plate you drive behind has three letters on it. Each passenger has to think of a different meaning of the three letters. There are so many combinations that you could go on for a while, until someone gets tired of thinking. This is one of those travel games that starts and ends when you least expect it. It’s fun trying to win each other over to thinking about the meanings, as some of them can be tricky, especially the V’s and Q’s.