Summer road trip car games

Summer holidays are almost upon us – Think melting ice-cream, hot sand, and large packs of pre-cooked sausages for the bbq. Whether you’re off to spend a few weeks at the bach, or a day trip to the beach, the long car journey with bored kids in the back can be a daunting prospect…but, it doesn’t have to be!

To avoid the endless variations of “Are we there yet”, try some of these fun car games to make the drive more enjoyable, and before you know it, you’ll have reached your destination.

Beehives game

If you’re out in the countryside look out for those colourful beehive boxes. If you spot one shout “beehives”. The person who spots the most by the time you arrive at your destination wins!

Twenty questions

One person secretly thinks of a person, place, or thing. The other players then take turns asking yes-or-no questions, such as “Can it fly?” or “Does it grow in the ground?” A round ends either when a player uses one of their questions to correctly guess the answer, or when all of the players have asked 20 questions and the answer is revealed. Each player gets at least one turning being “it.”

The supermarket game

Decide on your first player and ask them to think of an item you can buy at the supermarket. Everyone else takes turns guessing what it might be by asking a question. For example, “Is it frozen?”, or “Is it packaged in a box”. The first person to correctly guess the item wins and it’s their turn to think of something.

In my suitcase memory game

The first person starts by saying ‘I’m going on holiday and I packed …’ finish the sentence with any item that begins with the letter ‘a’. The next player repeats the sentence said by the first player and adds in an item to the list beginning with the letter ‘b’. Keep going and see how many letters you can get through before someone forgets.

Question time

A simple game to create distraction for the younger ones by asking them questions. Things like: “What are three things you want to do this summer”, “What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever eaten?”, “What’s your favourite movie or cartoon character”.

The theme song game

One person hums a tune to a favourite tv show or movie, and everyone else tries to name the title as fast as possible. Then, the first person to guess correctly hums the next song and starts the game again.

Tell us a story

Get creative and invent a family fairy tale. The first person starts with “Once upon a time” and offers a complete sentence, then the second person adds to the story with their sentence. Take turns adding sentences until the story reaches a conclusion. Tip: You may want to set a time limit, say 15 minutes to tell the story, and for good measure, record it on your phone so you can laugh about it later.

Two truths and a lie

One person tells everyone else two things that are true and one thing that’s a lie. Everyone else in the car tries to guess which is the lie. The winner begins the game again with their two truths and a lie.

Fortunately, Unfortunately

This last game is a test of the imagination and can get quite silly very quickly. The first person starts a statement with “Fortunately” and the next person follows it up with a statement that relates to the first one but starts with “Unfortunately”. Keep going, alternating between fortunately and unfortunately. For example:  “Fortunately, I packed lots of food for this holiday”, “Unfortunately, it just flew out the broken back window”. “Fortunately, I’ve patched up the window by taping up your beach towel”. Unfortunately, the towel just caught on fire…

Whatever game you choose, distraction and laughter are the ultimate goals. And, wherever you’re off to this summer, we wish you a safe journey, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.