Traveling with kids really can be fun! All it takes is a little planning and some great road trip games to play while you’re cruising down the highway. Try this one on your next long drive!
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“Are we there yet?!”
“Nope.”
“How about now?”
“Still no.”
And on it goes. Sound familiar?
Traveling with kids can be daunting. There is so much to pack and prepare, and once you get out the door you often have hours of traveling before you get to your destination. Being cooped up in the car can be hard for our wiggly kids (and consequently for parents, too), but with little advance planning you can survive the journey…and even really enjoy traveling together as a family!
In my opinion a great road trip has three key things:
- Food
- Some rockin’ tunes
- Stuff to do
I explained more about all three of these keys (plus all my best tips and tricks for road trips) in this post: Traveling with kids: Road trip activities and tips that will save your sanity.
Today, though, I have a new FREE PRINTABLE to help you with #3.
In my experience, novelty is the secret sauce to keeping kids happy in the car, so I’m always coming up with new games and activities to keep their minds buzzing while their bodies are stuck in the car.
Introducing:
The Great Road Race!
Basically, it’s a graphing scavenger hunt for various types of vehicles you might see while driving down the road. It’s perfect for kiddos who love all things that GO (boy mom raising her hand high over here!).
How to Play:
- Give each child a copy of the game (or you can play all together as a family and have one person be the official recorder of vehicles).
- Look for the vehicles listed on the game sheet as you drive. Each time you see one, color one of the boxes next to its picture. First vehicle to be spotted 10 times wins!
- Draw a picture of the winning vehicle in the gold medal box and keep playing to determine silver and bronze (2nd and 3rd place).
You might have noticed that this game is designed to be played cooperatively. That was very intentional…because nobody needs more sibling rivalry in the tight quarters of a car. Am I right?
Before you head off on any adventures, here are a few tips to make this road trip game a success:
- Bring clipboards. I keep a clipboard for each kid in the car when we travel. It makes it easy to keep track of our printable games, and I usually stick some blank paper at the back for drawing.
- Use colored pencils. I NEVER bring crayons or markers in the car. Crayons melt in the heat. Markers can make a mess in the hands of young kids. Colored pencils are the sweet spot.
*Note: You can put the printed pages in plastic sheets and use with dry erase markers so they are reusable. But then you’re giving your kids markers in the car again, which I try to avoid. If your kids are careful enough to use markers though, give it a try!
Want more FREE printable road trip games to play? Here are some others that we have loved using in the past:
- Road sign BINGO
- Travel pack printables (we love the “license plate game”)
- Road trip scavenger hunt
- Road trip activity pack (we love the “Alphabet I-spy Race Game” and “Car Color Graphing”)
- Lines & Dots game (this site has several other great printables, too)
- Truck spotting
- Traffic Jam
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