Here's a cool game I learned on a little drive with some friends when I was visiting San Francisco area a few months back. We were going out to dinner and had a little bit of a drive, so to keep everyone occupied we played this game.
It goes like this:
Choose a category such as food, animals, machines, etc. The youngest goes first to pick something within the category. The next person has to think of something beginning with the last letter of the previous person's choice.
So, for example if the topic were animals and the first person chose alligator, the second person would have to pick an animal beginning with 'R', such as Rat. The third person would think of one beginning with 'T' and so on.
It's a lot of fun. Ann said her son, Quinn, found it in a book called Gladstone's Games To Go, the game is called "Gourmet Grandma" in the book because they use food as the category. But it works well beyond food, so we like to call it 'Word Caterpillar.'
Do you have any word games you like to play?
Another Road Trip Word Game: Word Caterpillar
Three More Road Trip Word Games
The miles go faster and familes are happier when the kids are having fun (besides, word games are free and they don't have little plastic pieces to lose)
When you're spending more than a few hours in the car, your kids are bound to get tired of the activity books you've packed for them. A road atlas of their own helps, but when it gets dark, those activities are out of the question. Word games help kids' eyes grow droopy, and that's good news for parents. There are hundreds of word games to play; here is another installment of this series.
7. Incognito
Player one thinks of a famous person, or "mystery figure." She gives the other players a two-word description about the figure using that person's first and last initials. For example, player one might say, "fabulous singer." Players must think of well-known people with the initials "FS" who fit the bill. In this case, the answer is Frank Sinatra. If each player has guessed once and the identity of the mystery figure has not been revealed, players are allowed to ask one "yes" or "no" question before the next guess. For example, "Is this person alive?" or "Was he or she a politician?" or "Is the mystery figure over the age of sixty?" and so on. The first player to guess correctly chooses the next mystery figure.
8. Mirror
What happens when you look in the mirror? You see a reverse image...you're actually looking at yourself "backwards." Take that concept and apply it to words...and you've got a great game that's loads of fun. Take turns thinking of words that have a meaning when they are spelled both forwards and backwards. Give one point for each letter in the word. Three-letter words are worth three points; four letter words are worth four points, etc. The person with the most points at the end of the round wins the game. Some examples to get you going: rat/tar (3 points); stab/bats (4 points); stool/loots (5 points). Score an extra two points (8 points total) for words that have six letters.
9. Impressions
Someone is chosen as the Director. The Director has all the players do an impersonation of someone famous or someone everyone in the group knows personally. The best impression wins an award. The actor who puts on a winning performance gets an Academy Award. The player with the most awards at the end of the game wins.10. Ghost The first person picks a letter with a word in mind. Each successive person adds a letter, trying to make a word without finishing the word with his/her letter.
More Road Trip Word Games
The miles go faster and familes are happier when the kids are having fun (besides, word games are free and they don't have little plastic pieces to lose)
When you're spending more than a few hours in the car, your kids are bound to get tired of the activity books you've packed for them. A road atlas of their own helps, but when it gets dark, those activities are out of the question. Word games help kids' eyes grow droopy, and that's good news for parents. There are hundreds of word games to play; here is another installment of this series.
4. 20 Questions
One person thinks of something and everyone else takes turns asking questions to narrow the focus. This game is great for developing kids imagination, and teaching them how to choose the right questions to ask.
Sample questions:
Is it a person, place, or thing?
Is it bigger than this car?
5. I Spy With My Little Eye...
A perrenial favorite, (and a great book series as well)Player one spots an object in the
6. The Alphabet game
Everyone in the car builds an alphabetical. Each person adds to the list and remember all the previouis items. Relate the topic to your road trip. Mom: When we drove to Florida, we saw an aligator. Dad: when we drove to Florida, we saw an aligator and some biscuits. Tommy would add the "c" item, and Lilly would likely pass to Mom. The game continues until the alphabet is complete. If you forget an item on the list, you're eliminated.
What are your favorite ways to pass time on long drives?
Three Word Games You can Play in the Car
The miles go faster and familes are happier when the kids are having fun (besides, word games are free and they don't have little plastic pieces to lose)
When you're spending more than a few hours in the car, your kids are bound to get tired of the activity books you've packed for them. A road atlas of their own helps, but when it gets dark, those activities are out of the question. Word games help kids' eyes grow droopy, and that's good news for parents. There are hundreds of word games to play; here are three for the first installment of this series. A couple of these games are well known and one is our own invention (Name That Instrument).
1. Essence: Guess a person based on questions relating to their essence.
Good for kids over 7 or 8, depending on their level. You can do it with younger kids, but you need to scale down the skill level, maybe limit it to people in the car and those you're traveling to visit. The leader of the game thinks of a person that everybody in the car knows personally. The other players each ask questions to the leader that focus on the person's essence. Such questions sound like: If this person were a tree, what kind of tree would this person be? Tip: For some reason, these questions are more fun to say in a quasi-French accent ("If zees person were a tree, what kind of tree would zees person be?") Whoever guesses correctly, wins; if no one can figure it out, nobody wins.
2. Name That Tune/Name That Instrument
Good for kids 6 years old and under. This isn't like the old TV game show; you don't try to name the tune in a certain number of notes. Guess the song that an individual is humming. The simplicity of this game can be deceiving: after going beyond "Happy Birthday" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" move on to pop, country and heavy metal hits. For added complexity, the humm-or should mimic a particular instrument. Charades are often helpful for the instrument portion of this, but it gets tricky for the driver; harmonica and other one-handed instruments work well for drivers. You don't need to combine the games, you can do either as a stand aloner game or both for added fun. Everyone's a winner in this game.
3. The State Capital Game
Good for kids five and up. Name the capital, given the state name. All you need is a road atlas. Of course, you need to study up on the capitals. This is a game that's best played repeatedly over a long road trip, as you pass through many states, and in order to gain memorization through repetition. We have a placemat for Tommy with a US map and their capitals on it. he reads it every day at breakfast and dinner. Not only does he know where every state in the union is, but he knows almost all the capitals on any given day. And we know most of them now too!
What word games does your family play on road trips?
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