Great RV Road Games for Kids
When you take off to travel this spring or summer with your kids, what rv road games will you take along with you? Are you prepared for the kids to be zapped into their phones or other electronic devices all the time? While many kids might enjoy that activity, it certainly doesn’t go along very well with the idea of getting outdoors and seeing our great country, which is one of the prime reasons for going RV’ing in the first place.
So, when you hit the open road this spring or summer, how about taking along some fun games that the kids and you can enjoy on the road? We’ll give you some easy suggestions below. Feel free to write us and tell us some of your family’s favorites, too. Of course, some of these will be more appropriate for different ages so adjust as needed for your own family.
Here are some suggested great RV road games kids will love:
1. Tic Tac Toe
All you need are two players and a pencil to play this popular standby. Player One places an X on the grid, Player Two plots an O. They continue to take turns until one player has three across. You can make up a Tic Tac Toe template ahead of time and make copies and let them do the rest.
2. I Spy
“I spy with my little eye, something red.” This easy-to-learn game is perfect for preschoolers, and can keep them entertained for unbelievably long periods of time. The directions are simple: One person spies something and recites the line, ending in a clue. Everyone else takes turns trying to guess the mystery item.
3. Road Trip Bingo
This fun game combines bingo with a scavenger hunt. Give each child a flat surface, such as a clipboard or hardcover book, to put on his or her lap. Each player gets a free printable bingo card and a zip-lock bag with 16 pennies. When a player spies an item on his card, he covers the picture with a penny. Just like in regular bingo, the first player to cover all the squares in a straight line wins. To make this more car friendly, try putting a loop of scotch tape on the back of the pennies before playing, or get the kids to put the tape on them if they are old enough to manage it.
4. 20 Questions
This easy-peasy game is great for young kids, thanks to its straightforward rules. The first player thinks of a person, place or thing. Everyone else takes turns asking questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. After each answer, the questioner gets one guess. Play continues until a player guesses correctly.
7. Connect the Dots
Why is it that all the best games are so simple? This “make a box” game works best when each player uses a different colored pencil or crayon.
8. Hangman
Generations of school-age kids have loved the original, low-tech version of “Wheel of Fortune.” The first player thinks of a person, place, movie or book title—it could be anything, really. Instead of writing out the word or saying, she leaves an underscore for each letter in each word. The second player guesses one letter at a time. If the mystery word or saying contains the letter, it is written in the correct place. If not, the first player draws a head on the hangman scaffold. When enough incorrect letters have been guessed, the body has been completed and the second player loses. If the guesser solves the puzzle before the body is complete, he wins.
9. License Plate Game
When we were kids, everyone seemed to want to play the license plate game on family road trips. Armed with a pad of paper, we would write down the name of each state as we spotted it. The goal, of course, was to nab all 50 states. If we were lucky, we’d bag the Canadian provinces, too. Nowadays we love the ease of an updated free printable license plate game, where kids cross off the US states and Canadian provinces as they spy them. For older kids learning US geography, we recommend the map version, which shows how far away each car originated.
10. I’m Going on a Picnic
This alphabet-based memory game is great for kids 5 and up. You don’t need a game board or any materials. The game can be played with as few as two players, but it’s more fun when the whole family joins in. The first player says “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing…” followed by something that begins with A, such as apples. The second player repeats what the first person said, but adds something that begins with B. She might say “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples and bananas.” And so on with C, D, and the rest of the alphabet. If someone forgets an item, she is out. To be fair, feel free to be lenient and give hints to younger players. The last player to be able to recite all the items on the list wins.
11. The Preacher’s Cat
Here’s another alphabet-based memory game for school-age kids. The game centers around a sentence in which only two words change. To play, each player constructs the same sentence around a letter of the alphabet. Starting with A, the first player might say “The preacher’s cat is an awesome cat named Amy.” The second player replaces the two underlined words with others starting with A, such as, “The preacher’s cat is an adorable cat named Albert.” If a player can’t think of a new word, or if she repeats a word, she is out. The play continues with B, C, D, and so on, until there is one remaining player.
12. Spot the Car
For families with teen and tween car hounds, this scavenger hunt is a fun alternate to the license plate game. Instead of looking for different states, you’re looking for different car models. Write down each model and make of car found on this family car scavenger hunt.
Get out and get physical exercise too
When you need to stop periodically for bathrooms, gas, or food, make sure to take advantage of those brief stops for a bit of exercise. If you have a pet along, take the time to walk the dog, or if no animals, you can still pull out the bean bag toss game and play it for a while, or grab a ball and glove and play catch. RV road games provide a great outlet and it is important to get exercise too while you are traveling, you know!
If you have decided you want to move forward and purchase a new RV, visit El Monte RV Sales and discover many of our gently used RV’s.