When done right, road trips can be fun. Yet packing up for a long road trip is often stressful. Add to that thought of spending hours in a car with a cranky family, and suddenly, this family vacation doesn’t seem like such a great idea.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Our family knows two things very well—road trips and games. We moved 17 hours away from our family a couple of years ago. As a result, we have now become experts at long car rides.
I grew up playing games, and since that’s my favorite pastime, my kids have grown up with games too. I love family games because they build incredible memories, bring everyone to the same space, and create room for conversation.
Take turns telling knock-knock jokes and trying to get each other to laugh. If your competitive family needs to have a winner, you can keep track of how many times each person laughs.
Work as a group to find as many different license plates as possible. This classic game is often used to find other state license plates, but adding different designs within the state could be fun.
The oldest member of the family starts by thinking about something. They share one clue. “I’m thinking about something we all love to do together.” Everyone else guesses.
Any game that is played with dice will work as long as you have somewhere to roll the dice. For travel games with dice, we’ve used an actual dice tray, a shoebox lid, and a plastic container.