Wichita, Kansas | May 2007
Travel, Family, Fun, Vacation, Children, Games
Writtn by: Chandra Stauffer

ANOTHER 200 MILES TO GO until you reach your vacation destination, and home is a distant memory in your rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, the snacks have run out, along with the batteries in the hand-helds and your patience. What your family needs is an infusion of fun and silliness.

My husband and I spend an inordinate number of hours in the car with our children each month. When we all start wishing we were anywhere but in the family car, we use these favorite games to pass the time.

Name That Tune: Hit the scan button on your radio so it plays just a few seconds of each and every station. Everyone tries to be the first person to name the song before the radio moves on down the dial. Everyone has a chance with this game because of all the different genres of radio stations.

The Radio Game: This game is similar to Name That Tune, but without the competition. Hit the Scan button and let it ride until it stumbles upon a song that someone likes. That person says “I like it!” and someone hits the Scan button again to stop it. When that song is over you start it up again in search of the next popular tune.

The Alphabet Game: This game is a classic. Every person tries to find each letter in the alphabet (in order) from street and building signs, billboards, other cars and trucks. The first person to get to Z wins. It helps to have the rules straight before you begin. In our car, you have to say your finds out loud, such as “A from avenue” or “C from camping.” That keeps everyone pretty honest. We allow two people to get letters from the same sign or word, but not the same letter. For example, if I needed an I and my son Brent needed a K, we could both get them from a “No Parking” sign because they are different letters. If we both needed the same letter, the first person who called it out would be the person to get it.

The License Plate Game: This is an ongoing game that the whole family works on together. The object is to see every license plate in the United States. You can print out a list and check them off as you go. You can also find books that include nice stickers to move over to a map when you spot one. This last option is great because it teaches geography at the same time.

Create a Word From License Plate Letters: This is a great game for short drives in town as well as long trips. Each person takes a turn coming up with one word that uses the three letters on a passing license plate. The only rules are they must be in the order they appear on the tag and you can’t use proper names. For example, a car drives past with the tag CRC 157. The words church, circle and crunch immediately come to mind.

The Homonym Game: This is one of my favorites. A homonym is a word with the same pronunciation as another, but with a different meaning. In this game, everyone takes a turn coming up with a pair of homonyms and using them both in one sentence. An easy example would be, “I read a red book.” But after a while, the ideas get more creative and everyone has to stretch their imagination to come up with the most impressive sentence.

The Picnic Game: This is a memory game. The first person starts the game by saying, “I went on a picnic and in my basket I brought…” and then picks a food item starting with the letter A to finish the sentence. The second person then starts the sentence again, but needs to remember the previous food and then add another food starting with the letter B. The next person needs to remember the A food, B food, and then come up with a C food. For example, “I went on a picnic and in my basket I brought apples, broccoli, and Cheetos.” This goes on and on, in circles, until you finally reach the letter Z. If a person gets stuck and cannot remember a previous food, he or she is out and everyone else keeps going.

Before you know it, you’ll realize you are only 15 miles from your destination. When you announce the good news, you might even hear my favorite words on a long trip: “Wow, Mom, that really didn’t seem like very long at all.”