Car Travel Games

I love to keep things organized and contained in the car well…to start out with at least. It seems like a few hours in and I’m telling them to clean up just like at home. We have gotten in the habit of pulling out all the garbage and putting things away at each gas station or stop we make. That seems to really help a lot!

I had to search for a while, because all boxes are different sizes and shapes, before I found these blue boxes for my van. They fit perfectly under the last row. I can get 3 under the bench. One is usually filled with snacks while the other two are filled with car travel games and activities. We have found these boxes helpful not just for road trips but also for day trips or errands. We have these in our car all the time! When we are waiting for soccer practice to end there is always something to do or snack on which keeps everyone else stuck in the car happy.

In the first box we have travel games; Battleship, Connect 4, Hangman, Bingo, Wikki Stix, Magna Doodle, Story Cubes and a deck or two of Playing Cards. If you have not seen the Story Cubes you are missing out. They have different pictures on each side. You roll them (or shake them in the bag while in the car) then make up your own story. We have split the dice between two bags because we have two rows of seats in our van so each row gets one bag. Look out because imaginations run wild with these fun dice!

In the second box we have dry erase boards of different varieties, some large some small. AquaDoodle -or something equivalent the ones where you have some sort of a brush or writing tool that you fill with water and then “paint” the picture and the design magically appears in different colors. I have found these at the dollar store. Dover Little Activity Books. Small coloring pages all contained in one zip top bag. Colored pencils in a zip bag as well with a pencil sharpener. Small puzzles with magnets on the back. We bring a cookie sheet (not pictured, slid in a tight spot while not in use) to do the puzzle on so the pieces are not flying all over. We cut the magnets that come in the mail or on phone books and hot glued them to the backs of puzzles. Make sure you look at the finished puzzle size on the box to see if it will fit on your cookie sheet. Maybe I know just a little about that from experience!

Other ideas not pictured that we may have in our boxes are books (though these usually are by the seat of each child, age appropriate), stickers (great to put on clothing/bodies/paper), stringing beads…the possibilities are many!

What activities do you keep in your car? Need food ideas? Check out our Triple Travel Snack Bag and food ideas.