The Best Car Games for Kids

Over 200 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Car Games for Kids

The best car games for kids are those favorite activities that can help occupy children during car rides both short and long. These games to play in the car include those for younger and older kids giving a range of things to do while on a family road trip or just a quick drive down the street. In addition to being fun, these best car games provide a reason for kids and adults alike to exercise their brains and take their mind off of the ride itself. You can't easily take along many of the best board games for kids on a long, bumpy ride, but that's exactly where these car games come in handy.

Since it's easy to see a lot of new and interesting things during a car ride, many of these popular car games are about identifying certain objects. I Spy, the License Plate Game and Road Trip Bingo are just a few which ask participants to pay attention to their surroundings to find specific things.

Many of these top car games are as educational as they are fun with alphabet learning and word use at the forefront. Games like I'm Going to a Picnic, Billboard Poetry, One Minute of Words, Eating an Alphabet and the classic Hangman can all help enhance the word skills for kids of all ages.

So if you're packing up the family in the station wagon for a long road trip to one of America's best family getaways or just looking for a way to occupy the little ones during a day of errands, keep these best car games for kids in mind. Do you have a favorite car activity for kids? Vote for the ones you love, add any not listed or re-rank this list of the best car games, all below!
Photo: Metaweb / GNU Free Documentation License
Ranked by
  • 1
    98 votes
  • 2
    92 votes

    20 Questions

  • 4
    102 votes

    License Plate Game

    Each participant takes turns calling out letters from license plates they see then using the letters to create a fun phrase. For instance, if a license plate has the letters M, N and C, the phrase could be "monkeys never cry." Everyone wins in this game.Alternately, during long road trips, participants can make note of how many license plates from different states they spot. The player who spotted the most license plates from different states at the conclusion of the trip wins.
  • 5
    81 votes

    Hangman

    Using a pencil and paper, the leader thinks of a word and draws the same number of blank spaces as are letters in the word. The opponent guesses letters he or she thinks are in the word. If the guess is correct, the leader fills in that letter in the word spaces. If the guess is incorrect, the leader draws one part of a stick figure. If the whole word is guessed correctly before the entire stick figure is drawn due to incorrect guesses, the player wins.