How to Stay Entertained on Long Car Journeys

The summer holidays are often filled with long car journeys for both children and adults; from travelling to your UK holiday destination of choice to heading to a day trip location miles away, at some point in the summer holidays, you’re likely to be sitting in the car for a good few hours and that’s when some entertainment is highly appreciated.

We’ve all heard of the classics such as ‘I spy’ and ‘who can stay quiet the longest’ but if you’re looking for some new ways to keep yourself and the kids entertained in the car on those long journeys, here are some ways to do so:

Games on Your Smart Phone or Tablet

Not a popular choice with all parents but a reliable one nevertheless, if you want to keep your kids entertained for hours or even keep yourself busy for a while, playing games on your smartphone or tablet is an affordable and easy way to do that.

There are so many games you can download on your smartphone or tablet that are suitable for both adults and children to play and as they’re normally so addictive, you know you’ll be entertained for hours.

Some of the most popular games available on the Apple App Store that are suitable for adults and children to have a go at include Best Fiends which is a virtual puzzle game with hundreds of levels, suitable for ages 4+, Bloxy Puzzles which has over 30 mini puzzles to work through, creating rows and lines in the right order to move up levels, also suitable for 4+ and Looper! which is all about tapping the right beat at the right time.

If your children have got their own tablet and you want to keep it safe in the car when not in use, the HandiWorld back seat organiser has a space fit for a standard sized tablet to keep it secure when not being used!

Road Trip Checklist

This free game can be quickly organised in advance of your journey and is guaranteed to stop the dreaded question ‘are we there yet?’.

Provide your child or children with a sheet with a long list of things on they will probably see on your journey; you can add generic things you see on every drive and things that are more specific to where you’re travelling to and the places you’ll pass on the way. All your kids have to do is keep an eye out on the journey for the things on their list and whoever has a fully completed list once you reach your destination gets a prize!

It’ll keep them occupied for the whole journey if you plan it right and gets them interested in the world around them too!

Turn ‘I Spy’ On Its Head

A well made point from Telegraph journalist, Ben Hatch who wrote an extensive article on how to keep kids entertained on the road, Ben highlighted that ‘I Spy’ is actually not the best game as in reality, there’s not a lot to see out of a speeding car window, so flip the game on its head and play ‘I don’t spy’.

It’s simple, instead of saying ‘I Spy’ and the answer being something you can actually see, mix it up and say, ‘I don’t spy…’ and allow the answer to be pretty much anything you want. By changing things up and doing the game this way, it’ll last much longer and be much more entertaining for everyone involved compared to the original version.

Guess Who

Guess Who may usually be considered a board game but this version involves nothing physical, just the ability to ask lots of questions to figure out who someone is. This can get everyone involved, no matter how old and as much as you may have a teen who isn’t too keen, we promise that eventually, they’ll get into it.

One person needs to think of a person; it can be someone in the family or a celebrity that everyone is familiar with and one by one, everyone else will ask questions to try and figure out who it is and to make things even more appealing, offering a small prize to the winner is bound to keep everyone interested.

The Music Quiz

If you’re a driver that gets easily distracted by the radio, this may not be one to try but if you’re at a standstill on the motorway, a music quiz is a great idea.

Whoever is in control of the AUX line is responsible for playing a song for 10 seconds and everyone in the back has to write down the song and artist and after however many songs you choose to do, reveal the answers and find out who’s won.

It gets everyone involved and passes time when the traffic isn’t moving.

Staying entertained on a long car journey doesn’t have to feel daunting when you’ve got activities and games like these ready to use at any time!

Have you got any go-to games for long road trips that always keep everyone entertained? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!