Brain-Boosting Travel Games and Activities
If you travel with kids, you know the struggle of keeping them occupied. Screens have made this job easier on parents, but if you’re looking for some screen-free options that also engage your child’s brain, this list is for you! Here’s a roundup of some fun travel games and activities that require minimal materials and can be played anywhere, whether on a grocery run or a cross-country flight.
Why Choose Brain-Boosting Travel Games?
Spending time on screens is affecting our kids’ brain development. It lowers attention span, limits visual processing development, and may even cause mental health issues down the road. While parents need to make the choices that work for their family during travel, knowing your options can set you up to use this time to connect and build brain skills together!
Road Trip Games for the Whole Family
The Classic Alphabet Game
Race to find all the letters of the alphabet in order from passing signs or license plates (and hope that you’re driving to Quebec when you get to the letter “Q”) ;).
This one is great for all ages, beginning with the youngest family members who are just beginning letter recognition. It takes working memory (remembering where in the alphabet you are), selective attention (ignoring where everyone else is and focusing on your own goal), and visual processing (to quickly see and identify letters).
Song Line String
Have one person begin to sing a song and stop after one line. The next person sings a line of a different song that starts with the word the first player ended with. This one is great if you’re traveling with teens or older kids!
Letter List Memory
Decide on a letter of the alphabet, and everybody thinks of a word that starts with that letter. Begin with one person and go around saying your word AND the words that came before you in order! Continue the circle around, adding a new word each time it’s your turn, growing your list until someone forgets. This is a great test of memory and attention skills!
20 Questions
One person thinks of a word, and the rest of the car has 20 yes or no questions to guess what it is. You can make it themed (animal, actor, famous person, something in nature, etc.) or have it be a free-for-all! This game builds critical thinking skills and helps your child develop good strategies for asking questions and answering them.
Alphabetical Categories
Decide on a category and work together to find something that starts with each letter of the alphabet in order. For example, if your category is food you could do: Apple, Banana, Cake, Donut, etc. (If someone says an option that’s a bit of a stretch, like “orange carrot” for O, the rest of the car gets to vote to see if it goes!)
Cows (or Something Else) on My Side
Have a child who gets easily carsick or want them to take in the scenery? Play Cows on My Side! In this easy game, players look out their window and look for the decided item. For example, if you choose cows, they would yell “Cows on my side!” for a point. If they see cows (or the other item) on the other side, they yell “Cows on your side.” If they call before that person, they steal an additional point from their score.
Obviously if you’re traveling in an urban area, cows are going to be few and far between (and they’ll probably lose focus pretty quickly). It can be palm trees, construction vehicles, or anything else you’ll see fairly frequently on your trip!
Name the Most
Decide on a category and a time limit and see who can name the most items! For example, you could set a 10 second limit and see who can name the most Disney princesses, construction vehicles, actors, things that are blue, or any other category that’s relevant to your family!
Individual Games and Activities that Build Brain Skills
If you’re just needing some quiet or are looking for ways to keep your kids’ hands busy, here are some fun individual games and activities that are easy to take on the road:
Travel Memory Game
This one is a favorite for car trips or flights! Your child can play independently or with a sibling (or parent) and exercise some memory skills while you’re traveling. Even younger kids will have fun opening the “doors” to see what’s underneath, so this is a great tool for the whole family!
Hidden Pictures or Where’s Waldo
Hidden pictures books and Where’s Waldo activities are great for building focus, visual discrimination, and other cognitive processes. There are lots of different levels of these, so you can grab some for your kids of all ages!
Word Search
Another classic, word searches are great for building spelling skills, visual processing, and focus.
DIY Challenge: Newspaper Spot-It. Grab a newspaper (or magazine) and have them go through one page circling as many occurrences of a single letter or word as they can, as fast as possible!
Rubik’s Cube
Many kids enjoy fidgeting with this classic toy, but it is a great tool to strengthen your brain, too! You can grab a 2×2 cube, the classic 3×3, or even go crazy with a larger one for a bigger challenge. It’s small, easy to bring along in the car, and great for keeping your child’s brain active.
Travel Games
There are lots of independent travel games on the market that are a great tool for car trips or boredom-busters at home. Games like Rush Hour and SmartGames XOXO strengthen problem-solving and logic skills in a way that’s fun (and easily contained for travel).
Reading or Audiobooks
Have trouble getting your kids to sit still to read or listen to books? Trips may be a great opportunity to stretch this skill while there are fewer distractions! Whether your kids are reading independently, you or an older sibling are reading aloud, or you’re listening to an audiobook, filling travel time with rich stories and language is always a good idea.
You can also knock out some awesome summer reading goals while you’re on the go! Here are some reasons why doing summer reading is so important >>
