Games for Road Trips

We thought you might enjoy some of our time-tested, Pellman's family tried and true car games.

Every member of the family picks a color of car and counts the number they see pass by. We outlawed white, since that´s the most commonly colored car. You can set a time limit or a mileage limit and play this game over and over.

Each person goes through the alphabet choosing letters off signs along the road. Whoever sees the letter first, gets it.

Easy to play as a family, everyone watches to see how many different state license plates they can spot.

Make a fun phrase out of letters from a license plate. For example PPG 079 might be “Pugs Playing Games.” The first family member to come up with a phrase wins.

We´ll date ourselves by saying when our kids were small we checked out books on tape at the library for our road trip vacations. Now there are all kinds of great options. But in any event, listening and talking about a book together is a wonderful family activity, and unlike movies and handheld electronic games, allows you to still see all of the great scenery you are traveling through.

• MomsMiniVan.com  has a wonderful, long, list of more road trip game ideas and free printables for car bingo, tic-tac-toe, scavenger hunts and more.

• From  Kidventurous,  here´s a review of  various road trip games  plus links with even more suggestions.

• Edmunds, the car-buying site, offers this list of  top 10 car games.