5 Non-Tech Games For When You're Travelling Or Stuck In Traffic

I live in New Jersey where it can take five minutes to drive a mile or half an hour, depending on traffic.  Yes, the Garden State is congested, which makes it a challenge when you're driving little ones around.  They get impatient and start to...

• Whine
• Complain
• Fight
• All of the above

That makes any potential trip hell for me!  

  

So I found these 5 Non-Tech Games For When You're Traveling Or Stuck In Traffic:
 
 
1.  Where's The Alphabet – Use road signs, billboards, shop names — any reading material outside the window qualifies as long as it's spotted on your side of the car. If you're the front-seat passenger, focus on the right. Look for every letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order, although the letter can be located anywhere in the word. For example, if there's a sign for a farm, there's your A. The exit for the Broad Street Bridge would cover B, Road Closed is C and so on. First one to the letter Z wins.


2.  Odd Or Even – Each rider guesses how many of the next 20 license plates will end with an even number. The closest guess wins.


3.  The Crazy License Plate Game – Take the license plate in front of you and make up crazy phrases to describe the driver. For example, FCB21M could translate into Five Cute Babies with 21 Moms.

  
4.  Count The Number Of Fools On Cellphones – Here's a diversion with a message. In my area, many people still, unfortunately, talk on cellphones while they're driving even though it's DANGEROUS and AGAINST THE LAW. The kids know this is wrong and we've talked about why it's so bad, but we can't do anything about it, so we've turned it into a challenge. We try to count how many stupid adults they see driving while talking on cellphones. Another benefit to this game is that it alerts me to which idiots probably do not have their minds on the road. Our highest count so far: 15 people in 30 minutes. Shame on those drivers!

5.  Count...Something - Count the number of...whatever. It can be anything: kids on bikes, telephone poles, headlights, train cars, blue pickup trucks, etc. All you have to do is shouting out the thing to keep track of the number. 

 

 

With my daughter having gymnastics practice four times a week and my son needing to get to baseball, friends' houses, etc., I'm ALWAYS on the road.  These games have been a God-send, even with a teen in the car.

 

Give them a try, then come back here and tell me:

 

 

Which worked for your kids?