Things to bring and games to play on a road trip

A view of the California coast on a road trip up north. Tesia Ziobrowski | Lariat

WHAT TO HAVE IN THE CAR

• Blanket/Sweater – I always have a blanket or sweater on the ready in case it’s cold or I want to take a nap.
• Pillow – Same with a pillow. If you want to nap or even just get comfy in the car, having a pillow to lean up against the window is a great option.
• Slip-ons – I like to have shoes that are easy to slip on and off in case we make stops on a trip so I can quickly put my shoes back on.
• Entertainment – Bring cards, download movies, play car games, boot up a Nintendo Switch, read a book, listen to music, color or engage with any other easy to transport hobbies you may have. 
• Portable charger – You’re going to be mad if your phone dies and you still have hours left on the trip.
• Cooler – If you have snacks and drinks in the car, I suggest a cooler to hold all of those items and keep them fresh throughout the trip.
• Mini trash can – A plastic bag will even work, just something to keep all your trash in so it’s not all around the car. This is especially helpful when you don’t know what to do with the empty chips bag or apple core you just ate. 
• Water – Bring a water bottle you can refill.

GAMES

• I Spy – This is a classic game. You start by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that is…” and describe the item you are seeing. Usually a color, shape or size are good ways to give a hint. I recommend picking something further up the road so you don’t pass it while the other players guess. The other players will guess 3 times each, what item it is, until someone gets it or until guesses run out.
• License plate game – Find and track all 50 states on license plates.
• 20 questions – With my family we like to pick a category, for example: Disney characters. Then one person will think of the subject. Once they have it, the other players will ask questions until they get the answer correct or they run out of questions by getting to 20.
• Alphabet game – In this game you can either work as a team or switch letters. If you play as a team you will all work together to find words going down the alphabet starting with “A.” If you switch letters then the first player will find a word starting with “A,” the next players will find ‘B’ and so on.
• One word story – The first player will start the story with one word, and the next player adds one word and so on until you have a story. For example: player one – “A”/ player two – “bear”/ player three – “liked”/ player four – “fish.” 
• Rainbow car – Find cars in rainbow order, first starting with red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, velvet and pink too.
• Would you rather – Pick a category: food, places, desserts, etc. Then ask the question “would you rather…or…” For example: “Would you rather eat pasta or a cheeseburger?”
• First letter, last letter movies – Player one will name a movie. The next player has to name the next movie but starting with the last letter of the first movie. For example: player one – “Cinderella”/ player two – “Avatar”/ player three – “Robin Hood”
• BONUS: in California you can count the mission bells up the coast and see how many it takes to get to your destination.

Here is an article from The Pioneer Woman listing some other road trip games.

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