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Health Tips
Car Games
Car Games
Games Kids Play
- The ABC Game
Object to complete the alphabet first. As you see the letters on billboards & license plates you shout out your letter and point. Once a letter has been claimed other players cannot use the same letter. Make it harder by limiting to only license plates or billboard signs.
- The Theme Song Game
Just silly & fun. One person hums the tune to a favorite TV show (here you can tell I grew up in the 70's) ex: Hawaii Five-0, Gilligan's Island, Flipper, Brady Bunch, etc. The one who guesses does the next song.
- Guess what I am
One person states they are either a person, place or thing and the others then ask questions (are you blue, can you speak, do you bark, can you be eaten, etc) until they guess what the person is, then they are next.
- Alphabet Signs: [A variation of the ABC game above]
One person chose the right side of the road and the other person had the left. The object of the game was to cite all of the letters of the alphabet ,in order, from a to z. You could only use a sign for one letter. The person on the left side usually had to sit sideways and read signs as they receded. The first person to z won.
- Animals/Cities/Geography
We also played a game we took turns naming animals (for example). Each person would have to name another animal (no repeating) that started with the last letter of the last animal named. This game could be played with cities (as we got older) or geographical regions (as we got older still). We even have an 'expert' version where all the geographical regions must start and end with an 'a'. (AsiA, Aegean SeA, AmericA, AtlantA, etc.)
- The Cow Game
This is a car game called "The Cow Game". We are a family of four, so 2 of us take the right side of the road and 2 the left. You keep a count of all the cows you pass throughout the day. But every time you pass a cemetery on your side of the road, you lose all your points. The winner at the end of the day's drive gets a treat! (It used to be a nickel, but times have changed.)
- The Animal Car Game (Similar to the Cow game)
We usually play on long car trips through the country, because animals are in more abundance there. Everyone in the car plays and looks for certain animals alongside the road. The animals looked for are ONLY the domesticated kind, because birds would be almost impossible and the game would be over too fast and would be too boring. As one person spots an animal, they say the sound the animal makes and gets a certain amount of points for that animal. ex: cow--moo!, horse-neigh, cat-meow.... etc.
The points are given on the difficulty of the animal that was spotted: cow-1 horse-1 dog-1 sheep-2 llama-3 cat-3 donkey-3 pig-4 (rarely seen, except on REALLY long trips) anything else spotted everyone must agree on the amount of points given. The game is usually played until a player gets to a certain amount. We usually play 10 points and that lasts about a half-hour in the countryside... have fun!
Games To Play With Children In The Car
Live and Learn
Car games are a terrific way to entertain children and yourself too! The games pass the time, stimulate thought, and can educate the children! The great thing about car games is they can be played by many different aged children. Imaginative use of car games is all that is needed to modify them for different ages.
Many of the games we play in the car are games you probably played as a kid, but have forgotten all about...such as 20 Questions and Geography. Some of the others we play may be new to you, but are also winners. And keep in mind, these games are also great when you are in waiting rooms; on line somewhere; or waiting for a table in a restaurant. They don't have to be played in a car!
- 20 Questions
20 Questions is truly a classic game. It can be played by children of all ages. There are many variations of the game. We will describe only one variation of the game.
One person thinks of something which falls under the category of animal, mineral, or vegetable and then tells the other players which category is correct. The players then take turns asking questions which can be answered with a YES or NO. For instance, if the category is animal a player might ask "Can it fly?" or "Does it have four legs?" And after 20 questions are asked, if the players have not already guessed the answer, each player gets a last chance to make a guess. Afterwards, a new player tries to stump the group.
- Geography
Geography is another classic game. But Geography is not for younger children. This game is best for children ages 8 and up. Not only do they enjoy the game, they know enough locations to be able to play the game well. Although the fine points of the game may vary from place to place, this is how the basic game is played.
Someone starts by naming a country such as Japan. The next person must name a country whose name begins with the last letter of the previously named country. In this case, Japan ends in N, so a country which begins with N must be named such as Nigeria. And then, since Nigeria ends in an A, the next person's country must start with an A. And so on until someone gets stumped.
Please note, some people play the game with city names; names of rivers or other bodies of water; and in the United States it is often played with state names. Set your own rules and have fun!
- Name Games
Simple, yet a fun game. Perfect for children of all ages. Think of a name. Then tell the group whether it is a boy's or girl's name, and tell them the first letter of the name. The group then tries to guess the name by calling out all the names they can think of which start with the appropriate letter. That's it. Simple, but fun!
- Alphabet Memory Game
Great for children of all ages. An excellent way to help reinforce a preschooler's ABCs, yet fun for the elementary school aged child too!
The first person starts with the letter A and say "A is for ---" filling in the blank with any word beginning with the letter A such as APPLE, ARTICHOKE, AIRPLANE, etc. Let's use APPLE. The second person then does the letter B, but must also remember what A was! So, let's say the second person decides to use the word BOOK for B, the second person would say" A is for APPLE and B is for BOOK.
You continue your way through the alphabet. By the time you get up to the letter Z the player will have to recite each and every letter with its corresponding item. The game takes a while and kids love it, particularly if you throw in some silly words or phrases like S IS FOR SMELLY TOES.
CAR GAMES: Or, I'm Gonna Turn This Car Around RIGHT NOW
Aunt Nette
- The Alphabet Game(s)
- Looking at road signs and license plates, each player tries to spot the letters of the alphabet, in order from A-Z, then the numbers 1-26 in order. First one to finish first wins.
- Player one names one of the following beginning with the letter A: a town, a flower, an animal, a boys' name, a girl's name (the possibilities for this are endless). Player 2 follows with another word, also beginning with A. After the first round, the order of players reverses, and the last person to do A is the first for the letter B. You get a minus point for each letter you skip, and the person with the least minus points wins.
- Categories
The favorite game among my two boys and I is "the category game." One person thinks of a category, then we take turns naming items that fit in the category. When one of the participants can't name another thing in the current category, s/he is out; the game continues until one of the last two players can't continue. But the other player doesn't "win" unless s/he can name at least one more item in the category.
A large part of the fun is thinking up the categories. In our 10 years of driving back and forth to the cabin (1-1/2 hours each way) we've come up with: characters on The Simpsons, cities (or countries) that begin with "B", things that are yellow, trees, brands of computers, cartoon shows, plus about a hundred others I can't remember. The game can be tailored for the participants. The only category we've outlawed is "numbers between one and three; I start!"
- Doubles
A variant on finding numbers on license plates: my father always liked to play Doubles. Start with spotting the digits 0 through 9 in order on the license plates. The other player will be going down from 9 to 0. But next you need to find double numbers: 00 through 99 (or 99 through 00); then triples, and so on. I remember one long trip in which we got halfway through the quadruples: 0000 through 9999. This game is harder to play, now that vanity plates are so frequent.
- Firefighter
Younger members look for fire engines, ambulances, and squad cars. When they spot one they get to make a loud fire engine noise. A great game when you're not the driver.
- Fuzz
First person to see a law enforcement officer says "fuzz!" A false alarm is minus two points. My wife & I play this to 15 points and the loser buys dinner.
- Ghost
You spell out words, the first person says a letter and the next person has to add a letter and you continue in a certain order adding letters. The trick is that if you add a letter and the string can't be completed to make a word, you lose; but if you add a letter and make the string a complete word, you also lose. For example there were three of them, and one started with E... the next gave X... then T... then O... now if the next person said L they lose because now it is EXTOL which is a complete word. But if they said for example P then they can be challenged to come up with a word that starts in EXTOP... (I don't think there is any) and then they would also lose.
- Howdy Doody
I say a name and you use either the first or last name to make another one. Names have to be familiar to all of the players with the grown up in charge as the ultimate referee as to whether little sister could REALLY be expected to know Karl Marx. So I think of Will Smith, and you say Will Rogers and Grandma says Mister Rogers and Grandma says Mister Clean and so on and so forth. Named because if you ever get to Howdy Doody you've obviously lost. For adults who have consumed adult beverages it's fun to skip a name so that the name receiver gets to figure out the missing link. Wit and outrageousness count, with adults or children. (Bull Durham to Howdy Doody by way of Bull Doody is a sure winner)
- A Variation
Pick a subject (animals for example). Person 1 names an animal (cat). Person 2 now must name an animal that starts with the last letter of the previous word (turtle). etc etc. Brush up on your animals that begin with 'E' and 'T'.
- I Spy
While everyone knows the regular version, here are some alternative versions for odiously precocious, inquisitive, or anal retentive children:
- "I spy a baseball player, president, rock star, movie star, country in Africa, relative, person in our school, etc."
Players think of a person, place or thing in whatever category the adult has set for the game. Kids get to figure out out with questions like - Does she have a crush on a Backstreet Boy? Did he get shot in office? Was he ever in a Gladiator movie? Is it purple on the map in homeroom?
- I Spy a Philosophy or World Religion
Does it allow for free will? Does it begin from a philosophical premise that all are created equal? Does it require you to march or carry banners? Does their hero's first name rhyme with "fine"? Does it have a supreme being? Are there special diet rules? Do they have neat gods and monsters that smite people?
- Reverse I Spy
The guessers tell the chooser something about what s/he has to spy; you've got to think of something that's blue! Or soft! Or made of metal!
- Monster Mix and Match
If there are enough passengers (3 is the ideal number, but you can do it with 2), you can play Monster Mix-and-Match.
Equipment: a pencil or pen for each player, and some sheets of medium-sized unlined paper.
Procedure: Each player takes a piece of paper and folds it into thirds lengthwise (i.e., so that the folds are perpendicular to the long edge). Starting at one edge, with the edge at the top, draw the head and neck (or corresponding body parts) of a monster, alien, teacher, or other odd creature. Extend the two lines of the neck just barely across the fold into the next third of the paper, so the next person can see where to attach the midsection (body, arms, tops of legs) that he or she is about to draw. But tuck the finished drawing inside the folds so the next player can't peek and see what sort of monster you started. Exchange papers with the other players. Draw the midsection on the middle third of the paper, extending the lines for the legs (2 of them, anyway) into the bottom section. Exchange papers again and draw the legs (or whatever) on the last third. Open up the papers and pass them around. Laugh uproariously, especially if you got confused and drew one of your sections upside down.
- Padiddle
First person to spot a car having only one operational headlight says "padiddle!" False alarms are minus two points. Think up your own prizes.
- Punchbuggy
A 'Punchbuggy' is a Volkswagen Beetle, and when you see one, you have to be the first to yell "Green punchbuggy, punchbuggy, no punch backs!" (or whatever color.) If you say the ritual verses properly, nobody else but you can now claim any other green punchbuggy. You get a point for every punchbuggy you claim.
The ritual vocabulary is very important, as I discovered when I omitted the important words "No punch backs!" when I had some of my daughter's friends in the car pool. I pointed out a yellow punchbuggy, and said nothing more. One boy eyed me warily, but when I didn't follow up, he shrugged, said, "Well, OK," and punched me on the arm while shouting "Yellow punchbuggy, punchbuggy, no punch backs!" My daughter had been too kind to visit upon me the painful but necessary "punch backs" consequences of omitting that part of the incantation.
- SlugBug
Along with the obligatory slug when you see a VW beetle, we say "Slug Bug (color of car) no backs", which of course means you cannot punch the puncher back. When you have a car full of people you can also yell "Bug Spray", meaning no one can punch you back. I also pay $0.25 for purple cars, $0.50 for pink cars (they must not have any adverts on them-that rule came up when we passed the Backman Floral headquarters with their legions of purple trucks)
- Quaker Meeting
I'm sure this is now a politically incorrect name, so you're welcome to come up with a better one. When I was a kid, my father would play this with us to keep us quiet in the back of the buggy when the horse was feeling twitchy. He'd hold up a quarter (at least a buck today, of course) to be given to the one who could remain silent the longest. This, of course, led to my brother and I engaging in all sorts of goofy face making and non-speaking body noises aimed at getting the other one to laugh out loud. WARNING: do not play this with aggressive siblings (are there any other kind?) if you do NOT have a clear view of the back seat as injuries may result.
- Scrabble
A variation of alphabet (see above) where each player gives the other a word (of the same number of letters) to fill out from letters along the roadside. The adult can hand out the words or the younger persons can pick words for each other. For added fun, if there is someone patient enough to keep score, you can play with the actual letter point values from scrabble. Cheat hint: Z and X occur much more frequently on the roadside than in written language thanks to the proliferation of exits where you can by pizza.
- Sweet and Sour
Each kid chooses a window. Whenever a car goes by, wave and smile. If the person waves or smiles back (sweet), you get a point. If the person frowns or ignores you (sour), no points. The kid with the most points at the end wins.
- Weakest Link (Formerly Known as Sea Food)
Distribute to the children food items that will dissolve in saliva. Children must retain a recognizable lump of the original food material in their mouth for as long as possible. Bananas and other fruit are good, as are suckers and crackers. Players challenge each other to demonstrate that they still retain recognizable lumpage by calling out SEAFOOD! while demonstrating that they still have that last bit of tootsie roll on their tongue. Since challenging inevitably produces saliva, it's a two edged sword and not to be done too frequently. A good game to play after Firefighter. Requires vinyl upholstery.
- What?
Our family's ultimate favorite was "What _____?". When it is your turn you announce the topic by stating it, "What animal is...clue. clue, clue...?" Or "What fairy tale is..clue, clue, clue?" Or "Which relative....sucks their teeth after dinner and farts and blames the dog....". We love this gane because each round has a new twist.
Family Fun
Disney Online
- Car Scavenger Hunt
Hand your kids a pack of index cards and ask them to write or draw pictures of 50 things they might see on a trip. Keep the cards for scavenger hunts when players vie to match what they see with the cards.
- Raindrop Race
Each player traces the course of a raindrop down the window. The first drop to reach the bottom wins.
- Billboard Poetry
Take turns picking out four words from road signs. Give the words to the other players who have 1 minute to turn the words into a four-line, rhyming poem using one word per line.
- Guess Mobile
Name a guess master--the person who poses a guessing challenge. He or she could ask passengers to guess the color of the next passing car, or how long before you get to the next town. Or, with three clues, what it is that someone else sees.
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