Free games for the back seat
34 car games with proper rules, printable bingo sheets and a few tricks for getting everyone there in one piece. Most of the games need nothing more than a window and a bit of imagination.
Who’s in the back seat?
Service station stop, hotel room, a wet evening in the caravan. Sometimes a screen wins, and that’s fine. Three free browser games we’re happy to hand over:
Calm tile-matching solitaire with hundreds of layouts. Good for grown-ups on their break, too.
Our back-seat Connections is word association. This one is a puzzle: sort 16 words into four hidden groups. Read them out and solve it together.
Run a pizzeria, a burger bar or a cupcake shop against the clock. A big hit with primary-school kids.
Little ones want your attention, teenagers want the radio. Start with the right page and half the battle is won.
“The under sixes are one of the easiest age groups to entertain, as really all they crave is attention from an adult.”Games and tips for little ones
“Variety is the key to a happy journey, and half an hour is just about the maximum attention span on one topic.”All 34 car games
“Letting them listen to the radio station they want can keep them quiet for a while, although the parents might get a bit frazzled.”Games teenagers might actually play
Photo: Keith Evans, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo: Bill Boaden, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo: Georgy90, CC BY-SA 3.0. All photo credits are on the about page.
The ones every family ends up playing, with the rules written down so nobody can change them halfway through the M5.
The classic: “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…”
Score a run for every leg in a pub name. No legs and you’re out.
Pot red cars and colours in order. A silver car ends your break.
First to shout “yellow car!” wins. The last to shout pays the price.
Guess the mystery object with 20 yes-or-no questions.
See a horse, shout “sheep!”. The slowest pays a sweet.
Answer every question with “rhubarb”. Laugh and you’re out.
Count cows on your side of the car. A graveyard buries the lot.
Free sheets to print at home. Pop them on a clipboard with a pencil: felt tips and car seats don’t mix.
Travelling Bingo
Name:
Picture cards for little ones, all different, so no copying.
Number Plate Bingo
Name:
Tick off the alphabet from the cars around you.
MINE!
Spot it first, shout “MY pylon!” and score it.
First to 50
Score the next car. Lorries are good, caravans are bad news.
Plus the original 41-page activity book from 2003 (PDF, 2 MB): road sign bingo, mazes, word searches and find the flags.
Most car-journey meltdowns start before the engine does. Ten minutes of planning saves a lot of “how much longer?”.
From the loo run to the snack bag, written by parents who learnt the hard way.
Read the checklistPut in the journey time and get a plan: stops, snacks and a game for every half hour.
Plan my breaksType in a number plate to see when and where it was first registered.
Check a plateMiles to kilometres, mph to km/h, litres to gallons and continental shoe sizes.
Open the converter
Photo: Hugh Venables, CC BY-SA 2.0
Crabbing off the quay is the one thing that keeps children happy for hours, so the beach guide explains how to do it properly: where, when, and why bacon rind beats everything else.
Most of the games and tips here were first published on car-travel-games.co.uk between 2003 and 2016, written by parents for parents. We’ve tidied them up, sorted them by age and added printable sheets and a few handy tools. The rules, and the silliness, are the originals. More about the site.
