Got a road trip coming up? Keep your family entertained with these easily transported board games for road trips (most are probably already in your game closet!)
We travel with our kids A LOT. Like, multiple 9 hours road trips a year kind of a lot.
And our kids have gotten REALLY good at traveling (thank God).
But let’s be honest- all that time in the car can get a little bit boring. Road trips with kids aren’t the easiest, and we’re always looking for new ways to keep our kids entertained while traveling.
For our most recent trip, it occurred to me- why couldn’t I raid our (fully stocked) board game closet for some travel games for kids?
It turns out, we had TONS of board games for road trips already ready and waiting for us!
If you’re also looking for fun board games for road trips, consider adding a few of these ideas to your list.
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Keeping Kids Entertained with Travel Games
Look, we’re no stranger to keeping our kids entertained in the car. We keep our road trip activity bag fully stocked and ready to go.
There are lots of premade, ready to go travel board games designed to play on the road with kids. Here are some fun travel board games for road trips:
Boggle– This game is spelling based, so it’s best for older kids. But it is easy, self contained, and keeps them busy!
Shotgun– Shotgun in kind of like a truth or dare type game that can be played in a car (or on a plane!) It’s just a deck of cards, with lots of options for fun.
I Spy Travel– This deck of cards gives kids lots of things to look for while on the road or in the air.
These are some of the best rated travel sized board games for road trips, according to Amazon:
Travel Size Monopoly– With a “sticky” game board and fewer pieces, this travel size Monopoly game is teeny tiny and easy to take on the road. It takes a LONG time to play- but if you’re stuck in the car or on a plane, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Magnetic Checkers– A quick strategy game, this game can be played by both kids and grown ups. The magnetic pieces make it more portable, and it can be played again and again.
Travel Size Hungry Hippos– Warning: this game is almost as loud as the original (aka, don’t bring it on a plane). But kids will love the familiarity of the game, and will have fun playing it on the go.
Travel Size Popomatic Trouble– This fun little strategy game could almost be played in the non-travel version. But the size of this version and some slight modifications make it an even better board game for travel.
Travel Size Sorry– Similar to Trouble, Sorry is a strategy game from back when I was a kid. Your kids will enjoy this travel size version of the classic board game, but prepare for some hurt feelings when someone is knocked off the board.
Travel Size Clue (Card Game)– It’s quite a bit different than the original, but playing this deck-of-cards version is much better for on the go.
The Best Board Games for Road Trips
Here’s where things get interesting- this collection of board games for road trips are probably hiding in your game closet as we speak!
These games can be played fairly well on the go without any modifications needed.
Okay, you do stand to lose some of the pieces, but Connect Four is pretty self contained.
Grab a flat surface (you know we travel with cookie trays for the kids to use in the car or on the plane) and set up your Connect Four “board.” Take turns dropping coins, and try to get four in a row.
Headbanz is a fun guessing game for families of all ages. Players take turns putting a card on their head, and asking questions to guess which card they’ve chosen.
This game works really well because there aren’t many small parts to lose. In addition, players don’t have to be sitting right next to each other to play.
After a quick glance at each other’s cards, players can face forward while asking and answering questions for each other.
Guess Who is another great board game for road trips. There are some cards, but otherwise there are no little parts to lose.
Players don’t have to be sitting right next to each other to play, since the object is NOT to see the other person’s cards.
Players will ask each other questions to rule out characters until only one card is left up. If you’re left with just the other player’s character up, you win!
This one is slightly trickier- you’ll need a stable place to set up the barn. However, I just love how easy Uno Moo is to transport, since all pieces fit inside a carrying case.
The pieces are also large enough not to loose, and there are no cards, dice, or timers.
Don’t be surprised if kids keep playing with this long after the game is over. There is lots of pretend play possibility with the little farm animals and farmer figure!
Battleship is one of those super classic board games, which is actually pretty perfect for a road trip. The little pegs stay perfectly in place (you may lose a few, but there are spares!)
Players place their battleships, then take turns guessing locations on the grid. Once you hit the ship, your Battleship is sunk.
In this Bop-It like game, Hands Full has three modes- partner, team, or solo– making it work for whatever you need while on your road trip.
It is a little loud, and you’ll need a tiny bit of wiggle room. So we only recommend this “board game” for a road trip where it’s just you and your kids in the car.
We hope this list of fun board games for road trips gives you some good ideas on how to keep your kids entertained in the car (or plane). Grab the ones that you already have in your closet, splurge on a new game or two, and call it a day!
What are your kids’ favorite games to play on a road trip? We’d love to hear about them in the comments!
