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.
Contributed by Vicki Shaw
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.)
Contributed by Brian Litteral
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.)
Contributed by Susie Stranz
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!
Contributed by Katie
My father owns a grocery store
One player begins the round by stating, "My father owns a grocery store, and in it he sells (something that begins with the letter A; e.g., apples)." The next player states, "My father owns a grocery store, and in it he sells apples and (something that begins with the letter B; e.g., bananas)." It goes around and around with each player having to recite the entire list and then adding a new entry for the next letter of the alphabet.
If someone misses an item or gets completely stumped, they're supposed to be "out." But I have to say, we'd give them clues to keep things moving along. It's not a game which one needs to win; everyone wins by participating and making the drive more fun.
During my road tripping teen years, my friends and I altered it to, "My father owns a music store..." in which we'd have to name bands, song titles, album titles, or whatever.
Contributed by Sue
My Mother owns a grocery store
Someone who knows how to spell goes first and says,
"My mother owns a grocery store and in it she has something that begins with the letter _."
Others in the car guess items that begin with that letter. If it is hard to guess, clues can be provided if there was an effort by the players. Whoever guesses right goes next. Can be hilarious if a non-speller stumbles into an answer as they have no idea what to say for their turn giving clues. Parents can easily make slower guessers into winners as the object to be guessed is known only by them on their turn.
Variations can be created for older kids such as "owns a department store," "owns a bookstore".
Contributed by Leo, Midwest - Thank you!