Road Trip Games That Actually Teach Life Skills

Got a road trip coming up? Maybe you don’t even have a long car ride, maybe you just are looking for a fun way to kill some time. My husband and I recently have spent A LOT of time in the car. So what better theme for a vlog than games you can play in the car? These games help build communication skills, critical thinking, emotion regulation, and creativity! Grab your hand sanitizer and face masks, and hit the road!

Game 1: This game doesn’t really have a name. Let’s call it the Three Things game. So, in Three Things, the storyteller is given three objects that can be found on the road. In the car, I saw a mountain, a bridge, and the word “story” on an 18-wheeler we drove past. The storyteller then has to create a story using those three words. There are no rules except that the story has to have a beginning, middle, and end. This is a great time to talk about plot structure!

Game 2: Story Dice. The storyteller starts by rolling a dice. The number that the storyteller roles is the number of sentences it takes to tell the story. So if the storyteller roles a four, the story is four sentences long. No run on sentences allowed! This is especially difficult if the storyteller roles a one or two. Trust me, even adults struggle with this one!

Game 3: Temper Tantrum. This game involves a little reverse psychology, if you will. I play temper tantrum with my little clients if they are feeling slightly elevated or grumpy because this game provides safe boundaries to let out frustrations. However, Temper Tantrum is fun to play in any mood! So here’s how to play: the “ranter” is given a silly topic (ice cream, balloon animals, jack-in-the boxes, etc). Then, the ranter must go on a rampaging outburst about that topic. In the video, my assistant, Ben, went on a three minute rant about the dancing pop ups outside in parking lots (do those things even have a name??) While you might have a rule about no yelling (no car headaches, please), it is encouraged to be as dramatic and angry as possible. The more over-exaggerated you are, the more steam you’ll blow off during your rant!

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