Fun Car Games for Kids – Free Road Trip Printables

When we set off on a 6-hour drive to the mountains, I honestly didn’t think my printable car games would hold my kids’ attention for long. I thought they’d try a few, get bored, and reach for something else. But I was so wrong! We all ended up laughing over mad libs for hours. The kids played the games together and used their binders the entire trip. It made our long drive there and back so much more fun and way less stressful.

What’s Included:

10 Road Trip Mad Libs (5 pages)
Road Rage
Sign Snatcher
Road Trip Alphabet Game
Connect the Dots
Dots & Boxes
Hangman
Tic-Tac-Toe
License Plate Game
Car Color Tally (BW & Color)
Word Search (With Answer Key)
20 Story Starters
6 Finish the Drawing (3 pages)
How To Play (2 pages)

Hangman
One player thinks of a word or short sentence and draws a blank space for each letter. The other player guesses letters one at a time. Each wrong guess adds a part to the hangman drawing. After each guess, cross off the letter. Try to guess the word before the hangman is fully drawn.

Tic-Tac-Toe
Players take turns placing X’s and O’s in the grid. The first player to get three in a row, across, down, or diagonally, wins.

Road Trip Alphabet Game
Look outside and find words on signs, license plates, or buildings that start with each letter of the alphabet. Go in ABC order.

Dots & Boxes
Take turns drawing one line to connect two dots. When you complete a box, write your initial inside and take another turn. The player with the most boxes at the end wins.

Sign Snatcher

Draw 10 random red X’s on the game board. These are the signs you need to collect. Each player starts in an opposite corner. Player 1 draws a circle to be their car. Player 2 draws a square. (Or just use different colors) Take turns moving your car one space per turn, either up, down, or side to side (no diagonal moves). When you land on a sign, erase it and make a tally mark under your name. The player with the most signs collected at the end wins.

License Plate Game

Watch for license plates from as many different states as you can. Color in or cross off the state when you see it. Try to find them all.

Finish the Drawing

Look at the starting shape on the page and use your imagination to turn it into anything you want. There are no wrong answers.

Word Search

Find and circle all the hidden words in the puzzle. Words can go forward, backward, up, down, or diagonal.

Mad Libs

Fill in the blanks with the type of word asked without looking at the story. Once all the blanks are filled, read the story out loud and get ready to laugh.

Road Rage (Battleship-Style Game)

Each player marks their own grid (Player 1 side). Secretly place your cars (Fire Truck, RV, Pickup, Car) on the grid. Take turns guessing coordinates to find each other’s cars, marking your hits and misses on the Player 2 grid on your page. The first player to find and hit all the opponent’s cars wins.

Car Color Tally

Each player picks two car colors to watch for. Every time you see one of your car colors, make a tally mark. First to the end with both colors win!Alternative way to play: Pick a time (30 seconds) and tally all the cars you see. Which color did you see the most?

Connect the Dots

Follow the numbered dots in order to complete the picture. Try to guess what you are drawing as you go.

Story Starters

Read the story starter and finish the story in your own words. Be creative and silly.

“How to Play” instruction pages come with the printable road trip game pack. Each game is explained in simple, kid-friendly language so parents can print and go without needing to look anything up.

How to set up the Road Trip Game Binder:

Print the pages on cardstock for durability.
Slide them into plastic sleeves in a binder or laminate them.
Use dry erase markers so kids can reuse the games.
Print one binder per child.
Bring multiple colored markers for some of the games.

Why we love these printable car games:

Keeps kids engaged without screens
Encourages sibling play
Sparks creativity
Perfect for long drives, waiting in restaurants, or downtime on vacations

The Mad Libs were by far our family’s favorite – we couldn’t stop laughing! My daughter especially loved the License Plate Game, and my son loved Sign Snatcher.