Road Trip Boredom Busters

The family road trip can be a time to bond and learn about each other's interests and points of view — or an ordeal that makes you want to scream every time you hear "Are we there yet?" from your kids.

Road trips can be an fun, educational, sane experience with just a little planning, creativity, and preparation. Here are some ideas for games and activities to get your family revved up for a trip long on smiles and short on frustration.

Can-Do Cards

Don't underestimate the power of a deck of cards. It presents endless possibilities for all ages and can provide hours of entertainment and concentration. If your kids are sick of the standard Go Fish, Crazy Eights, and Rummy games, buy — or borrow from your local library — a kids' card games book for new ideas. Or buy a deck of quiz or trivia cards to keep their brains busy.

Contest Craze

Hold an official family spelling bee or trivia contest using index cards to write down words or questions. Winners can earn trinkets, stickers, activity or coloring books, trading cards, food treats, money (the younger the child, the smaller the amount), or extra minutes of hotel pool time or stay-up-late time.

Good Ol' Games

Use the fallback road-trip games — 20 Questions, the License Plate Game, and I Spy. Or try the Alphabet Game (you pick a topic — say, animals — and a letter, then have everyone spout off animals that begin with A, like aardvark, antelope, ape). The best thing about this game is that kids can pick a topic of interest — cars, TV characters, countries, cities, foods, names, etc. — and there are 26 possibilities (one for each letter) for every topic.

Make the games into marathons, awarding special treats or trinkets to whoever wins each round. Then have lightening rounds or finals for extra-special awards.

Journal Jotting

Buy cheap but sturdy journals (or use plain notebooks or create your own from construction paper, hole puncher, and yarn) and have kids write down and describe what they see along the way. Have them collect something small (a stone, a seashell, a flower, etc.) or buy a super-small trinket from rest stops (buttons, stickers, postcards, etc.) to glue into their journal, describing each stop and each location or landmark they pass.

Bring along a stack of old magazines and have kids cut out and paste pictures into their journals to illustrate some of what they've seen (e.g., cows, fire trucks, palm trees, deer, cars, etc.). Give each kid a disposable camera to capture their own memories and keep the pictures in their personal road-trip journals.

Make It Magnetic

Stock up on a few super-cheap magnetic games (like tic-tac-toe, checkers, etc.) at the local dollar store or at gift shops along the way.

Map Quest

Bring a large map (or smaller map book that little hands can better handle) just for the kids. Have them use stickers and highlighters to mark each road you take on your journey.

Road Trip Box to the Rescue

Find a sturdy cardboard box or hat box (one for each child) and paint the top with chalkboard paint (black or green). Stock the box with tons of handy-dandy arts and crafts items and playthings: chalk, chalkboard eraser, washable markers, crayons, pocket-sized coloring books, colored pencils, scrap paper, mini dry erase board, dry erase marker and cloth eraser, construction paper, stickers, stencils, colored pipe cleaners, Popsicle sticks, tape, colored tape, mini pom-poms, child-safe scissors, hole puncher, yarn, and small dolls or action figures.