How to Design a Car Game
If you've ever traveled with kids in the backseat, with their incessant "Are we there yet?" causing your blood pressure to rise, you're probably looking for a way to keep them occupied and out of your hair. Sure, iPods and DVD players can do the trick, but they can be expensive. Create your own "car games" to help the backseat drivers have a little fun, and give you at least a little bit of peace and sanity.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Scissors Construction paper Crayons Tape or glue Hand-held white boards (at least two) Dry erase markers
Instructions
-
-
1
Cut pieces of construction paper (of different colors) to match the size of the white boards.
-
2
Draw a 5-by-5 inch grid in the center of each piece of construction paper with your crayons. This will create 25 game squares. Cut out small holes at the bottom of each game square.
-
-
3
Choose the theme for your car game. It can be such games as states on license plates, types of road signs, or names of fast-food chains and gas stations. Once selected, fill in each of the 25 game squares with the name of something that completes the category you have chosen. If you're feeling especially crafty, you can cut out representative pictures from magazines and glue them in each square. Make sure the layout of each game board is slightly different, either by having completely different items, or by having them in different locations.
-
4
Glue or tape the construction paper to the white board, making sure that the white board can be clearly seen through the holes you have previously cut out.
-
5
Hand the boards to your "contestants" in the car game, and give them each a dry erase marker. When they see an item on their game card, they can put an "X" or other identifying mark in the hole beneath the item's name on the game card. Once somebody has five in a row, they are the winner. The card can then be "erased" and used again and again for hours of backseat entertainment.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
To eliminate fighting and arguing over which kid gets which card, have them personalize their own game cards before you glue them to the white boards. After a few road trips, the kids may get tired of the "same old cards." Feel free to have them design their own game boards, and place them directly on top of the old game boards, or simply buy new white boards.
If you do choose a theme like "state license plates," be sure to spread out the states you see most often on the game board, making the game last a lot longer. Also, don't add Hawaii or too many other faraway states to the board to avoid having nobody being able to win.
