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Count It
- Wave at everyone you can see from the car Count how many people wave back.
- Pick and Count
Pick something to count (like trees, red cars, dumpsters, cows) and see how many you find. You can set a time limit, like two minutes to make it more of a challenge. You can also play against someone on the other side of the car. In this case see who can find the most by only looking out their own side of the car.
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Find It
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- I Spy
Great to play in the car or anywhere! One player spies (sees) something without telling anyone what it is. They say, “I spy with my little eye something that is (and they name the colour of the item that they spied).” Then everyone else tries to guess what it was that they spied. If you are traveling in a car, it is best to choose items that are in the car that everyone can see and the car won't pass by.
- Punch Buggy
Whenever you see a Volkswagen Beetle you yell “Punch buggy, yellow” (name the car’s colour). Then lightly punch (or nudge) the person beside you on the arm.
- Scavenger hunt
Look for the items listed below (or make your own list). You can play against someone else to see who finds all the items first, or you can work together. For an extra challenge you can play where you have to find the items in the order that they appear on the list. Good luck!
Bridge
Cow
Blue minivan
A tree shorter than the vehicle you are riding in
A driver with white or grey hair
Semi truck
A vehicle that has a company name painted on the side of it
Motor home
Bus
Pedestrian
Speed limit sign
Gas station
A vehicle you think is speeding
A fast food restaurant
Overpass
Red car
A vehicle with an out of province/state license plate
A sign with the letter ‘F’ on it
A vehicle for sale
A child riding in another vehicle
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- Round Up
You can add your own rules or change the game to work for where you are driving. Here are a few rules to get you started:
Each player chooses a side of the road. They will try to spot as many cows as they can on their side of the road. That means they can't count any cows they see on the other player's side. If a player sees a dog (either side of the road), and says, “cow round-up” first, they add the other player's cow total to their own (the other player doesn’t lose any points though). If a player sees a semi with a cow hauler, and says, “cows went on a trip” first, the other team loses all their cows and has to start at zero again. If a player sees a grocery store and says, “cows got fed” first, they add 100 more cows to their total. If one player is behind the other player in points and they see a food truck of any kind (like a grocery truck, fast food truck, pop truck) they can yell “Ketchup” and they will ‘catch-up’ in points and be even with the other player again.
VARIATIONS: You can change this game depending on where you live. Instead of cows, try gas stations. Each player tries to spot as many gas stations as they can on their side of the road. If they see a gas truck, they say "fill up" and get 10 points. If they see a tow truck, the first one to say, "out of gas" makes the other team lose all their points. Whoever sees a gas station billboard and says, "Gas Bonus", they add the other teams points to their own, but the other team does not lose their points. What other variations can you think of?
- Sign Alphabet Game
While riding in the car, try to go through the alphabet by finding the letters on signs that you see. Start with ‘a’ and work your way through the alphabet. To make the game more challenging only take one letter from each sign. In other words you could not take ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ from one sign. As well, you have to get the letter ‘q’ (a hard one) before you move on to the next letter, ‘r’.
- How long will it take?
This one is for in the car, bus, subway or really, anything that you are riding in. Look out the window and guess how long it will take for you to pass something. For example, how many seconds until you pass that tree? That store? That huge red sign?
You can play this game alone or with someone else. If you are playing with someone else, see who guesses the closest!
- Watch a movie
For those really long trips, watch a movie using a portable DVD player, your car's DVD player or a laptop, if you have one.
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Windows
- Raindrop races
If you have foggy car windows, smear the fog until you get water drops. See which drops reach the bottom of the window first. If it is raining outside, see which ones on the outside wins.
- Draw on frosty windows
Cold out? Frosty windows? Draw a picture or play x's and o's.
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License Plate Games
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Alphabet License Plate Game
Look at the license plates of vehicles you see. License plates have numbers and letters. Start by looking for the letter ‘a’. Once you have found that, go on to ‘b’, and on through the whole alphabet. You can make it more challenging by only being able to take one letter from each license plate. In other words you can’t take the letters ‘a’ and ‘b’ from the same license plate.
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License Plate Numbers
See how high you can count by finding numbers on license plates.
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License Plate Places
Look at the license plates on the vehicles around you. See how many different places you can find. Can you find all the provinces and territories of Canada? What about all of the United States? If there are other people in the car who want to play, see who finds the most.
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