Campervan: Road Trip Activities

Usually, when you hear about road trips, you hear about the destinations or all the fun activities people did on their trip, but often the time in the car is overlooked. If you plan a multiday or a multistate road trip, you are bound to be in the car for many hours, especially on a campervan rental road trip. This can be tough on adults and especially difficult on kids. So how do you make this mandatory time on road trips more fun and less tough? Hopefully, these campervan activities can occupy your time as well as your kid’s and make the long drive times enjoyable.

License Plate Games

1. A-Z: The objective of this game is to find every letter in the alphabet in order. The rules are simple, you can play in teams or everyone on their own. One letter per license plate, and you have to call out the letter you see. You do not need to point out the car, as multiple people can play off the same license plate. 
2. The State Game: See if you can spot every state plate along your way. Usually, this is played as 1 team, but you can make it more competitive by having everyone on their own. 

Reading or Audio Books

Whether it is a book your kid needs to read for school or a classic you want to share, audiobooks or reading in the car are great ways to occupy time and make the miles go by fast.

I-Spy

This is a classic road trip activity. An easy game everyone in the car will most likely know. One person picks an item or object (whether it’s in the car or outside), and then everyone else tries to guess what that item is. 

21 Questions

One person picks something, it can literally be any person, place, or thing, and everyone gets 21 questions to guess what that thing is.

Madlibs

Activities that are prepared are easiest on everyone, and for Mad Libs, you only need a pen and a Mad Libs book. The game is pretty self-explanatory. When you open up to the first page, you fill in the blanks with the respective ask. It is a great way to also teach the younger ones about verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns! 

Battle of the Bands

This one is mainly for adults but can be adapted for children as well. You start by picking a specific music genre or theme, and each person gets a chance to pick and play a song they think fits that category best. The person who came up with the theme or genre gets to pick the winner. Whoever wins gets a point, and it’s up to the players for how many points win the game.

Podcasts

Podcasts are all the rage, and if you don’t already have a favorite, it won’t take that much time to find one. With there being a podcast for every single subject, you are bound to find the perfect one for whoever you are traveling with. From educational topics to vanlife to shows about where you will be traveling to, hop on your favorite app to find a podcast and search away. 

Pro Tip! Predownload podcasts in case you lose service.

Screens

If everything else fails: Screen Time. There is no shame in tuning out to enjoy some games or shows/movies on a tablet or a phone – especially if it will get you and the kids in a better mood when you finally arrive at your destination. 

We hope that these road-trip activities will help you occupy the drive time on your next campervan rental road trip! Whether you are driving for long hours or only a few, we hope that you and your travel buddies will be able to make the time fly by and enjoy the journey.

We hope you have fun trying some of these campervan activities. If you want to learn more about which van is right for you, check out our vans page! Don’t forget to share your adventures with us on social media @NativeCampervans.