By Duronda Schlue

Car Bingo can turn boredom into fun and games

Summer is always a good time of the year for a family outing. It helps if parents plan ahead with activities that can break a long car ride into a trip with conversation and observations of the sites outside the vehicle.

One of my favorites is Car Bingo.  Our family of four was about to embark on a two-day trip from New Mexico back to Iowa when my mother presented us with her version of car bingo as we departed on a two-day, 19-hour car ride from New Mexico to Iowa. Our children were 4 and 6.

We four all remember the game and the challenges presented when we could find many cows, but not a bull.  This bingo game can be easily modified and tailored to fit a family’s interests and location of the journey.

First create a grid with five squares across and five squares down. An adult tells the children what they are looking for outside the car. All objects should be shared verbally before starting.  Then the game begins. When the object is spotted, the person tells the rest of the family. The first to see the object gets his initials in the square. If there are older children, each could handle his own copy and let the referee in the front seat jot down each find. It works best if an adult can verify the find.

At the end of the game the person with the most answers wins. Prizes are optional. We found our children were truly engaged in the scenery and had a good time playing the car bingo game. The squares could be colored different colors when completed for a more creative step. An empty grid could be passed out and each child could illustrate each word from the bingo card. Here is our first bingo game from Meme.  I hope you will try it with your family. We loved it.

CAR BINGO