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Planning a road trip with kids can be a lot of fun – if you’re prepared! These free printable road trip scavenger hunt activities are perfect for keeping young travellers entertained and engaged during long car rides. This means hearing ‘Are we there yet?‘ a little less often!
We have created 2 free printable car trip scavenger hunts for kids, so make sure you scroll down to download your freebies!
Why We Love Road Trip Scavenger Hunts?
Scavenger hunts are a great way to break the monotony of long car rides with kids. They encourage kids to observe their surroundings, stay alert, and engage with each other.
This is a big win when you’re trying to limit how much screen time they have on the trip.
Just like these fun car games for road trips or road trip questions, a scavenger hunt is such a simple way to keep kids entertained.
Sometimes our kids like to compete to see who can check off their list the fastest. Other times we work together as a family, making them a perfect blend of competition and cooperation.
Our Free Printable Car Ride Scavenger Hunts
We have created two road trip scavenger hunt printables for you to download and take on your next long drive.
There is a picture scavenger hunt version, suitable for younger kids who can’t yet read or aren’t confident readers. We’ve included the words too, so early readers can practice their reading skills still.
And the second version is text only, suited to older kids, with some more challenging items to find and extra items to make sure they don’t finish too quickly.
You can grab both of these free car trip scavenger hunts in our free printable library, along with loads of other travel activity printables. We also have a nature scavenger hunt set too.
GET THIS FREE PRINTABLE IN MY FREE PRINTABLE LIBRARY
Just make sure you remember to bring a pencil or pen so they can tick each item off.
How To Use These Printable Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Games
There are two ways you can use the free scavenger hunt printables. Print them off each time you need them for a long car ride.
Or laminate each of the scavenger hunts and bring a dry-erase marker so you can reuse them for future trips.
This is a great option for many of the activities in our huge printable road trip activity bundle too.
How To Make Road Trip Scavenger Hunts More Fun
Make it competitive. Our girls love racing to see who can tick off the most items first. Set a finish line — first to 10, or whoever has the most by the next town — and suddenly everyone’s glued to the window instead of their screens.
Or make it a team effort. On longer drives we sometimes work through the list together as a family, calling out items as we spot them. It sparks more conversation and works better for younger kids who might need a little help.
Add a prize. It doesn’t need to be anything big — picking the next road trip snack or choosing the playlist is enough to make everyone take it seriously.
Laminate the sheets. Print once, use every trip. A dry-erase marker wipes clean and saves you printing a new copy every time. Most of the activities in our printable road trip activity bundle work the same way.
Age it up or down. The image version is great for younger kids who aren’t reading yet — they can still spot and point even if they need a hand ticking things off. The text version has more challenging items that will keep older kids and teens genuinely searching.
Road trip scavenger hunts are a fun way to keep kids entertained during long drives and encourage them to look out the window and enjoy the ride.
