Are We There Yet?
5 Drama Games to play on your next road trip!
3 – 5 min read // Published by Young Peoples Theatre, July 2020
With current restrictions seeing us explore our own backyard, we know many families will be heading off on a road trip these school holidays. But before you leave your kids on the side of the road after they ask ‘Are we there yet?’ one more time, try one of these games and get your fun-cation started instead.
Word Association
How to play: One passenger says a random word. The next passenger has to say a word that is associated with the first and so on. After a few rounds, see if you can work your way back to the first word.
Example: cold, ice, snow, frozen, Disney, Mickey Mouse etc…
Celebrity Heads
How to play: One passenger chooses a well-known personality. The other passengers each get a turn to ask a question about who they are. The passenger leading the game may only answer yes or no to the questions. This keeps going until one of the passengers correctly guesses.
Example: Am I a singer? Am I female? Am I from Australia?
Number Plate News
How to play: One passenger creates a headline using the letters from a nearby number plate. So the number plate FJ0 25 SP could be Frogs Jump Over 25 Sleeping Pigs. Then the passenger interview the other members of the car as though they were witnesses and participants on the scene.
Example: An interview question could be, ‘Little pig, how will you get the frog slime out of your hair?’
Alphabet Categories
How to play: One passenger chooses a starting category like, ‘Items found in the fridge’. Each passenger names an item for that category, starting with the next letter of the alphabet.
Example: A: apple pie / B: butter / C: chocolate milk / D: drinks
Grandma’s House
How to play: One passenger choose a ‘rule’. They must keep this rule a secret from everyone else in the car. Each of the passengers must ask to bring an item to Grandma’s House and the passenger says yes or no depending if what they wanted to bring fits the rule. The aim of the game is to guess the rule, so passengers keep asking until someone successfully guesses the rule. The rule can be a theme (e.g fruit and veg), a pattern (e.g alphabetical), or the way you say it. The passenger with the rule starts it off by giving the first “I’m going to Grandma’s House and I’m bringing …”
Example:
Rule Passenger: I’m going to Grandma’s House and I’m bringing an apple.
Passenger 2: I’m going to Grandma’s House and I’m bringing a banana (allowed)
Passenger 3: I’m going to Grandma’s House and I’m bringing a orange (not allowed)
Passenger 4: I’m going to Grandma’s House and I’m bringing an cantaloupe (allowed)
The secret rule was that we were following the item had to be starting with the next letter of the alphabet! But passengers may have thought it was fruit until orange wasn’t allowed. You need to you best detective work for this game!
Bonus: Want some extra competition? The winner of each game get to choose the next song or playlist on the radio.
And if all else fails, there is always good old-fashion I-spy or Spotto. Whatever games you choose to play on your road trip these school holidays, stay safe on the road, have fun and ban the words ‘Are we there yet?’…
