Use our free printable road trip scavenger hunt and I-Spy pages for vacations or car trips just about anywhere! A fun printable game or activity for kids with lots of ideas for variations and a list of more zero-prep travel scavenger hunt ideas…
Looking for a fun and fuss-free way to keep kids entertained on your next road trip? Our free printable road trip scavenger hunt and I-Spy pages are the perfect travel companions! Whether you’re heading across the country or just on an afternoon scenic drive, these easy-to-use printables turn every trip into a game.
Designed to make the miles fly by, this activity encourages kids to look out the window and take in all the sights and sounds, both familiar and brand new.
Our free printable visual road trip scavenger is perfect for preschool-aged kids and kindergartners and invites children to look for:
- A billboard
- A motorcycle
- A traffic light
- A deer
- A barn
- A school bus
- Wind turbines
- A gas station
- Picnic tables
- A train
- A construction zone
Our free printable road trip scavenger checklist works well for longer trips or older kids and asks them to find these additional items:
- A railroad
- A camper or RV
- A farm animal
- A hotel/motel
- A body of water
- A flag
- A “no U-turn” sign
- A school bus
- An orange cone
- A car decal
- A mountain/hill
- A fire truck
- A toll booth
- Out-of-state plates
- A deer
- A farm stand
- A roundabout
- A roadside attraction
- Rest stop picnic tables
- An animal crossing sign
- A wind turbine
- A car with a roof rack
- A barn or silo
- A water tower
- A yield sign
- A hay bale
- A rainbow
- A pond
- A tunnel
- A convertible
- A vanity plate
- A flashing sign
- A historical marker
- A dog in a window
- A trailer
- A construction zone
- A red billboard
- A tow truck
- A bridge
- A motorcycle
We’ve also included an illustrated blank road trip scavenger hunt page you can fill in with sights (or sounds, or smells!) you might find or observe during your own car travel.
Combine this with our road trip yoga cards, ideas for no-prep kids travel activities, or easy road trip kids’ entertainment DIYs to make ahead.
To go on your own road trip scavenger hunts, you’ll need:
Note: We prefer to shop locally or use what we have at home, but this list contains Woodpeckers Crafts, Etsy, Blick Art Materials, Bookshop.org and/or Amazon affiliate links for reference. As affiliates (and Amazon Associates), we make a small commission on qualifying purchases.*
BASIC SUPPLIES:
- 1 sheet of 8.5 x 11 heavy cardstock or copy paper
- Our free printable road trip hunt PDF bundle
OPTIONAL SUPPLIES:
- A Self-laminating pouch (I use this kind from Scotch) or a sheet protector
- A hole punch
- Ribbon or twine
- A dry-erase marker
DIY Free Printable Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Instructions:
Follow these easy step-by-step instructions for instant road trip hunts you can print and save for travel and vacations in any season!
Download and print our road trip scavenger hunt PDF bundle.
Download our free printable road trip scavenger hunts and print onto cardstock or copy paper (choose borderless printing if you’d like the printing to extend to the edges like ours).
Laminate or slip into a sheet protector (optional).
To keep your copies clean and ready for repeat car trip hunts, you can use a self-laminating sheet or slip them into a sheet protector, then punch a hole in a corner and tie a dry-erase marker on with a colorful ribbon!
Color, decorate, and add embellishments (optional).
You can color and decorate your printed travel hunt pages using fun supplies or craft embellishments like watercolors, feathers, felt, beads, etc. Our illustrated blank sheet is a great place to jot down fun trip facts or observations as you find them!
This set makes for easy, no-prep travel entertainment you can always keep on hand in the car, and we have some ideas for variations to help you reuse it for even more travel activities…
Four More Ways to Use Our Kids’ Road Trip Hunt Printable
1. Make road trip story stones.
Cut out items from the visual hunt and use them to initiate storytelling. Kids can narrate stories outloud based on what they see or write them on the illustrated blank page.
2. Turn your hunts into a travel journal.
Create a travel journal for documenting road trip finds. Kids can draw or paste scavenger items and write notes about where and when they saw them.
3. Do some relaxing travel sketching.
Use the blank page to have kids draw their own versions of what they see outside the window.
4. Create a road trip matching game
Cut the scavenger items into individual cards and use them to play a visual matching or memory game.
Or use this simple DIY leaf scavenger hunt idea to scout out a variety of leaves and learn more about the trees in your area. You can find our whole collection of kids’ scavenger hunt ideas here.
Six More Easy Road Trip I-Spy Ideas for Kids
1. Try a people-watching scavenger hunt in the car.
Create a list of funny bumper stickers, unique cars, or travelers with pets.
2. Play a roadside version of I-Spy.
Take turns giving clues like “I spy something tall and green” (a tree) or “something with wheels” (a truck).
3. Go on an “in-car” hunt.
Create a list of common in-car items like snacks, sunglasses, or books.
4. Listen instead of looking.
Turn your road trip into a sensory exploration opportunity, encouraging kids to listen for different sounds (train horns, birds), describe the smell of new places, or notice how the road feels (bumpy vs. smooth).
5. Go on a license plate scavenger hunt.
Try to spot plates from as many different states as possible!
6. Play travel-themed Bingo.
Make a bingo card of common sights: cows, gas stations, police cars, rest stops.
More Travel Activities for Kids
Love this printable and idea? Be sure to check out our collection of kids’ no-prep travel activities and car-friendly crafts to make your next road trip smoother and more memorable!
*A note about affiliate links: We strive to use simple, earth-friendly supplies that can be purchased locally whenever we can, but sometimes we find the best universally available options, a rare eco-friendly find, or a niche product only available on Blick Art Materials, Amazon, Etsy, or Woodpeckers Crafts. When included in our supply list, these products are affiliate links, and if you click through to make a purchase we receive a small commission that helps us re-order these supplies!
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