School coach trips: The best games to keep kids entertained

Kids love going on school trips as it means they don’t have to be in the classroom all day! However, it can be a daunting task for teachers or adults supervising to ensure that the kids are well behaved and entertained throughout the coach journey.

If you are planning a coach trip, why not use some of Coach Hire’s favourite games? They are a great way to pass the time and keep the kids entertained and amused during the long journey. You can also include prizes such as sweets or small toys as an incentive for all the kids to join in!

The Chain Gam

The chain game involves choosing a topic such as ‘countries’, ‘musicians’, ‘films’ or ‘famous people’ (there are so many options!). Someone begins the game by saying a county (e.g. England) and the next player must chose a country that begins with the last letter of the previous country (e.g. Denmark) and then the chain carries on. The Chain Game can be both funny and educational!

I Spy

I-Spy is a classic guessing game for car or coach journeys, and a game that most kids and adults are familiar with. Each player must find an object within their surroundings and say to the other players ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with…’ with the first letter of the object they have chosen. The player who correctly guesses the object then takes their turn.

Name that tune

Simply play 10 seconds of the beginning of a song and the first person to correctly identify the name of the song and artist wins. Include prizes in this game for extra fun!

True or False?

Each player has a piece of paper and must write a fact about themselves and a lie. The teacher then collects the paper and reads out either a fact or lie from each paper. The rest of the players must guess if it is true or false and write their guesses on a piece of paper. The player who guesses the most correctly is the winner.

Oh No Bingo

Each player must choose a number between 1 and 50 and write this on a piece of paper and hold it up for the teacher to see. The teacher then calls out a number from a hat or a number generator. When the teacher has called their number, the pupil must shout ‘oh no’ and put down their hand. The last player with their hand up is the winner.

Tic-Tac-Toe

Many kids prefer to do games by themselves or with a friend, and by giving them a pad of paper and a pen – they have endless games to play.

Tic-Tac-Toe is a great game to play with a friend. Simply draw a 3×3 grid of squares. The first player chooses a symbol of either an ‘X’ or an ‘O’ and places it into a square, the second player then takes their turn and continue alternating turns until the board is full. The player who has successfully drawn a row of their symbols wins.

Word Search

A Word Search involves the player finding a selection of words provided to them within a grid of mixed up letters. The player then searches the grid for the missing words and once they have found them they will then mark them out using a pen. Many teachers choose to create a wordsearch with words related to the trip. For instance, if you are heading to a theme park, why not hide words such as ‘roller coaster’ in the grid?

20 Questions

A teacher or pupil must choose an animal, location, person or food (or another theme such as Disney or superheroes) and in order to find out what it is everyone else must ask the player up to 20 questions that can only be answered by ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Animal Charades

The players must take in turns to do an animal impression through movement or sound and the players must guess what animal it is. The player with the correct answer then takes their turn.