Before our first big trips, we were nervous about how our kids would tolerate long plane and car rides. I am happy and relieved to say that they did well and continue to be great travelers. We try to make it easy for our kids to have fun in planes, trains, buses and cars. Today, we are sharing a clickable list of all kinds of entertainment we bring along for the ride. These fun travel items for kids include books and toys, solo and group activities, screen-based and screen-less fun and our favorite art supplies. We hope this list will help keep your littlest travelers happy and entertained on all of your upcoming adventures.
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Screen-less Travel Fun for Kids
Tablets and other electronic devices are certainly a convenient way for kids to have fun while they travel. We will cover those later in this article. First, we want to share our favorite fun travel items that do not require screens or even batteries.
Sticker & Magnetic Play Sets
Our kids’ favorite way to play on the plane or in the car is with reusable sticker sets. These are flat picture settings where kids can adhere stickers to create scenes or act out different pretend play scenarios. We love them because they fold flat and fit into a backpack like a thin book; they are also economical enough that we do not worry about the possibility of losing a piece or two. Our kids love the sticker play sets because they are like taking Playmobil sets or a dollhouse on the road. Our favorites include this animal three-pack featuring various habitats where kids can let their imaginations run wild. Here is a spiral bound “pet place” that gets a lot of play in our family. Or how about princesses, fairies and mermaids?
For a different spin on the sticker set, you can try a magnetic play set: they are also flat and easily portable. We have this Bluey one; the Heeler family likes to frolic on our refrigerator and metal lunch boxes when they are not on the road. The magnet set case is bigger than the sticker book, but we still tuck it into carry-on and diaper bags. Here is one featuring Pete the Cat and other ones with a transportation theme or construction theme.
Tiny Travel Toys
For yet another play set option, we recommend a vintage classic: Polly Pocket! Just keep an eye on the number of items included in each set. Some have just a few loose pieces while others have many. Our kids like playing with the many-pieced sets at home. For travel, we prefer the sets where most features are integrated and just the tiny dolls and a piece or two are loose: those are much easier to keep together. This one has made several trips with us, and we still have all of the pieces (plus the monkey zip-line is a hoot). We have a lot of fun with this mermaid set: it has some fun moving parts that are attached. Both of those sets also have carry straps: our kids wear the sets like shoulder bags.
We do not have the travel versions of these toys, but the larger pretend food sets we have at home are some of our kids absolute favorite toys. We are eyeing these play food travel sets.
These little CAT toy trucks drive all over our house, and we like to take them out and about too. We do not have this full travel play set for them, but it looks great for travel.
Card Games & More
Card games can slide around a little bit during travel, but we have had good luck putting them on these silicone mats for a little extra grip. We especially like card games for time at a hotel or waiting in an airport. Our favorite games include Uno, Rat A Tat Cat, Sushi Go!, Sleeping Queens and Spot It! And, here is a Disney version of Spot It!
This toothy guy is not a card game, but rather a one piece game that gets our kids giggling. We also bring this new and very portable version of Guess Who? on trips short and long.
We have also had some fun with these “secret decoder” activity and puzzle books. While an adult could help a younger child with these books, we have found they are most engaging for kids who can read and write on their own or with minimal assistance. In the same category of portable puzzle books, take a look at this “brain buster” one from National Geographic or a “seek and find” book for all ages a la “Where’s Waldo?”
Beyond puzzle books, we also like to bring books for our kids to read while traveling. We can read the books on the road, and we like to read them at bedtime to keep a familiar routine no matter where we are sleeping.
Arts and Crafts on the Road
Whenever we travel, each person in our family carries a sketchbook and pens or crayons. We like to record our adventures in words and pictures, and the notebooks are a place to play games, doodle and just get creative. When we get home, we like to flip through the sketchbooks and reminisce about our trip. Our kids have also used these pages to share stories about their trips with their friends and classmates.
These sketch pads lay flat and have a hard back that make them easy to use on a table or on your lap. We have some just like them that we tuck into everyone’s backpack before we travel.
You probably have your own favorite crayons, pens or other art items at home. Lately, we have been having a lot of fun with these color changing markers. We like using them to make regular drawings, but they have also inspired other creative games like writing “secret messages.”
Our crayons go in rolls like this one. We made our own (you can find lots of tutorials for Waldorf crayon rolls online) with quilting cotton, batting and some elastic.
Color Wonder art sets like this are nice for taking on airplanes when we are trying to avoid leaving any marks behind.
Electronic Entertainment Fun for Kids’ Travel
When we know our kids will be spending a long time on a car or plane, we pull out our Nintendo Switch. It is just so portable and has more games than our kids could ever play. We even borrow games from our local library for a little novelty on the road. For group games we love Mario Party and Yoshi’s Crafted World. For upcoming trips, we are looking at getting this Nintendo Switch seat-back mount in the hopes that two kids could play together and both see the screen from their own seats.
We also have some tablets, and our favorite apps for kids are the PBS Kids Videos app and the PBS Kids Games app. Both are constantly offering new videos and games, and our kids can download their choices to the tablets before we travel. We like that we do not need to rely on an internet connection on the road. Best of all, we think these PBS apps have wonderfully strong content that provides lots of travel fun for kids.
We like to check-out audiobooks from our local library before a trip. In the car we might listen to a book together as a family. On airplanes or other public transportation, our kids use these headphones to keep the noise contained.
We carry portable chargers (aka back-up batteries or power banks) along with devices. We have an article about them here. The article specifically references Disneyland, but the links there apply to any travel.
Thank you for reading this article about our favorite entertainment items to bring along when traveling with kids. We hope this brings some extra fun to your travel.
This post covered entertainment items for kids to bring on trips. We hope this gives you some good ideas for spring break and beyond. For a more general look at how to enjoy plane travel with kids, please see: 5 Tips for Flying on Airplanes with Kids. If you are visiting Disneyland Resort and want specific advice on what to pack, we invite you to take a look at this article: Disneyland Travel Essentials: What You Need to Pack. That article is part of our complete and free guide to Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep. Finally, please consider subscribing to our free newsletter below: we would love to deliver our latest posts straight to your inbox. Thanks again for reading.