Kid Travel Games and How To Amuse the Kids While Travelling
Here are some suggestions for what to bring and some kid travel games. You know best what your children like, and try to bring lots of bang for the buck, i.e. toys that will entertain them for a long time, but packs small.
Handheld game consoles are very good in this respect, the most popular ones are the Nintendo 3DS the Wii U
and the PlayStation Vita
. And keep in mind that a few new games can keep them (and you) occupied for hours on a long flight.

Books are also always a good travel activity for kids, for younger kids it is often best to pick books they’ve read before, while older kids may prefer something new. These days the easiest way to bring books is on an e-reader or a tablet. are also always a good travel activity for kids, for younger kids it is often best to pick books they’ve read before, while older kids may prefer something new. These days the easiest way to bring books is on an eBook readers
or a tablet
.
And don’t forget music! An IPod or MP3 player is great for any age. You can also put audio books on it and they are great to block out background noise if you are trying to get your kids to nap on a plane for example.
For older kids you can let them choose for the most part what they want to bring. I let our son pack his backpack on wheels and he can bring whatever fits into it (with some guidance of course!)
Don’t forget to bring along some beach toys and waterproof toys for when you get there!
It is a good idea to bring along some of their favourite toys and travel games and some new “surprise” toys. One of my favourite things that my mother-in-law did for us when we went away for a week is she pre-packed some new inexpensive toys,one for each day for my son to open on his vacation. He really enjoyed it and looked forward to his daily “surprise”.
Kid Travel Games – Travel Activities – For Babies
- any object that’s bright and shiny!
- rattles of all sorts (not real noisy ones)
- music making toys
- mega blocks for babies
- magnetic stick-together blocks
- toys of interesting shapes, sizes and colours
- pop-up toys
- a plastic mirror
Kid Travel Games – Travel Activities – For Older Babies and Toddlers
- nested containers
- sets of things to put into containers
- things that fit into other things
- busy boxes with levers, bells, moving parts
- board books
- simple speaking toys: baby pushes button, toy speaks (not too loud!)
- small wind-up toys
- blanket, stuffed animals
Kid Travel Games – Travel Activities – For Pre-Schoolers
- Picture books
- stickers and activity books, crayons, magic markers
- lap-sized wipe-off boards
- Easi-Tracer
- small mirrors
- finger puppets
- travel activity sets
- costume jewelry
- pop up books
- post-it notes, scotch tape
- inexpensive sets of plastic figures (animals, dinosaurs, astronauts…)
- magnetic letters & metal board
- miniature wind-up cars
Kid Travel Games – Travel Activities – For Pre-Schoolers to Grade 2’s
- activity books
- travel size Etch- a-Sketch
- stick-on play sets
- travel-size Magna-Doodle
- threading sets (pictures with yarn)
- felt boards
- I Spy™ Memory Game – Travel Edition
- card games
- small magnetic puzzles
- small wind-up toys
- Go-Fish cards, Old Maid, Crazy Eights
- silly putty
- Play Dough
- MP3 player loaded with stories and songs
- small cars, figures, animals
Kid Travel Games – Travel Activities – For Older Kids
- Chapter books
- Comic books
- activity books, maze books
- blank paper, for playing Hangman and Xs & Os
- regular deck of cards
- travel-size popular board games
- Speak’n’Spell
- small Lego sets (–store the pieces in Ziploc bags)
- puzzles
- magnetic games
- origami
- IPods or MP3 players
- IPads or Tablets
- handheld portable game consoles (with new games!)
- Brain Quest– Trivia Games
Have a look at our printable travel games page for more ideas!
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