Road trip activities for kids that are great for plane travel too! Great travel activities for kids ages 1-7!
Updated August 2024
A few years ago my family traveled to Spain with our toddler and baby. It was an amazing trip, and although very tired, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could still do something we value with kids in tow.
And you know what? We did it!
Kids are quite capable of being amazing travelers! Most of the time, traveling is super exciting for them. There are meltdowns from tired kids, too, of course, but the experiences they gain are worth it.
Traveling with kids is fun, scary and exciting. It can mean handling your child’s energy and excitement on less sleep, in a variety of settings. But by doing it, you’ll adapt your toolkit and gain new parenting skills along the way.
If the thought of traveling with your kids is overwhelming, I hope you’ll find some ideas and tips to help give you the confidence that you can do this!
Travel Tips for Families
1. Keep your routines: Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to bring along some packable activities for your kids to maintain a sense of normalcy. Additionally, we tend to maintain a lot of the same routines on the road that we have at home: activities in the mornings, quiet time or naps in the afternoons, and low-key evenings.
2. Bring activities to keep kids occupied: Below you’ll find some of my favorite kids travel activities that have stood the test of time. Most of these are open-ended and adaptable to your child’s specific interests. I recommend keeping these items hidden leading up to your trip to increase the novelty factor while traveling.
3. Snacks! Don’t forget snacks! When you think you might have enough, pack a few more! You never know when a flight might be delayed or restaurants might be closed at your new locale. It sure beats hangry kids.
Travel Activities for Any Age
Here are my favorite travel activities for kids of all ages!
1. Sketchpad for Drawing
I bring along a large drawing pad for my toddler and sketchbook for my older son. It’s a nice excuse to get a new set of markers for each child or maybe some fun extras like tempera paint sticks or gel crayons.
2. Plastilina Clay
This clay is a major staple in our household and keeps my active child quiet and busy for many hours, whether at home or while traveling. It’s cheap, never dries out and inspires many creations.
For younger kids, you can also go with a small container of playdough!
3. Stickers
These rainbow gem stickers are especially fun to incorporate into kids’ drawings. We also use eye stickers and dot stickers quite often.
This Ocean Anatomy sticker book is great for older kids!
4. Headphones + Podcast or Audiobooks
Each of our kids has their own special headphones and we have a splitter cable so they can listen to stories together from our phone or iPad. If traveling by plane, be sure to download podcasts and audiobooks prior to flying!
See below for a list of some of our favorite podcasts:
- But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
- Deep Blue Sea
- Thomas & Friends Storytime
- Brains On!
- Circle Round
- Garden Keeper Gus
- Wind Riders (actually an audiobook!)
Travel Activities for Toddlers
If you’ve got younger kids, here are some great activities to keep them happy and occupied.
5. Reusable Sticker Pads
These Melissa & Doug sticker pads are my go-to for toddlers. To me, these are such a great value. They come with a number of sheets per pad that can be rotated through with your child.
6. Water Wow Pad + Pen
These boards seem to mesmerize toddlers, and both my kids did them over and over again at this age. A nice mess free activity while on a plane or in the car.
7. Lacing Cards
There are many similar lacing sets out there, but my mom gifted us a set of Wee Gallery stitching cards. I like them because they’re sturdy for little kids to hold onto while learning a new skill.
8. Pipe Cleaners + Popsicle Sticks
While in Spain, we were preparing for the flight back and I stopped into a little bodega looking for some new things to help us with the long flight home. Surprisingly, I found these items kept my toddler busy and his imagination active.
Sort and stack the sticks, create a sparkly star or any other shape/sculpture with the pipe cleaners. And all for $.99!
9. A small toy
Often a new little toy can entertain this age for quite a while. Maybe a little car, train or doll––play to your child’s current interests and keep it hidden until that moment.
Travel Activities for Grade School
These activities are perfect for older kids!
10. Usborne Travel Cards
These travel cards are wonderful! I love the open-ended the drawing prompts. We also like the 50 Things to Do on a Plane pack.
Pro tip: Substitute washable markers for dry erase markers as they can stain kids’ clothing.
11. Wikki Stix
We have the Wikki Stix Alphabet cards but there are so many different choices available–numbers, shapes, animal and much more!
12. Invitation to Draw
Written by The Artful Parent founder, Jean Van’t Hul, and filled with fun drawing prompts for kids. Great to slip into a backpack for pulling out at restaurants, etc.
13. DIY Stickers
Use big white labels to draw your own stickers inspired by what kids’ see during their travels.
14. Scratch Art Kit
These little kits are a special activity for travel. Choose a theme that fits your child or purchase blank scratch art cards.
15. Origami
Kids have fun folding 3D creations out of paper. Skill level is adaptable for big kids to tweens!
10. Travel Sized Games
You might not play these en route, (or you may if experiencing airport delays!), but regardless, having a few packable games on hand can be fun for downtime at “home”.
A few of our families favorites that fit the bill are: UNO, Battleship, magnetic chess set, Quirkle.
And don’t forget some favorite picture books or chapter books for reading along the way!
I hope these ideas are helpful and will spark new ideas for engaging with your own kids while traveling as a family.
More Kids Travel Activities
Looking for more ideas for traveling with toddlers or kids?
- Create your own Travel Art Kit for Kids!
- How to Visit an Art Museum with Kids
- Try these Fun Drawing Ideas (+ Printable).
- Or 16 Printable Art Activities for Kids.
- Make a DIY Art Journal to take along the plane, train or car!
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