Screen-Free Travel Activities & Toys for Kids
How to keep your kids entertained on a plane ride or road trip.
Did you know our kids travel screen-free? We’ve done plenty of 18+hr road trips and an 11+hr plane ride with no phones, tablets or TVs. It’s not easy, but we’ve come this far, so we try and continue it anytime we’re traveling [with a backup tablet in the suitcase just in case!].
Of course, everyone has to do what they have to do to survive though! But if you are looking for some ideas to get your kids off the screens, here are a few of my [and my kids’] favorite things to do on road trips and plane rides.
Magnetic Travel Games
Who doesn’t like playing games? The key here though, is to find travel games that are magnetic. This helps significantly in making sure you don’t lose any pieces! Plus, it’s an added component to the game that makes it more fun for the kids!
The Purple Cow® Magnetic Travel Games
We love The Purple Cow®. They have so many different travel games to choose from, many of them multi-player and some of them for singles. But the best thing about them is that they’re magnetic! This makes traveling with little kids so much easier!! All the little pieces stick right onto the game board and the entire case closes up for easy storage.
Dry Erase Activity Books
There are so many different dry erase activity books, I don’t even know where to start— there are educational ones, mazes, search & find, practicing pen control, you name it! And they come in different age ranges too, so no matter if you have a 2yo, 4yo or older than 8, it’s guaranteed you will have plenty to choose from.
I do have a couple of tips: (1) The activity book will already come with a dry erase marker, but I would recommend buying more. The majority of these books don’t have a storage area for the pen, so it will easily get lost. (2) While you’re buying some, get the dry erase markers that already have an eraser on the cap. This will make it so much easier for your child, than to have to carry around a paper towel or for them to use their hands.
Sticker Books
I have found sticker books to be one of the best activities to keep kids occupied. However, I do recommend sticker books more for older kids, because for toddlers it can be a bit difficult for them to take the stickers off the pages by themselves.
Sticker by Number
Sticker by Number books are the way to go in this category! Because not only are your kids occupying themselves by peeling and adding stickers onto a scenic page, there is also the added component of following directions and finding which numbers correspond with each other. The final result is a beautiful image that your child can be proud of!
Maze Ball
Ok, this isn’t really a travel item, but my son especially, absolutely loves this thing, and it keeps his attention for quite awhile! Our last flight we took, we stuffed it into his backpack, and even though it took up most of the space, we knew that it was well worth bringing, for the amount of time it was going to keep him occupied!
Mess Free Coloring Activity Pads
I bet your parents wish they had these when we were growing up! If you have older kids, I’m sure you’re aware of these already, but they are “magic” markers that don’t make any kind of mess — they only appear on the special paper it comes with, so there are no marks on any walls, furniture, skin, clothes… nothing!
Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Coloring
There are a few different brands that have a mess free coloring kit, but my favorite is Crayola’s. They come in many different character themes and there are larger kits that have separate sheets of paper in a pack, but for traveling, I would recommend the smaller activity pads that are spiral bound together; this is so all the pages stay together and there is also a little pocket to store the markers.
Crayola Color Wonder also has mess free paints and stamps!
Scratch Art Pads
Okay, so the remnants of the pad you’re scratching might annoy you as much as it does for me, but for the amount of time the activity occupies my kids, it’s totally worth it!
Melissa & Doug On the Go Scratch Art Activity Books
You really can’t go wrong with any of the scratch art pads on the market, but I personally like the Melissa & Doug sets for traveling, because like the Crayola Mess Free coloring pads, the Melissa & Doug scratch pads are also spiral bound together with a little pocket to store the scratcher. I also like the different themes they have to offer as well and the kids love the colorful hidden picture that is revealed after scratching it.
Travel Memory Game
I actually stumbled across this game at a kids resale shop years ago; I only had one child at the time, and she wasn’t even walking yet! But I recognized immediately how much fun my daughter could have with it when she got older, AND how incredibly convenient it is because of its design.
There are 7 double-sided cards, so there are plenty of different opportunities to play memory, that doesn’t get too redundant. The images are simple and large, which is perfect for kids to visualize during the game and flaps and sliding scoreboard makes it easy for those little hands to navigate.
Suction Cup Spinner Toys
Not gonna lie, even I enjoy these spinner toys. But my toddlers especially, can’t get enough of this type of fidget toy! Not only is it a great sensory toy, these specifically are perfect for traveling, so that you can suction it to the window in a car or plane. I also personally like the spinners that have the added bubble pop-it on the spinner for an extra sensory activity.
Buckle Toys
Buckle Toys is a company that sells the cutest busy boards and buckle toys! We absolutely love their products - they have a simple busy board that comes in 2 different sizes, a square plush buckle toy that has cute faces on them, larger stuffed animals that are also buckle and sensory toys and backpacks with sensory play activities on them. All their products are travel size!
Poke-a-Dot Books
Another genius invention by Melissa & Doug, the Poke-a-Dot books are another sensory toy that keeps my kids entertained for at least an hour. The pop-it bubbles encourage fine motor skills, and each book has counting, songs or sight words to it. The books come in 2 different sizes; in my opinion, the larger size has much more interesting subject matter to it, but it is also a lot heavier and bulkier. I honestly don’t like traveling with it because it is too hard for my toddlers - or even my 7yo - to hold.
There are also smaller size options of these books, which I feel is lacking in content, but they are so much easier to hold and to travel with. Besides, I don’t think my 2 year olds are complaining much about the storyline! However, in all seriousness, I do believe the larger books will keep them entertained for much longer than the smaller books.
Magnetic Puzzle Books
Traveling with a jigsaw puzzle sounds like a nightmare and it would never even be an option in my household. But then I came across these magnetic puzzle books! With more magnetic fun, it makes it so much easier to travel with and not have to worry about losing any pieces of the puzzle.
BST SHIER Magnetic Puzzles
I personally like the magnetic puzzle books from BST SHIER of Travofun. Their puzzle books are 2-in-1, and there is also a section in the book where you can put the puzzle pieces as a holding area, while you put it together. This way, you don’t have to find a tabletop or another flat surface to put the pieces on. It otherwise defeats the purpose of calling it a travel toy, in my opinion!
Sensory Boards & Books
Kids - especially babies & toddlers - love touching anything and everything. That’s why any kind of travel sensory board or touch & feel book will do the trick! My kids especially love the “Never Touch a…” books by Rosie Greening.
Painter’s Tape
I know… I had the same look on my face, when others recommended this to me. But we thought we’d bring some for our 2yo twins for our 11 hr flight to Hawaii just in case, and well…. it was a life saver! My one twin in particular spent a good hour putting tape on the back of the seat in front of him, on the window and all over his legs!
Melissa & Doug Tape Activity Books
Of course Melissa & Doug have a tape activity book too! We ended up buying this for our flight to Hawaii as well, for our 4yo. He loved placing the tape on all the different pictures in the book. A couple grievances we have with this book though is that the tape was a bit difficult for my son to rip himself and secondly, there’s nowhere to put the tape once you open it from the package, making it very easy to lose any or all of the 4 rolls. But other than that, the activity book kept my son busy and the best part of it is that the book and tape is reusable!
LCD Writing Tablet
I’m honestly not sure why my kids love this tablet so much! It is the simplest tablet that they love to draw on and will keep them entertained for quite awhile. There really isn’t anything special to it and it’s so inexpensive, it’s definitely worth buying for your next road trip or flight.
Water Wow! Activity Books
Melissa & Doug hit it on the nose once again! These Water Wow! books are another [semi] mess-free activity to keep those little ones busy. Just fill the pen up with water and start coloring the pages to reveal the different colors on each picture. Make sure you have it filled up with water before you start your trip, so that they’re ready to go once you start traveling.
Sensory & Fidget Toys
I have a lot of sensory and fidget suggestions already on this list, but you really can’t go wrong with bringing as many sensory & fidget toys as possible! The most common ones are pop-it fidgets and there are so many different shapes and sizes to choose from. But if you do a search for sensory toys, many other options will come up.
Pop Tubes
Pop tubes are a fan favorite in our household. Like most sensory and fidget toys, pop tubes are very simple, yet provide “hours” of fun for your child. There are different characters & animals to choose from and they simply twist and pull in different directions.
Bonus Items
These additional items have come highly recommended by other traveling parents:
Wrapping toys up in aluminum foil and letting your child unwrap them every hour or so
Do you have any recommendations to add to the list?
[Disclaimer: If you click on any of the links and make a purchase, I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. However, all opinions are still my own] [All photos are taken via Amazon.com]