Now my eldest is over 6 we have had to add to our repertoire of travel toys for kids. However, our travel toys for toddlers still come along with us for my now 3 year old. Here are some ideas for the best travel games to pack, which are light to carry and are useful for pulling out at your destination too. For younger children, you may find these brilliant airplane activities useful too.
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The Best Travel Games for Kids
Kanoodle
A logic game for kids!
Story Cubes
Fun for all ages and great for helping with literacy skills!
Travel Blurt
A great fast paced game where you hear a definition and need to guess the word. ! The first player to “Blurt” correctly moves ahead on the game board. The first player to reach the top of the scoreboard wins! Travel Blurt is for three to four players, ages 10 and up.
Travel bingo
Easy to play and fun for all ages, makes it one of the best road trip games available. There are plenty of travel bingo card options for all ages, and its easy to just throw in you bag and go.
Guess in 10-Cities Around the World
It’s the just like the Game of 20 Questions, but guess in 10 instead. In ‘Guess in 10-Cities Around the World’, players draw clue cards and, through the process of elimination, make guesses to identify a locations. Clues may be about food, landmarks and more which are associated with the world’s most famous cities, from New York to Paris. This game is ideally for players ages 8 and up is one of the best road trip games to pack in your bag.
Bananagrams
Build upon words – but best save this one for the hotel room or sitting by the pool!
Top Trumps
Choose your favorite film or genre and you’ll likely find a Top Trumps to suit you; from Star War, Harry Potter to My Little Pony and more!
Spot It
A classic card game
Travel Scrabble
Travel Boggle
Pass The Pigs
A classic travel game where you throw pigs instead of dice! Throw the pigs – how they fall determines the points you get. Be prepared for puns and laughter! This travel game ame is easy-to-carry and ready to be played on-the-go or at home.
Coggy by Fat Brain Toy Co.
Keep kids busy and less likely to ask, “Are we nearly there yet?’ with Coggy by Fat Brain Toy Co. This sensory travel game is designed as a single strand of connected patterned cogs, which players match to a series of corresponding pattern cards.
Uno
Uno – the universally known fun card game which all the family can play. Also handy for airport delays! This always rates highly as one of the best travel games for kids. There are also a range of travel monopoly games, which are great for older kids.
For the latest price and quick delivery see here.
Wikki Stix
Wikki Stix Stem Pak Science Kit Molding & Sculpting Sticks
Make all sort of cool art and and science shapes with these ‘sticks’ made of yarn and wax so no mess. They are suitable for over 3, but these designs are definitely for older kids.
For more information see here.
Crayola Washable Dry-Erase Markers and small dry-erase white board. So handy for playing boxes, hangman, drawing, tic-tac-toe and other games. The pens are washable so no need to worry about stains and with a white board it saves on paper. I like these dry erase white boards with an adhesive backing as you can stick them to a hard surface if you want to. Handy if you want to stick to a snack box, or small storage case so you can keep all the bits together. Possibly one of the best travel games hacks I’ve heard of!
Magnetic Travel Board Game Set This magnetic set comes with a dozen fun board games. They include Checkers, Chess, Chinese checkers, Tic Tac Toe, Backgammon, Snakes & Ladders, Solitaire, NineMen’s Morris, Auto Racing, Ludo, Space Venure and Racing. They do have smaller parts, and although it has magnetic parts, this game may prove better used in the airport or a hotel room rather than on a plane.
For more information and where to buy see here. These other magnetic travel games are great options too!
Magnetic Bingo Travel Game For ages 4 years to 8 years:
Bingo can range from numbers or pictures to cover meaning they are ideal for a range of ages. This magnetic bingo game is easy and quick for those little times you need to fill perhaps whilst waiting for dinner or for a quick wait at the departure gate as they are easy to pack away too.
An old favourite but without the need to rustle around in the bottom of your back for a scrap of paper and a working pen (why do we needlessly carry around so many that don’t?!). Great spelling practise with the added fun of body parts to add to your magnetic hangman.
Magnetic board games are fun, competitive and easy to follow. The best bit about this being magnetic means no more losing the dice with any overzealous throws with this magnetic snakes and ladders!
For magnetic travel games for toddlers, these suggestions may prove useful too!
Sushi Go is suitable for 8 year olds and over. The goal is to grab the best combination of sushi dishes as they whizz by. Score points for making the most maki rolls or for collecting a full set of sashimi. This game is popular with friends’ kids and it helps with maths skills too! Parents really rate this as one of the best travel games for children.
For more information about Sushi Go – see here.
These Water Wow cards from Melissa and Doug are perfect for a 5 year old wanting to practise numbers and the alphabet. With various colouring scenes and a compact size, they are easy to whip out at the airport, a restaurant or a long queue.
For more information, see here.
50 Road Trip games. 50+ travel games in one compact deck of cards. The recommended age varies depending on the game but some games start for kids as young as 4 years old.
For more information about the 50 Road Trip Games set, see here.
My two are obsessed with Hatchimals, so this little pack is handy for a treat bribe to ‘hatch’ on the flight. As there are 4 in this pack, we share them out and they have a fun little character to role-play with.
You can buy these here.
Free Travel Games for Kids
I-spy
Alphabet Games
This classic travel game doesn’t require any resources or pre planning. Players attempt to find words starting with every letter of the alphabet, going in order from A to Z. for anything they spot outside of the car.
A great travel version of this game, which is more for older kids, is where each player has to finish the sentence using the specific letter. So player one could say,” I’m flying to Australia and the the other players respond with, “what will you do there?’ and player one answers, ” I’m going to look for ant -eaters.
2. Connections
One person begins with a single noun eg horse and the next person has to say the first word they think of which is related to a horse, eg, stable or animal.
Then the next person, continues with another connection, eg, hay or goat and so on. The game finishes when no one can connect a word.
3. Rainbow Spotto
All players work together and start with the colour red to find 5 red things, and then 5 orange things and so on, until they complete the rainbow. When they find the item, eg a red car, they need to say, ‘Spotto, red car!
4. Twenty Questions
Players take a turn to think of an object, person or animal. The other players have 20 questions to work out what or who it is. The answers can only be yes or no. A super easy but one of the best car travel games.
5. Add-on Story
One person begins a story, with just a sentence or two, but stops mid sentence.. The next person continues the story in their own words, and repeat with each player for an often hilarious tale.
6. Memory Test
The first person says, ‘A is for ___’ and fills in the space with any noun beginning with ‘A’, the second person continues with B, eg banana but must also recall what was said for A, eg, Armchair, Banana,
7. License Plate Game
If you are based in the USA or on vacation there, this license plate game is great if you are driving cross country on a long car trip with kids simply write down all the stated and try and spot those from all the states. For younger kids, they may like the Flip to Win License Plate Game by Melissa & Doug.
8. Cow on My Side
This simple kids’ road trip game is perfect for little ones to join in when you are driving through the countryside. When you see cows on your side of the road, yell “Cows on my side!” You get a point for each time you spot cows . If you spot cows on the opposite side, you can yell “Cows on your side!” and steal a point from your opponent. Passing a cemetery? The first person to yell “Ghost cow!” steals all the other side’s points.
Travel Gift Ideas for Kids
Some of the above can obviously double up as presents for birthday, Christmas or just to keep them occupied on a day trip. However, if you are looking for travel gift ideas for kids of all ages, see here.
More Travel Gear For Kids
There are some great travel gear items available to help make little ones more comfortable or which are just so helpful to have when you are on the go. For a selection of popular ones see here.
What travel toys for kids or travel games do you recommend?
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Jenjo Games
Wednesday 21st of April 2021
This is such an interesting list of games to keep kids occupied and entertained for hours. I am sure it would help many. Thanks for sharing!
Kanika Bakshi
Friday 22nd of March 2019
Great post. The games are very interesting and the children will enjoy it. I love to play UNO and it is mostly loved by all. I would love to share your post with my sister so that she can buy some for her son while traveling. Keep posting such interesting articles.
Zena's Suitcase
Tuesday 8th of May 2018
Uno is such a popular game and easy to pack for travel too. My girls love Hatchimals as well and would love these on any trip
Emma Raphael
Monday 7th of May 2018
Lots of brilliant ideas. I like a few for myself too! :D Definitely want the Sushi game! :)
Chloe: Picture Taker Memory Maker
Saturday 5th of May 2018
We always take a pack of ordinary playing cards with us wherever we go. Plus we play games like I-Spy, the word association game and the alphabet game. Endless fun and no need to carry anything with you! We do also love crossword, wordsearch and Sudoku books as well.