18 of the Best Travel Toys For Kids To Get Some “Me Time”

Are you looking for the best travel toys for kids but not sure which would be the best?

If you are, then today, we will share the best travel toys for kids that you can bring anywhere. These activities aim to stretch your kids’ imaginations while providing you with a bit of downtime.

In this article, I’m giving you:

• the best options depending on your kids’ age
• lots more inspiration to know what to pack toy-wise for your next family trip, and finally
• what you should look for when selecting the right travel toys for your kids.

What to Look for When Packing Travel Toys for Kids

When you start planning which toys to bring on long road trips or to entertain the kids when flying, the toys you choose should have the following qualities:

Affordable: You should only bring toys that can be broken, lost, or easily replaced. Really special toys should probably stay at home or with Grandma.

Evergreen: The toys you bring should get your kids excited over and over again. If your kid gets bored within 10 minutes of playing, it’s not great for traveling.

Fun for all ages: This is mostly true if you have more than 1 child. For us, we need something that will entertain a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old at the same time.

Compact: The toys you pack should (obviously) fit in a small bag that you can travel with.

Educational (not required, but a plus): Not all of the options on this list are going to be educational, but it’s a bonus when they are.

Now, the list we provide will change depending on your kids’ age. But we imagine that, at a certain point, the word “toys” is less relevant beyond the age 7 or 8.

So, for this post, we’re looking at the best travel toys for kids aged roughly 2 – 8 years old.

The list will be broken down by “type” of toy with a few recommendations of travel toys for each type.

Let’s dive into the list.

Our Top Best Travel Toys for Kids (Breaking Down By Age)

• Best travel toys for 1 year old: Felt Quiet Books
• Best travel toys for 2 years old: Melissa & Doug Water Wow Coloring Pads
• Best travel toys for 3 years old: Reusable Sticker Books
• Best travel toys for 4 years old: Magformers
• Best travel toys for 5 year old: LCD Writing Tablet for Kids
• Best travel toys for 6 year old: Travel Scavenger Hunt Game
• Best travel toys for 7 year old: Lego sets
• Best travel toys for 8 year old: Books

Best Types of Travel Toys for Kids

For each type of travel toy, we’ll look at the qualifications we mentioned above:

• Affordable
• Evergreen
• Fun for All Ages
• Compact
• Educational

We’ll also give a score out of 5 for each category: 1 being low and 5 being high.

Then, we’ll give you a few specific recommendations for toys in each category. Here we go…

Puzzles

We’ll start with a “no-brainer.” Puzzles are an excellent activity for young kids. Plus, they’re diverse enough that you can find puzzles for your kids’ age.

1. 24-Piece Colorful Wooden Puzzles for Toddler

This puzzle pack is perfect because of the different-sized puzzles, so it’s fun for multiple ages. It comes with 6 different puzzles. The puzzle set is rated for age 3 to 5.

💰 Buy this puzzle on Amazon

2. Melissa & Doug Natural Play Wooden Puzzle

This puzzle pack is perfect for toddlers and babies. There are 4 sets of 4-piece puzzle.

💰 Buy this puzzle on Amazon

3. Ravensburger World Map 60 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle for Kids

This puzzle is perfect because it’s a map of the world 😉 But it’s also a beautiful one. It has 60 pieces, so it’s more suited for older kids.

💰 Buy this puzzle on Amazon

Puzzles are an EXCELLENT travel toy for kids. Here are our favorite puzzles for kids aged 2 – 6.

Transformers, Action Figures & Cars

When we use the term “transformers,” we really mean things like “action figures.” But we’ve noticed that our kids love transformers in particular. I think they realize they’re getting a 2-for-1 deal even at an early age.

Or they’re fascinated by the idea of something magically turning into something else. Whatever the case may be, we’ve enjoyed watching our kids play with transformers and other action figures (like plastic animals).

4. Toddler Mini Transformer Set

This set of mini transformers is perfect for toddlers. Plus, they transform in cars.

💰 Buy this Toddler Mini Transformer Set on Amazon

5. Transformer Heros & Villans

This set of transformers is perfect for old children who LOVE superheroes.

💰 Buy this Transformer set on Amazon

6. Animals Figurines

Animnals figurines are a must-have when traveling with kids. They are perfect for flying with kids, when road tripping with kids and even to bring at the beach or on family hikes.

💰 Buy this 14-pieces Animals Figurines Set on Amazon

7. Bakugan Jumbo Transforming Figure

If you DO decide to take a transformer, we’ve found these little guys keep our boys plenty busy (they’re not technically transformers, but you get the idea). They are fun and can be good to introduce what magnets are.

💰 Buy this Bakugan on Amazon

8. MagFormers

MagFormers are another great game to bring when traveling. Kids can build different things with the colorful magnetic forms. Kids of all ages can have fun with those.

Kits come in different sizes, but you don’t have to bring the entire set when traveling. You can put a few forms in a bag.

💰 Buy this MagFormers Set on Amazon

While action figures are fun, they may not be the best travel toy if you move around a lot. They can get lost, be expensive to replace, and may not entertain your child long enough to make it your best option.

Biology and Science Kit

Little biology and science kits can be a great way for your kids to get out and explore nature while traveling. Some also have fun booklet and activities that can be done in a car or a plane.

These science kit usually include things like a microscope, a magnifying glass, educational pamphlets for insects and animals, and more.

9. Outdoor Explorer Kit

This outdoor explorer kit is perfect if you’re planning a vacation in national parks or a trip that includes lots of outdoor time like a family camping trip. It includes :

• Bug Catcher Kit with Binoculars,
• Flashlight,
• Compass,
• Magnifying Glass,
• Critter Case and
• Butterfly Net

💰 Buy this Outdoor Explorer Kit on Amazon

10. Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Kit

An alternative to science kit is an outdoor scavenger hunt kit. This game can’t be used when traveling (meaning kids won’t get to play in the car or on the plane), but it’s the perfect game for your destination, especially if your trip involve lots of outdoor adventures.

💰 Buy this Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Kit on Amazon

11. Kids Subscription Boxes

If your kids are registered to monthly subscription boxes, you can bring them with you when you travel.

We had a Great Canadian Adventure subscription, we are brought with us the booklets on most road trips we did, especially Canadian family road trip.

The Adventure Challenge Box can be a good one for travel. The kids can be in charge of documenting the challenges.

Again, I’m a big fan of these little biology kits, and can’t wait to get some for Noah and Sam (Noah is FINALLY old enough to enjoy these this spring, I think.

Sport Equipment

The hard thing about long-term travel is that your kids may get a late start to organized sports. While you may not mind too much, there are plenty of parents who fear their kid will be “left out” when they come home and re-integrate with their school and friends.

That’s why I think it’s important to travel with some kind of sports equipment that can be used anywhere. This usually means a soccer ball, basketball, baseball (and a mit), or an inflatable “kickball”).

Those are harder to pack when flying, but if you’re taking a road trip, definitely toss a ball in the trunk. It can provide hours of fun for the whole family, and distract kids long enough to give you a break. That said, if you are going abroad and won’t have a lot of room, this kind of thing may be better if you buy it at your destination.

We could pitch you some of our favorites, but that feels silly. If you want some kind of organized sports equipment, chances are you know exactly where to go to get it.

5. Card-Based Games

We classify card-based games as any activity that uses a standard or a modified deck of cards. This could be anything from a deck of playing cards to Monopoly Deal to world trivia games.

Card-based games are perfect for road trips, but also for the long wait at the airport (or on slow evenings during vacation).

12. Uno

13. Go Fish

14. Yahtzee!

Yahtzee! is a fun board game for car rides. And it only requires 5 dice, a pen and paper. It’s the perfect games while waiting to board a plane.

💰 Buy this Yahtzee! Games on Amazon

15. Monopoly Deal

Monopoly Deal is technically not a kids’ board game, but it’s one of our favorite games and we modified the rules when we play with our kids, and they now love it.

We like card-based games, but honestly they don’t give us much of a break. When the kids want to play these types of games, it quickly turns into a family activity that kills 20-45 minutes, depending on the game.

Arts and Crafts

Arts and crafts is a bit “broad” as a category. When we use that term, we mean things like markers, paints, coloring books, and so on.

We don’t really mean things that require glue guns or more in-depth tooling than some color pencils and some scissors. Let’s see how these rank.

16. Melissa & Doug Water Wow Coloring Pads

Water Wow Coloring Pads are perfect when traveling. They are mess-free, but they can be used. They are amazing for toddlers, but even older kids can use them.

💰 Buy this Water WOW Coloring Pads on Amazon

17. Reusable Sticker Books

There are so many sticker books available in stores and on Amazon. We personally really like the reusable sticker books. It’s better for the environment, it’s less messy and it stays longer.

💰 Buy this Reusable Sticker Book on Amazon

18. LCD Writing Tablet for Kids

LCD Writing Tablets are a great alternative to pens and paper when traveling. One of our sons got one for Christmas to both boys ended up playing with it for most of the drive back home from California.

💰 Buy this LCD Writing Tablet on Amazon

I think that every traveling family with kids should bring some kind of arts and crafts kit. This usually means a box of markers or color pencils, a few coloring books, and some blank pieces of paper. There’s A LOT of things you can do with those basic ingredients.

Here are our favorite items for an arts and crafts kits for travel for a DIY travel craft kit:

• Craft paper and white paper
• Coloring markers
• Glue and scissors
• Stickers
• Fun accessories: feather, buttons, chenille stems, …

Books

Kid’s books are interesting. Personally, I converted to a tablet reader years ago. It started with the Kindle, but has progressed to the reMarkable 2.

And for the record, I was a HUGE book nerd who never thought I’d make the switch.

That said, I still haven’t turned my kids into eBook readers yet, and I don’t plan to any time soon. I think there are too many benefits for young kids seeing colors, touching the pages, and holding the book itself as they learn to read.

I may be a snob, but I think all families should bring some real, good ol’ fashion kids’ books with them on their trip.

Like arts and crafts, we think the right kids books are great for traveling families.

Also, we found a lot of Little Free Library (or the equivalent) all across Canada, so we were able to get new books here and there, by swaping with one that the kids where tired of reading.

Final Thoughts: Best Types of Travel Toys for Kids

And this list tends to make sense to us as we look back on it. While we were driving across Canada, it was consistently books, crafts, and puzzles that gave us the most down time throughout the week.

Our kids could do these activities on their own without much parental intervention for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

The sports equipment killed the most time, but often required us to get involved.

The action figures were great, but our kids ended up getting bored with them a few days into the trip. Then we had TONS of little figurines and transformers that our kids loved too much to throw out without having a meltdown, but not so much they played with them consistently.

And that’s it! We hope you found this post helpful.

Related Articles – Travel Toys for Kids

If you enjoyed this article, we think you’d also enjoy the following resources:

• 7 Travel Sleeping Solutions for Toddlers
• The Best Road Trip Snacks for Kids
• Best Type of Stroller for Travel
• Travel Gifts for Kids

These articles will have everything you need to travel with young children.