Let’s face it, doing any kind of travel with kids is not exactly a walk in the park! They add stress to the journey whether you’re driving, flying, or waiting in long lines. Sometimes the answer is screens, but if you like to delay screens and also have other options available, then I’ve got exactly what you need! This is a list of our favorite must-have screen-free items that have made it easier to travel with our kids. Hope you find something that helps for your next adventure too!
I’ve organized my recommendations for easy travel with kids into 6 categories: travel trays, travel pillows, snack containers, games, activities, and finally, technology favorites (plus some bonus tips at the end you don’t want to miss!).
Kid Travel Trays
Travel Tray With Tablet Pocket This lap tray is the perfect way to make it easier to travel with kids. It has multiple pockets for organizing all their activities, toys, snacks, and even has a spot for a tablet. It can be used with or without a car seat and fits perfectly in the car or airplane!
Laptop Style Activity Kit I love this compact laptop style tray because it comes with coloring/art supplies and has all the right pockets for storing them! It’s really easy to carry around and doesn’t take up much space.
Clipboard with Storage This clipboard is perfect for traveling. It has internal storage for an activity book or some paper while also providing a hard surface area for your kids to play or eat on.
Travel Pillows For Kids
2-in-1 Stuffed Animal Neck Pillow The perfect travel pillow for kids! It can be a normal neck pillow, and then it folds up into the cutest whale stuffed animal! This listing has so many adorable plush animals to choose from.
Travel Pillow and Eye Mask Your kids will love bringing along this adorable travel pillow/eye mask combo. It looks like a stuffed animal but has all the necessities for maximum comfort and rest during travel! My girls have been using theirs non stop since we got it!
Snack Containers for Traveling
Spinning Snack Container You can NOT go wrong with this spinning snack container! It’s the perfect way to do snacks while traveling with kids. You can fit 5 different snacks in the containers, and with the press of a button kids can get the snack they want! This is totally worth it to not have to pass back a million snacks on a road trip and the button/spinning combo is fun!
Cup and Snack Travel Tray So this small container upgrades a normal cupholder by adding a snack tray! It fits into the cupholder of a car, car seat or stroller for easy access to both drinks and snacks! Say goodbye to small snacks and crumbs getting stuck in their cup holders.
Travel Games For Kids
Handheld Water Arcade Games These arcade games are simple, and an excellent way to keep kids entertained while traveling—and they don’t take up much space in the suitcase!
Guess in 10: Animal Planet This is a super fun game for kids to play while on a long road trip or waiting in the airport! Each person asks questions to guess the animal on the card. It could easily be adapted to keep the kids busy in any travel situation!
Disney Eye Found It Card Game In this game you are trying to find hidden objects in each card. It’s for 2 or more players and ages 3+. It’s seriously the perfect game to bring along when you travel with kids.
Travel Games Activity Pad You can’t go wrong with good old classic travel games like hangman and tic-tac-toe. This activity pad includes those games, and more, that kids can do alone or together to help pass the time during a long travel day.
Activities To Bring When You Travel With Kids
Sensory Seek and Find Bear Your little ones will especially love this cute seek-and-find bear while traveling. It comes with cards so they know what to look for, but they’ll also enjoy just moving it around in their hands to see what they can find.
Melissa & Doug Restickable Sticker Flip pad Reuseable sticker pads are game-changers for travel! You can re-use the stickers from page to page, they come off easily, and they never lose their stick! This also means you never have to scrape stickers off the car windows or airplane tray tables!
Bluey Magnet Activity If you have a child aged 3-6 chances are they LOVE Bluey (don’t we all?)! That’s why this Bluey-themed magnet activity is sure to keep them entertained while traveling. The magnetic characters and props stick easily to the case making it simple to keep track of pieces. Don’t miss out on this one!
Magnetic Doodle Board with Pattern Cards My girls are loving this magnetic board complete with pattern cards that can be inserted into the board for them to follow.
Wikki Stix I really can’t recommend Wikki Stix enough when it comes to travel with kids. They take up very little space and are good for kids of all ages. The best part is they allow kids to use their imaginations as they come up with different ways to use them over and over again. Grab some for the next trip—you won’t regret it!
Doodle Board If you want to travel with kids but don’t have a lot of space to bring activities, then the doodle board is a must! The drawing pen is attached to the board and it erases with the touch of a button so no other supplies are needed!
I have some amazing art activity ideas that are completely mess-free which means very travel-friendly. Check out this post to see the whole list—you’re going to love it.
Technology Favorites For Kids
Tonies Audio Player We LOVE our Tonies audio player. The kids listen to our Tonies every single day and it’s definitely a must-have when traveling. Get the Tonies travel bag complete with all the storage you need. Add some headphones and your kids will love listening to their favorite books, fairytales, songs etc.
Kindle Paperwhite for Reading Don’t forget to bring a couple of your kids favorite books! My kids often find themselves reading or looking at pictures from a book while traveling. My oldest has a kindle which has been heaven sent for my avid reader! She can check out books from our local library with the Libby app on the go and never run out of books to read.
Yoto Mini Player We also absolutely love our yoto player mini. The Yoto player is another audio player with your child’s favorite books and music. My girls love the chapter books with our Yoto player such as Roald Dahl books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and The Magic Tree House collection.
Kids Tablet We actually don’t use a tablet often in the car, but occasionally on long drives we whip it out and the girls take turns playing for 30 minutes or so with some fun apps like PBS Kids. We’re definitely planning on bringing our kids tablet to our 2 day travel trip in a few weeks. It might just be heaven sent!
For more accessories to our technology favorites check out my Traveling with Kids page on my amazon storefront.
Bonus Tips for Traveling With Kids
Laundry Bags Nobody wants dirty travel clothes piled in their suitcase with all the clean clothes! Avoid the smells by bringing separate laundry bags for all the items that need to be washed! You’re welcome.
Car Garbage Can with Bags This car garbage bag brings me more joy than it should. I have one of these cute garbage cans that hang over our seat in each row of my car. No more hearing “mom can you throw this away!” or finding random trash all over your car. Definitely a must-have! My house may not always be clean, but I kind of pride myself in my clean car ha ha. Bonus tip: The bags are just dog poop bags and are cheap to replace!
Kids Backpacks My girls always have their own backpacks with all of their personal items and activities. They each have their own water bottle and bag or container of snacks that is always accessible to them. This allows them to be engaged in the independent play with the activities or items that they individually have without the fight of sharing.
More Activities and Travel Ideas
Travel with kids is totally doable and can be easier with any one of these items. Embrace the adventure and as long as you’re adequately prepared, there’s nothing you can’t tackle—even with kids. I also like to look at it as a toy rotation. We definitely have our go to’s such as art activities, books, and an audio player, but I like to add a couple new activities (check out my amazon storefront for more) each time we travel to keep them entertained and interested.
Have you ever used any of these items for travel with kids? Do you have some absolute must-haves that I missed? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think below!
