12 Travel Toys for Road Trips with Kids

Ahh, road trips versus AHHH road trips with kids! Haha. Alas, it doesn’t have to be this way! Make road trips a more fun experience for your family by stocking up on some fun road trip gear and heeding some basic car travel with kids tips. Throw in a travel book or two to make it an educational trip and you will be all set for a fun, family bonding road trip. In this post, you will find a top 12 list of our favorite road trip toys, both for individual, unassisted backseat play, and full-family play, to plan for both quiet time, window time, game time, and some screen time.

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1. Water Wow Bundle by Melissa & Doug

Age Range: 3-6 years old //  Price range $ (Under 15$)

This Water Wow bundle includes 3 themed water-reveal pads with water pens in the following themes: Farm, Safari, and Under the Sea. There are 4 reusable pages within each activity book. We love these activity pads for travel because they are a no-mess activity that will get hours and hours of reuse (which is why it’s #1 on our travel toy list – yes to the toys that get lots of play!)

2. 8-Piece Magnetic Wooden Block Set by Tegu

Age Range: 2-8 years old //  Price range $$ (25-50$)

This Tegu Magnetic Wooden Block Set with travel-friendly felt pouch is a fun 8-piece block set that makes a variety of different shapes that snap together magnetically. We like Tegu because they are a socially responsible company that provides sustainable jobs to Hondurians. We like these blocks because they encourage cognitive thinking and can make so many different shapes . Plus all of the pieces are easily stored in a felt pouch.

3. Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game by Briarpatch

Age Range: 6-12 years old //  Price range $ (Under 10$)

Unlike some of the other travel-friendly toys and activities on this list, this game (and the one underneath it, for that matter) are more so for all passengers. Travel Scavenger Hunt is a fun, family game designed for play on road trips, ideally through populated areas like cities and small towns. It contains 54 scavenger cards like ‘Person Walking a Dog’ that are won by spotting the scenes, objects, and animals out the window. The classic road trip fun of this game is adorable!

4. Travel Bingo (4-Pack) by Regal Games

Age Range: 4-10 years old //  Price range $ (Under 10$)

This classic Bingo game for roads trips is a fun, family game that is fun for everyone to play while driving along. It encourages players to look out the window so they can unviel what they see while driving on their Bingo board. Play the blackout version, where you have to see all items on your board in order to win, to make the game last longer. We think this would be a really fun family-friendly game to play for families with more than one child. The boards function with a sliding fingertip sized shutter that you move open to signified it was spotted. Travel bingo comes in 4 different styles fitting for different types of drives, i.e. there is an Orange Interstate Bingo, a License Plate Bingo, and a Green and Pink Auto Bingo boards. We love the classic retro style of these boards, and how easy and fun they are for the whole family.

5. Montessori Wooden Cheese Puzzle Toy by Small Fish

Age Range: 2-4 years old //  Price range $ (Under 10$)

This small, very portable wooden cheese lacing toy is a Montessori puzzle. It is a great little toy to bring on car trips since it’s a one-piece toy and easy to grab-n-go. Little ones can practice fine motor skills by lacing the ‘mouse’ through the holes in the wooden cheese block. We like this toy for very young children because the pieces are connected, and because of it’s colorful, wooden construction.

6. Wooly Willy Magnetic Hair Toy by PlayMonster

Age Range: 3-10 years old //  Price range $ (Under 15$)

Who else remember this classic magnetic hair toy from when they were kids? I remember playing with this toy for years! For those of your that didn’t have Wooly Willy, he is in a self-contained board that comes with a wand that enables kids to place magnetic “hair” on willy’s head and face, giving him everything from an afro to a curlycue mustache.

7. 3-D Magnetic Shape Basic Set (30 pieces) by Magformers

Age Range: 3-7 years old //  Price range $$ (25-50$)

Magformers Basic Set (30 pieces) is the perfect starter set of magnetic building blocks. It contains 12 triangles and 18 squares in a variety of bright colors. The BPA free HQABS plastic pieces lock together on every flat side of the shape with small magnets within the pieces, enabling kids to build 3-D shapes. This set doesn’t come with a travel-friendly bag, but simply keep them in your child’s backpack or a canvas storage bag to bring them with you on the go, while still having a storage location so they don’t get lost. Note: there is also a smaller 15 piece set.

8. Little Travelers Magnetic Tin Play Set by Petit Collage

Age Range: 3-8 years old //  Price range $ (Under 15$)

This tin magentic playset is a great on-the-go playset for little ones for a couple reasons. The playset comes in a tin that opens up to reveal two scenes, and also doubles as a storage container for the magnetic pieces that are used to create different scenes within it. This Little Travelers set includes 29 pieces to mix and match and make over 100 different travel scenes with fun themed characters and accessories. This travel tin also comes in two different sets: one is an animal band (that is absolutely adorable) and the other is a robot set with moon backgrounds.

9. Rubberneckers: Everyone’s Favorite Travel Card Game

Age Range: 3-12 years old //  Price range $ (Under 15$)

This travel car game
It’s a fun, long-running game that the whole family will have fun playing. It contains a total of 68 cards that share different items to look for on your drive. Different card activities are worth a certain amount of points and the person who gathers the most points by the end wins! Similar to items 3 and 4 on this list, this game is for the whole family, and encourages classic, roadtrip fun.

10. Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere Hangman by PlayMonster

Age Range: 5-12 years old //  Price range $ (Under 15$)

Who doesn’t like to play hangman? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to play. This hangman set in particular is great for travel because it comes in a magnetic play tin with magnetic letters and score markers that are all magnetic and fit in the tin, both when in use and when stored. What a fun way to practice spelling while on the go!

11. Coggy Puzzle by Fat Brain Toys

Age Range: 6-9 years old //  Price range $ (Under 25$)

Coggy is a brainteaser puzzle that features 16 interconnected gears that can be spun, twisted and shifted into different positions to make different shapes and color combinations. Coggy includes a ringed card set of 40 different challenges in four different levels of difficulty. We like Coggy because it improves motor skills, problem-solving, concentration, hand-eye coordination, and visual thinking skills. See Coggy in play in this Fat Brain Toys Youtube video

12. Portable DVD Player by DBPOWER

Age Range: All ages  // Price range $$$ (50-100$)

A 9.5” Portable DVD Player by DBPOWER that is very highly rated and popular, with 3 different color options (black, blue, and red). We like this portable DVD player for road trips for a few reasons:

• Includes a car charger and power adapter,
• Supports CD/DVD/SD Card/USB,
• Features a swivel screen.
• Fits in an inexpensive car headrest mount holder that fits most car seats – Click the following link to view the ZugGear Headrest Mount Holder Strap Case for Swivel Portable DVD Player.

A Note About Screen Time on Road Trips

Although we primarily don’t advocate for screen time at Happy Little Tadpole, we will in this case since it’s about keeping children and their adult drivers sane while in route to their destination – hopefully it’s a place that encourages play outdoors (visiting any national parks with your little ones this summer? Love it!) Some screen time during road trips can be a welcome reprieve for families with young children. Popping in a movie in the middle of an 8-hour drive can be the much-needed quiet-time a driver needs, so they can more fully focus on the road instead of the little ones who’ve decided their car seats are the enemy. DVD players are also great to use when roadtripping through the night, when it’s dark outside and toys can’t be played with and books can’t be read. This is why the final item on our travel toys for road trips list is a portable DVD player, to filter in SOME screen time when on the road for long roadtrips.

Additional Road Trip Tips for Traveling with Kids

Whether you’re gearing up for your very first road trip with little ones, or road warriors who travel often, the car trip with kid travel tips below will provide you with a list of must-haves and maybe even some new items to add to your road trip with kids toolkit. Here is our list of must-haves:

• Snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. For reusable snack bags, we recommend Stasher Reusable Silicone Food Storage Bags (available in a variety of colors and sizes)
• Spillproof cups for younger children. Each child should have their own. We like this Contigo 2-Pack.
• Car Window Sun Shades for Sun, Glare, and UV Protection
• A blanket for impromptu picnics or snack breaks
• Sunblock
• Surface Wipes for the car (hey, messes happen everywhere and nobody likes a dirty, smelly car)
• A portable car vacuum like this Cordless Rechargeable Hand Vac by Holife
• A wet bag, also known as a waterproof laundry travel bag. We like the cute prints in this Babygoal 2-Pack.
• Extra clothes, shoes, diapers, wipes, you know, the usual stuff!

Safety Tip: Get Your Carseat Checked by a Child Passenger Safety Technician

Did you know that the Safe Kids Coalition can connect you to child passenger safety technicians in your community who can check to make sure your car seats are installed correctly? If you’ve never had your car seat checked, or you’re new to installing a car seat, scheduling a safety checkup is a great idea.

Why not be extra safe? Visit the National Child Passenger Safety Certification website to Find a CPS Technician.

Roadtrip and National Park Children’s Books

Listed below are some quick-links to some of the best roadtrip books and activity books we found for kids. I love learning more about where I’m going, and kids do too. Time in the car on route to your destination is a great time to use for learning about the destination, or the state you’re traveling through.

Roadtrips from Childhood

Taking road trips with my family when I was younger are some of my favorite and most memorable memories from childhood. Every summer, my family would road trip from Florida to Pennsylvania, to spend a couple of weeks at our cabin. My brothers, sister, and I, along with our parents, of course, would get in our conversion van and spend over 36 hours on the road. I remember playing ‘the quiet game’ where my siblings and I would have to be quiet for 5 minutes at a time in order to earn money for the fireworks store we always stopped at. This was a genius tactic by our parents, and I find it hilarious today that we got paid to be quiet. Remember: this was a 36-hour road trip with 4 children – I’m positive quiet time was a necessity. My mom also would wrap us a present or two to open for each new day of our roadtrip, giving us new activities for the new day on the road. What a great way to make roadtrips fun, no wonder it’s such a great memory for me!

What toys do you bring on your family road trips or what do you remember playing as a kid? Share in the comments below!