Travel Entertainment Ideas for Kids

If you read my last article,15 Packing Hacks for Travelling with Kids, you'll know that one of my tips is to pack one new play per hour of flight time. Although having kids sit infront of an iPad works for some families, it makes my kids edgy,

Our next destination is approx 5 hours away by plane, so here's what I packed to entertain my kids. Don't forget to pack away the same number of activities for your flight home, too!

Note: It's a good idea to be strategic about what items you pack for flight one and what items you pack away for flight two as the items from flight one can always double as wind-down activities on your trip!

Flight 1

1. Mini Playdough Kits by Doughnique. These kits come in one big package but I split it into 2 small plastic pencil cases for my kids and wrapped the play dough in plastic wrap to keep it fresh for the duration of the trip.

2. Scholastic Learning Pads. Age appropriate activity books (one for each kid) with simple activities that keep them alert and engaged

Scholastic I SPY Picture Riddle Book. My kids love these books and they'll work together to solve the riddles and find the objects.

Sticker Books. My daughter's is a Dolly Dressup Book by Usbourne with reusable stickers while my son's is a Harry Potter 'Paint by Sticker' book with 10 different scenes

Pre-loaded Tablet. The last hour of the flight is fair game for tablet time! I always preload the tablets with games and books that are accessible without wifi, as well as download a couple movies or seasons of their favourite shows from netflix and disney+ so they can be watched without wifi, too!

Flight 2

1. Chirp Magazine. I love these magazines for travelling (Chickadee and OWL for older kids) because they always include a few fun activities and a few little stories, too.

2. DIY LEGO Tin and Characters. I made this LEGO Tin in under 15 minutes but it's so perfect for travelling because the kids have a contained space to keep the LEGO and play with the LEGO. I also like to take about 25 of their favourite LEGO Characters and disassemble them ahead of time so the kids are challenged to put them all back together.

3. Scratch Art/Water Art. My daughter gets a water painting booklet (these are so easy to travel with because they just dry right up and you always have access to water to refill the 'paintbrush') and my son gets a Harry Potter scratch art booklet (scratch are is also great because you also only need one, non-messy tool to play!)

4. List of Word Games. Games like iSpy and Would You Rather are great for travelling. Sometimes during heated frustration you tend to forget about these things, so I always create a little list of these games, as well as prompts for games like Would You Rather, that I can pull out when needed.

5. Colouring Books. An oldie but a goodie. All kids like to colour and my kids are usually just as entertained by flipping through a new colouring book arguing about what pages they get to colour than doing the actual colouring itself.

6. Pre-loaded Tablet. As with the flight to our destination, the last hour of this flight is fair game for tablet time! Make sure it's fully charged the night before your flight and that none of the games, books or movies/shows have expired for download time!

Don't forget to include a Pre-Packed Travel Essential Pouch. I also pack a little zipper pouch for each flight that includes extra paper and small notebooks for drawing, games or journaling, a pack of crayons for each of them, pencils, pens, sharpeners and rulers.