With seven kids, we’ve learned exactly what makes or breaks a car ride: the right travel game. These are the best travel games for kids we’ve actually used, not just a list we made up. They’ve turned screaming toddlers into quiet, happy kids more times than I can count.
Here’s our trick: pack them in a bag and reveal one at a time throughout the drive. Never show your whole hand at the start. Save your best game for when things start falling apart.
These have worked so well for us on our travels and help keep travel days a little more screen free. I think they’ll work for you too.
Before you pack: two things that make travel easier
An organizing caddy keeps every piece where it belongs so you’re not digging under the car seat for a missing card. We use one on every trip.
This one’s saved us more than once: a small wireless white noise machine for naps in the car or a hotel room. No more using your phone and losing it to battery drain.
The Best Games, Puzzles, and Activities for Travel with Kids
Super Slide Puzzle
These bring a little of the same fun found in video games but without the screen! Make sure to get a case for all of the pieces so you don’t lose any. We have this one.
Handheld Decoder (Mastermind)
One of my FAVORITE handheld games! No pieces to keep track of and has built in modes for solo play against the computer and for playing with a friend. You can set your own codes for someone else to crack and choose from an easy and difficulty setting to match the age and experience of the player solving the code.
Super Reversi
Play against the computer, solve challenge puzzles, or go head to head with a friend! This is a great pick for travel. It’s all contained with no pieces to keep track of, works slick, and is the perfect size to slide into a bag!
Paper Dungeon & Pocket Golf
These cute notebook games are perfect for tossing in a purse and bringing with you for quick fun anywhere! the pencil is a D6 dice and you’ll roll it to complete the different challenges and courses on each page of the notebook.
Connected Clues
A fun game the driver can play, too! This is a group party game you can absolutely play on the go! It’s a twist on the Before and After category in games like Wheel of Fortune. You’ll create your own clues to try and get the group to correctly guess two words or phrases and then combine them.
Driver can play!
Quick Quick Quick
This party game is easy to bring along on any car ride! This is another one that the driver can play along with making it great for longer road trips.
Magnetic Travel Puzzles
I absolutely love these magnetic travel puzzles. They’re slim and easily fit in a purse or bag and can be played in the car or airplane.
Guess in 10
A fun Guessing Game for everyone, including the driver! I love the state version for road trips to add a bit of educational fun for the road as well! Driver can play!
Foldology Puzzles
Easy to pack origami puzzles where you need to fold the paper a certain way to complete the picture. Our kids love them! (okay, and me too!)
Cupkin Sticker Books
These are my GO TO sticker books for my youngest kids. Think ages 2-6 (but even my 7 year old adores them still!) They are open ended sticker scenes. Easier for little kids to do than sticker by numbers but still packed with hundreds of stickers to place onto various background scenes. They also have a coloring page for each scene in the book for even more fun. I keep a stack of these on hand because they’re so useful. There are tons of themes to choose from.
Sticker by Number
When we were preparing for our recent trip, the first thing my son asked me to pack for him was a few new sticker books. These are our go-tos for travel and calming art around the home. (You can almost guarantee one or two will be in a few folks’ stockings each Christmas.)
3D Sticker Scenes
These miniature 3D room scenes are one of my favorite finds. Perfect for tweens and teens, they give you a chance to explore your creativity as you design bakeries, homes, libraries, and a myriad of other scenes to your hearts content. You can layer the stickers on top of each other to create unique looks and the appearance of depth in the space. Very calming to complete and a must for travel!
Coloring Books
I love bringing along a few of these coloring books. The scenes are cute and detailed without being difficult so they work for all ages. Bring along a set of coloring pencils for a mess free art activity.
Word Search Coloring Books
These are in the same style as the coloring books I love but they’re word searches! All of my kids are obsessed! Perfect for a different coloring activity for the car.
Spot it!
A must have, travel friendly game! Our kids have played it in the back seat together on the road and quietly at the restaurant table while waiting for food.
Qwixx
We love this game for travel so much so that we have a copy of it that lives in our glovebox! Easy for passengers to play in the car, train, or airplane.
FlipSlide
Our kids will play this for hours in the car or at home! All the fun of bopit, but….with a silent mode!
Hive Pocket
This is a cutie mini version of the larger game that’s a little easier to toss in your purse. This is perfect for two players to enjoy on the road, in the hotel, or even out at the beach! Both games are the exact same in how they play, so buy whichever size is your favorite.
Brave Rats
Brave Rats consists of only 16 cards and is a two player must! The perfect game to play on a plane tray.
Mini Color Stack
The travel size version of the popular color stacking game! This is the perfect size and design to bring with you on a trip. You’ll just shake the colors up, slide in the rack, and then open the case to begin solving the puzzle. No two puzzles will ever be the same!
Dimension Pocket
The on-the-go version of the popular puzzle game. This has 200 challenges and a well designed travel case making it easy to toss in a bag and take with you to play anywhere. On a road trip, plane, or restaurant!
Boppo Screen Free Tablet
I was skeptical about this one but it’s been surprisingly great in our house. It has ten large, extremely satisfying buttons to press that allow you to access different games and activities on the device. There’s plenty for both my toddler to love from sound games, enjoyable color blending activities, and piano simulator, and lots of fun arcade style games that the whole family can’t get enough of. (Bop a Mole is my personal favorite.)
Deduckto
I love bringing quick and clever card games to enjoy on trips and Deduckto is a must! It’s easy to play on a small table.
Ok Play
Perfect to clip to a bag and bring to play…anywhere! The park, the beach, the pool. It’s ready for it all!
Mini Wooden Games
If you’ve got a small space, these games will fit right in! I’ve heard from many who love them for their RV adventures!
Similo
Similo is a long time, no fail travel game MVP. We have multiple physical card sets in addition to the digital app!
Cluedle
An adorable puzzle book for kids is great for ages 8-10+ It’s packed with riddles, puzzles, and codes to crack and is a great blend of both puzzle book and story book to read through. One of the most popular picks for my reluctant readers.
Murdle Jr. Summer Fun
The perfect on-the-go version of the hit Murdle. This book is pocket sized and filled with summer vacation themed puzzles to solve!
Murdle
These are a MUST pack for any trip. Fun logic puzzles with a cute story to go along with them. The standard books have a few more trickier puzzles that are better suited for age 10+. If you’re worried they may be too much for your child, Murdle Junior is excellent!
Murdoku
The perfect pick for tweens and teens (and yourself) These mystery puzzles feel like a combination of clue + sudoku. You’ll solve unique sudoku style puzzles using a combination of clues about where suspects can and cannot be. These are extremely popular and highly addicting!
Want more puzzle books for your next trip? Here are some of our favorites!
Mystery Detective
Clever story riddles that the driver can play along and solve! Most of the stories are relatively clean, those that aren’t can be easily skipped by the adult reader. We love playing through these with our older kids who really enjoy trying to untangle the clues found in each story’s clever wordplay.
Driver can play!
The Great Sherlock Holmes Puzzle Book.
Like Mystery Detective, this book is a collection of stories told in the sherlock holmes style that feature tricky story riddles for players to solve. Some are easy and some will really test your powers of observation.
Driver can play!
Hand Games 21
Up your Rock Paper Scissors game! This book of Hand Games is a must pack with easy to learn, and most importantly FUN hand games! Perfect for trips to Disney and Universal!
Logic Case
These were a recent pick up for our family and they’ve been a hit. Solo logic puzzles that are entirely language independent. Just observe the card, solve the puzzle, and slide the wooden rod into the correct slot to see if you’re correct.
55 Games for Road Trips Keychain
These are nice to have on hand for when you’re in a pinch and need a quick way to help kids pass the time. Filled with classic games and creative conversation prompts they’re a “component free” way to help make road trips a little more fun.
How We Organize the Best Travel Games for Kids
Our travel caddy has enough compartments for game pieces, cards, and small pieces so nothing gets lost under the seat. It goes in the car, then straight into the hotel room. Way easier than a tote bag where everything just gets buried.
For flights, we pack a bunch of games and activities right into the kids’ Jansport backpacks. Each kid gets to pick their own stuff, and there’s still room left for clothes.
I also use our Travel Game case to store tons of small box games into one compact carry. I can swap games in and out depending on the trip. Here’s our full breakdown about our travel case and a list of all the games that fit inside!
One last thing for the road!
The battery on this white noise machine lasts all night, so you’re not stuck recharging it between the car and the hotel. If you’re splitting kids across a couple of rooms, worth grabbing more than one.
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