10 Travel Activities For Kids

One activity bag full of fun for learning. Is it possible? Yes! I carefully scoured Pinterest (it’s a hard job), looking for fabulous ideas to take on vacation with us. I had specific criteria: they had to be simple, interactive, fun, and the supplies had to be similar for easier organization.

We love to travel, but always need to have something prepared for a rainy day. Whether you’re just enjoying a weekend at home or a longer road trip, you’ll be all set. Gather the materials (below) together and you’ll have enough things to do ANY of the these travel activities (below), on your next vacation.

Materials to Gather (for 2 children) and 10 Activities:

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2 balloons
2 tongue depressors (large Popsicle sticks)
tape
straws (handful)
3×5 cards (50 should be plenty)
a few sheets of paper (for paper airplanes)
water balloons (handful)
2 ping pong ball or 2 bouncy balls
deck of cards
pipe cleaners
4 large rubber-bands
4 paper clips
toothpicks
2 matchbox cars
2 crumpled aluminum foil balls (small)
Bonus: Crayola thin markers, 2 Sharpie markers (for decorating)
Scissors (I’ve taken small kid size scissors in my carry-on luggage without any problems)

10+ Links for Travel Activities:

Once you’ve gathered all of the supplies above, you can do any of the activities here:

Straw Rockets – Buggy and Buddy
Marble Maze – Hello Bee (use a box and straws of index cards)
Water Balloon Bouncy Ball – The Idea Room
Balloon Tennis (add paper plates) – Little Bins for Little Hands
Building with Straws – All For the Boys
Paper Plane Launcher – Housing a Forest
Car and Ball Races – Craftulate (add a box)
Paper Flyers – Relentlessly Fun Deceptively Educational
Air Blower – All for the Boys
Toothpicks Tower – The Idea Room (add marshmallows)
Card Bridge – Homeschool Creations

Plus, I created a Pinterest Board (click here), just for this post. Each pin goes directly to a kid friendly site that explains in-depth how to do the activities.

Extra Materials: Three items do not fit in the bag… marshmallows (marshmallow build), paper plates (balloon tennis), and a box (maze). Even when you’re on vacation, these materials are easy to find or pick up at the store.

The Value of Make A Head Travel Activities

It always happens… I’ll think of something fun or spot something on Pinterest and I won’t have the time or energy to pull it together. Sometimes I’m on vacation and I see an awesome post on Facebook or Pinterest and I think, “We could do that!” Then I look at the supplies and see that you only need a few straws or a couple of 3×5 cards. I know that I have all of those things at home and my frugal side will not let me buy an entire 500 piece pack of said item.

However putting together this bag o’fun gives me the freedom to always have something on hand. This is the fun kind of learning that I *think* I’m going to do with my kids all summer, but somehow only get together when my brain switches to vacation mode. I like to come with some activities on vacation. No Bored Kids (see post here) = happy mom, happy dad, happy grandparents, happy neighbors…. the world!