Check out these 11 fun travel games for kids while travelling in car or flight. Best ways for entertaining kids when travelling by car or airplane.
We all love to travel. After all travelling gives you the opportunity to know the world around you, different regions, different people, different food, different places etc. It is a wonderful way to refresh yourself and again fill you with lots of enthusiasm and positivity.
But if  you are travelling with kids then you need to prepare yourself for many more things. It is not a  tough task but yes it requires some planning and preparation. The first question that comes into your mind when you are travelling with kid/s is how I am going to engage my kid/s for so long? What all games or activities we can play if we are travelling with kid?
So, today we are going to discuss best travel games for kids which are not only fun but also have some learning associated with them.
Before we go ahead one thing I want to say when you are travelling with kid/s don’t forget to carry their favourite objects like water bottle, mug, cap etc. or toys with you. Those may prove right thing when your kid is cranky or fussy at some point of time.
So let’s get back to the point and see some fun games we can play when travelling with kids. The best part about these kids travel games is that you do not need to carry much stuff with you to play these interesting games.
Best Travel Games for Kids to make your life easier and stress free
Rhymes game
Kids love rhymes, they keep humming the rhymes and keep dancing on them. It’s really a great fun to see them enjoying their own music world. When you are travelling with your kid/s you can play this wonderful game with them to keep them occupied and happy.
Thus, let him think and let him come out of his comfort zone and think from the different perspective.
Color game
If your kid is comfortable with color recognition then you can play this game with him.
To start with you can ask what is the color of cucumber, what is the color of apple, what is the color of sky, what is the color of crow etc. Then you can ask the color of various things around him or you can ask the color of objects he is familiar with.
This is a fun and learning game, mostly enjoyed by kids.
Ridddles
This is a travel game most loved by kids and parents. This is not only fun but also help kids in learning and development.
Riddles helps kids in critical thinking because when we prod their mind with clues eventually we are encouraging them to start thinking, make connections to find out the solution.
Have a look on some of the easy riddles you can play with kids.
Memory game
This is a wonderful game to enhance and sharpen kids’ memory.
To start with choose the objects he is familiar with. Like start with wild animals, you first say Lion, then your kid needs to add one more name and repeat whatever you said. So, each participant has to add one more name and repeat all the previous names. For e.g.- You said Lion, then your kid needs to say Lion, Tiger. Then your turn you add one more name and repeat the first one, like – Lion, Tiger, Zebra and so on. Keep playing the game and sharpen your memory too.
You can play this game with vegetable names, fruits names, transport vehicle names or anything else you want.
If you want to play this game in a different manner then you can make your own DIY memory cards. Simply paste or draw some objects on a paper. Show that paper to your kid, discuss the objects with him and then hide the paper and ask your kid to recall the objects he has seen on the paper.
A perfect game to sharpen your child’s memory.
Name it
It is the easier version of the memory game.
To start with – let us take an example of how you can play this game with vegetable or fruit names. You say a name of a fruit, then ask your kid to say another fruit’s name. Then your turn to say another fruit name followed by your kid. The rule is to name fruits without repetition.
The above can be played with anything that you want for e.g. animals, places, cars depending on your child’s age and interests.
Another version of this game can be to name the objects you see around yourself while travelling like trees, road, car, motor bike, train, buildings etc.
Through this you can make your kid aware about the various objects he may not be already familiar with like hoardings, milestones, road signs or mountains, hills, ponds, rivers etc.
This game improves the vocabulary and memory of kid and encourages him to observe things around him when travelling. Undoubtedly a fun and interesting travel game that can be played with kids of all ages and can be played for long.
Traffic rules game
We all should follow traffic rules and our kids too should know the traffic rules.
When you are travelling with your kid you can use this as an opportunity to make him aware of the traffic rules. Observing traffic rules while travelling can help him understand these rules in a better way . And you can clear his doubts and queries easily.
To start with first let him know about the traffic lights and the meaning of green, red and yellow lights. To make it more interesting.. you can sing a rhyme:
Red light, red light
What do you say?
I say stop.. stop.. right away,
Yellow light, yellow light
What do you mean?
I said wait till the light is green,
Green light, green light
What do you say?
I say go when the light is green
For older kids, you can discuss about the various road signs like – No parking, U turn not allowed etc. You can also talk to kids about the directions like left turn, right turn, straight
To add more, we can talk about when we should beep horn, give indicators, switch on parking lights etc.
It is not necessary to tell your kid all this stuff at one go. The idea is to use this topic as a conversation starter, notice if your child is enjoying these talks, or answer questions when he/she asks about something particular.
Transport vehicle game
When you are travelling it’s good time to make the kids aware about the various transport vehicles and their special characteristics and for what they are used mostly.
If you are travelling through train, you may love to sing this rhyme…
Chook, Chook, Chook, Chook,
We are riding in a train.
Chook, Chook, Chook, Chook,
Through the pouring rain.
Chook, Chook, Chook, Chook,
The train goes on and on.
Chook, Chook, Chook, Chook,
It’s going, now it’s gone.
If your child is already aware of various transport vehicles and can easily recognize them, then you can discuss about special characteristics of each vehicle. For e.g. Auto-rickshaw has three wheels, they are mostly of green and yellow color. You can ask can you count how many wheels does a car have? Or talk to them about how all vehicles have a number plate and how each number on that number plate is unique. You can talk to them about interesting trivia like cabs have yellow number plates and so on.
If you are travelling by train then there are various interesting facts about trains you can make your kid aware with. So it all depends on what you want to talk and what your child is interested in.
Matching Game
If you can carry some stuff to keep your kid entertained then you can carry some worksheets (easily available online) and play matching game - matching the shapes, colors, patterns etc.
If you can make some DIYs on your own that’s really wonderful.
Below are the some DIYs I made using Popsicle sticks for my kid and trust me he really enjoys playing with this matching pattern game. These are so easy to carry and hardly take any space in your travel bag.
       
Read it
If your kid can recognize the alphabets, numbers, road signs or can read some words you can play this interesting game with your kid.
Just ask your kid to read the number written on number plate of the vehicle ahead of you or ask him to read the distance left written on milestones, or read the road signs on the boards on roads.
This game will keep him occupied and entertained and don’t forget to motivate him and acknowledge his efforts. This will definitely boost his confidence level and will improve his reading capabilities.
Picture comprehension game
This is a wonderful game for language and vocabulary building of a kid.
For this you need to carry picture comprehension books or worksheets (available online) with you. Just show the pictures to your kid and let him explain what’s going on in the picture. This game is always loved by kids as they use their vocabulary along with their imagination and try to explain the picture on their own.
If he seeks your help please go ahead and help him. You can take chances in playing this game and explaining different pictures
If you are playing this game for the first time he may not like to play this game but put your efforts and try to make it more interesting and interactive.
Curious mind game
Me and my kid love this game.
Don’t occupy those little minds, let them think freely and keep talking to them and then see the wonder. Just get ready to answer the questions bombarding on you. Yes, its true when they are free they think and they ask. This is the wonderful way to teach them about the various things we may not think to discuss with them.
Would love to share one of my experiences with my kid – we were travelling and talking and suddenly as he was observing he asked why we blow horn? I was happy what he asked and replied him the way he can understand. From then whenever we are out and he sees traffic ahead of us he says please press horn .. 🙂
So above all are the fun and easy games for kids while travelling. Hope you find this list of kids travel games useful.
Happy Playing and Happy Travelling!!
If you are looking for more ideas on how to keep your child engaged at home do check out more of the kids crafts and activities.
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Do let me know if there are any travel games that you play with your kid which are not in above list, using comment below. Would love to hear from you.
Nice and informative post , Liked all the points , very useful and easy to follow , Yes it too important to play such games with kids while travelling as they get bored soon and then it’s difficult to make them sit at one place .
Thank you so much Ghazala. We are so glad to hear that you found these travelling games useful. Playing games during traveling not only keeps everyone happy and engaged but also builds bonds
This article by Shweta Garg get us sorted because me and my hubby used to travel a lot before our kids.we have been to disneyland with our elder son on his second birthday and it was much easier then but now with two sons to look after we have to keep the elder one busy..so thank you so much for your wonderful ideas dear.Will surely try them the next time we go on a trip
Thank you so much Ravinder 🙂 .. Oh yes travelling with kids can be achallenge at times as there are situations to be planned for :-). I can so agree with you on that. We are glad you like travel games and ideas in shweta’s blog 🙂
Quite a list you have made. And a much-needed one because travelling with kids means one has to keep coming up with new things to keep them busy.
Thank you so much Nimi. That is wonderful to hear. We too love this travel games list from Shweta 🙂
Bookmarking it..as I am traveling with my little one ..next month.. thanks 🙂
Thank you so much Anubhuti. Have a great journey 🙂
loved it loved it loved it.. i feel like writing .. loved it zillion times.
these are such creative and cool games to play with kids.
who said we need toys and book and what not to handle kids while travelling.
all they need is this blog. you nailed it
Thank you so much Danisha 🙂 We loved that you loved this article. Yes most of the times the best way to spend time with a kid is talking. There is nothing better than that, The other things we carry I believe our mainly conversation starters or to help s when we are tired and need little bit of rest 🙂
Neha, you have shared a very useful article. Thanks Shweta for sharing your ideas. We need new games on road trips. I liked the popsicle stick game a lot.
Thank you so much Alpana. Yes I too love popsicle sticks idea from shweta specially the variety of things that we can do with it.
Many great suggestions here. I always put a lot of effort into having a supply of things to amuse the kids in the car or train, and really never had hassles with them being bored.
Thank you so much Shirley. Yes the supply of things definitely help when we are tired and need some rest 🙂