Screen Free Travel Activities That Are Kid & Teacher Mom Approved

Between time on the plane, time in the car and time spent waiting at restaurants, kids need things to do on trips. We are generally a screen free family, so you won't find us bringing tablets with us (one of our flights did have screens built into the seats and we did let our girls watch movies because that is something we do at home). I like to bring a variety of tried and true activities that I know will be a hit as well as some new activities to change things up. 

Here's what I brought to entertain our three daughters, ages 10, 8 and 8, on our most recent vacation to North Dakota.

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Reading

Our number one screen free activity is reading! All three of my daughters received Kids Amazon Kindles for Christmas which I couldn't be happier about since on previous trips we packed physical books and shared my Kindle. The girls have a subscription to Amazon Kids+ but we also downloaded a bunch of books in advance through our library using Libby. The screen is black and white, but the girls have no complaints about reading illustrated or graphic novels on them. Kindles don't have games or any other media on them and when set up with a kids profile, don't have access to the internet, so I do consider them to be to be screen free; they are strictly digital books.

I did pack one physical book for each of the girls: Isabelle By Laurence Yep, Brave Emily by Valerie Tripp, and Tenney by Kellen Hertz (all American Girl books) and we listened to two audiobooks on the trip as well: Stars, Stripes and Surprises: A Molly Classic 2 by Valerie Tripp and Dream by Barbara O'Connor. 

Puzzle Books

It can be tough to find a puzzle book that has a variety of activities and is actually challenging for older kids. Here's three we brought on this trip:

1. Rand McNally: The Ultimate Backseat Book 3 in 1 Kids' Activity Book

We've had this one for a while and it says ages 6-10, but I actually think 8-12 would be a better fit. I especially like this one because it is road trip themed.

2. Ultimate Puzzle Challenge

Published by Highlights, this book has a great variety of puzzles in it: visual brainteasers, word puzzles, and number games.

3. brainPLAY Trickiest Puzzles Ever

Also published by Highlights, this book had a similar variety of puzzles to the Ultimate Puzzle Challenge. Both are very visually appealing as well.

Card Games

Because they are small, card games are perfect for bringing on trips. The four we brought with us on this trip were:

1. Sleeping Queens

We have also the deluxe edition (one for home and one for our beach house since it is a favorite), which doesn't seem to be available. The game says ages 8 and up, but my younger daughters have been successfully playing since 5 or 6.

2. Gnoming A Round

This is another current favorite. I love that my daughters already have an understanding of negative numbers from playing this game.

3. Uno

My daughters have recently gotten into this classic and like to play with "stacksies" where you can play multiple cards if it is the same card.

4. Spot It

I like that it comes with different ways to play, so that it isn't always the one with the quickest eye who wins.

One of the smaller sizes of these zipper pouches is perfect for storing decks of cards so the boxes don't get crushed in travel. The tins that some of the games come in might get you stopped going through security if you have them in your carry on (I know from experience), besides being heavier.

Puzzle Games

All three of my girls are into logic and strategy based games. Here are the three we brought with us on this trip:

1. Rush Hour Junior

This has 40 different levels and despite it being a "junior" game the harder levels are actually a challenge. Ours came with a mesh bag for travel, but one of these zipper pouches would work too.

2. GiiKer Super Slide Puzzle

These 500 different puzzles have been a hit on our past three trips. This is the case we have to carry the game. We lost a piece on our trip last summer so I order this set of extra pieces which fits inside the case too.

3. SmartGames IQ Puzzler Pro

SmartGames makes a variety of travel games, but I picked this one because it allows you to make 2D and 3D puzzles, 120 of them, and the pieces looked like they wouldn't get lost easily.

All of these can be played individually, a win for quiet time in the car, though sometimes my daughters will work together on these.

Others Hand-On Activities

Reading, puzzles, and games are great, but it is good to have some activities that are hands-on, but involve a little less thinking too.

1. Foldology: The Ultimate Folding Challenge

Perfect for origami lovers. My girls really liked these, but they got challenging very quickly. We may need to be a year or two older to enjoy the rest of them.

2. Drawing Tablet

We've had these for four summers now and they are perfect for drawing, Pictionary, hangman, dots and boxes. My girls will also write out secret language and communicate in code with them. At home we use them frequently for making lists and crossing them off (chore lists or packing lists).

3. Legos

We've taken a small Lego Classic set (it had 100-150 pieces in it and had suggestions of what to build similar to this one) with us in the past, but this year I just filled one of the larger size of these zipper pouches with a mix of Lego pieces for free building from a bin of random Legos we have at home. The girls have plenty of specific sets, but I didn't want to bring anything that anyone would be sad if we lost a piece to.

4. Wikki Stix

We played with these for the first time at a restaurant this spring; they were giving out small packs instead of the usual crayons and coloring placemat. I got this pack of 24 for this trip and they held up well.