50+ Unbeatable Road Trip Toys For Long Car Journeys
Taking a family road trip soon? Nobody, not even an adult, can sit in a car for hours on end without SOMETHING fun to do!
Whilst we have dozens of hot tips for road tripping with kids, simply nothing (other than maybe a good supply of snacks!) will help you through long-distance driving quite like a great selection of travel toys for the car.
The best toys for car trips are ideally:
- Fairly quiet (i.e. won’t distract the driver!)
- Do not have small parts which can be easily lost (or swallowed)
- Can easily attach to the car seat (if you are traveling with a baby or toddler)
Electronics such as small tablets, smartphones, or portable DVD players can play a part in your road trip entertainment arsenal, but there are plenty more boredom busters you can pack on your next family road trip that don’t require batteries!.
We have rounded up for you here a selection of the most fun toys for road trips, broken up into age groups so no matter what age your child is, there is something on the list for them!
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Classic Baby and Infant Toys For Car Trips
Babies and infants need surprisingly simple toys to keep them occupied during long car journeys. In fact, from traveling with a newborn through to those toddler years, all they really want is YOU! But when having an adult seated with the baby in the back doesn’t work, try these simple, engaging car toys for babies.
Toe Time Infant Car Seat Toy
Car seat toys make the perfect travel toys for babies. You can hang them on the back of the seat, and they can play with the soft toys attached to the mat. The great part is, they can’t drop them!
Funky Toy Keys
As you take your road trip, letting the baby play with your real keys isn’t a safe option, but you can give them their own playset of keys. The set has 4 car sounds that come from the purple remote and realistic keys for them to play with.
My First Road Trip Book
An 8-page soft book for babies, this soft activity book from Melissa & Doug will let your little one enjoy the colors and shapes in the book. It’s also great for toddlers, so the book will work for both young and older babies for hours of travel entertainment.
Winkel Rattle & Sensory Teether Toy
Made for tiny hands, this little teether toy is soft and shaped like a maze. Your little one will be mesmerized as they play with the teether and look at the colors of the tubes; it’s always been one of our favorite travel toys.
Plush Elephant Music Toy
This cute little elephant is not just cuddly, it lights up and plays music, making it a great toy for babies and younger children and will entertain them as they ride along during a long road trip.
Hanging Rattles Toy
Attach these rattles to a crib, car seat, or stroller so that your little one can have fun on the go; these are one of the best baby toys for the car.
You can easily transfer this toy to all three so you can take it wherever you go on your family road trip.
Teething Rattles
This fun set of silicone teething rattles makes for one of the best travel toys for infants, keeping them entertained and comforted throughout the trip.
The teethers are made of non-toxic material and have smooth polished edges for safety. Lots of pieces, so if one does get lost or dropped, you’ll always have a backup!
Cloth Books
A fun and educational soft toy for ages 3 months and up, these cloth books are soft in touch and make the crinkle paper sound that babies love.
Your baby can chew, crinkle, and play with the colorful books as you travel, with handy clips for attaching to car seats and strollers.
Pink Glo Worm Stuffed Lullaby Toy
This cute little pink glo worm will sing soothing melodies to your little one as you travel. When his belly is pushed, the glo worm’s face lights up and will sing gentle lullabies, ideal if you need to rock your baby off to sleep in their car seat while you’re on the move.
Soft Silicone Teething Toys
Another teething toy set that’s perfect for road trips, these silicone toys are shaped like tools. They also attach to a clip so that you can keep them close no matter where you go.
You can find even more inspiration for baby car toys over here
Top Tip: If your baby’s toys don’t come with a clip, you can still buy these toy teethers to easily attach them to your infant car seat and stop the dropping game once and for all!
Best Road Trip Toys For Toddlers
Your toddler is ready for some more interactive games and activities in the car, but they still need to be safe for your tot to handle unsupervised while your eyes are on the road. All of these road trip toys make great interactive and sensory distractions for toddlers on long drives:
Busy Board Toddler Backpack
Your toddler will love playing and manipulating each and every aspect of this fun toddler busy board backpack.
What’s great is they can even fit a few of their other favorite toys inside too for their very own travel bag.
Squishy Drawing Pad
Filled with sensory beads and non-toxic gel, this drawing pad will allow your young toddlers to make an endless number of creations throughout the trip with just the touch of a finger, no other tools required.
Search and Find Game
While your toddler is enjoying the ride, keep them busy with this fun search-and-find game. The double-sided activity mats will keep your older toddler entertained for hours.
LCD Writing Tablet
Your toddler can use a fun doodle pad board (aka sketch board) throughout the trip to draw and engage in imaginative play, perfect for small hands gaining dexterity.
Popit Fidget
Fidget toys are perfect as toddler travel toys, keeping little hands entertained. Such a simple game, they come in lots of fun shapes and colors, and they take up very little packing space.
Wooden Activity Cube
This small wooden activity cube will help keep your toddler’s hands busy for hours. They can move the different pieces and work on various motor skills with the toy.
Smart Teddy
Take this interactive smart teddy with you on your road trip to keep your toddler entertained. The app on your phone can control what’s on the teddy and the kids will have fun listening to stories and other learning activities.
Reusable Sticker Pad
Stickers are always a winner with little kids. Your toddler will love giving the farm animals different faces as they play with this reusable sticker book. The pad contains 10 different farm scenes and 76 reusable cling-style stickers to make the face.
Magnetic Maze Puzzle Game
As you are traveling in the car, your toddler can have fun trying to move the ball in the maze with the attached magnetic pen. It has a colorful sea theme to it which will make it easier to hold their attention throughout the trip and an easy carry handle.
Buckle Pillow Toy
This cute owl pillow is not only soft and cuddly, but turns him around, and there are several different activities your toddler can play with on your family road trip.
Your toddler will be able to snap, button, and buckle the different items on the pillow, making this buckle toy perfect for problem solving and cognitive skills.
You’ll find even more road trip toy ideas for toddlers over here
Best Road Trip Toys for Preschoolers
Your preschoolers will have more dexterity, and toys can hold their attention span for longer periods of time.
We’d recommend on a long journey you also invest in a car seat travel tray so that your child has a comfortable play space with a play surface they can spread all their toys out on, and handy pockets to stop items rolling away.
Disney Eye Found It Card Game
As they explore the different Disney scenes when trying to find the character and scene images, your preschooler will not only be working on hand-eye coordination but also counting on the road trip. The perfect educational preschooler toy to pack for a road trip.
Preschool Busy Book
This busy book is perfect for entertaining your little one throughout the car ride. It’s a sturdy book, so you can easily take it in the car, and your preschooler will have fun working on the activities while honing their fine motor skills using the erasable marker pens.
Fire HD Tablet
You can’t go wrong with a tablet when it comes to traveling in the car! So much can be done on the tablet and your little one will love watching shows, playing games, and more. Just make sure you’ve downloaded what you need before setting off in case you don’t have wifi!
Color Wonder Mess Free Coloring Pages
A coloring book with a difference! Available in a variety of different designs, as you travel in the car, your little artist can color the sheets of paper without you having to worry about a mess.
Each kit contains 18 Blippi coloring sheets and five magic markers.
Go Fish Alphabet Card Game
Go Fish is a fun game for any age, and this set helps your preschooler learn the letters of the alphabet, both capitalized and lowercase.
Card games are great travel toys that your younger children can also play with older siblings, helping them out.
Town Maze Magnetic Puzzle
Need an activity your child can really focus on? Your preschooler will have great fun trying to get the colored balls in the matching garage with the magnetic pen. This is a great option if you’re seeking a more challenging STEM toy for car travel or anywhere you’re heading on vacation.
Dot to Dot Workbook
A quiet but fun road trip activity your preschooler can do throughout the ride, this dot-to-dot workbook is fun and educational.
Ideal for the 3 to 5-year-old age group where critical thinking is involved, and they have a fun coloring page to complete, too once the dot-to-dot is complete.
Travel Memory Game
Seven double-sided cards are included in this memory game. Each card has different images so your preschooler can stay entertained throughout the trip. An ideal car game if you have siblings who want to play along together.
EZDesk Travel Activity Kit
Full of fun activities your preschooler can do while in the car, this activity kit will have them coloring and designing a variety of different things.
With it’s own carry case and handle its the ideal travel toy than can come from car to roadside stop.
Travel Tangram Puzzle
Mix, match, and style the different pieces in this fun travel tangram puzzle.
This is a fun travel game, and it allows children to get creative with shapes, ideal for the older preschooler with magnetic pieces that (shouldn’t!) get lost!
Best Road Trip Toys for Elementary School Age Kids
A wonderful age for road-tripping with kids – though you’ll need plenty of ideas to stave off the chorus of “are we there yet”. Try these wonderful travel toys and educational games, perfect for your slightly older kids on your next family road trip:
Handheld Game Set
This small little game system is a powerful little portable machine that has 100 preloaded classic retro games to play. If you don’t want the expense or arguments of a full-size tablet, this is a wonderful hand-held compromise.
Fashion Design Sketch Portfolio
If your child loves fashion and creating their own style, they will love this fun fashion sketch pad with stencils and stickers. It comes in plenty of different designs from clothing to bedroom design or even design your own unicorns.
Flashing Cube Memory Game
Even though your child is stuck in the car throughout the road trip, doesn’t mean they can’t have fun! This flashing cube has 4 quick-fingered games that they can learn to master on the ride.
Nintendo Switch Lite
A fun game system for on-the-go, the Nintendo Switch Lite is a popular road trip accessory. On the go, they can play their favorite games as they wait to get to their destination, in a small and lightweight unit (don’t forget a storage case too!)
Secret Decoder Activity Set
Kids will love cracking the codes by uncovering hidden clues and secret messages throughout the pages. It’s also a fun way to encourage problem-solving and critical thinking, bound to keep them occupied for many hours while you’re on the road.
Scratch Paper Art
The magic rainbow scratch-off paper kits are fun for kids of all ages, but they work best for your elementary-aged child.
This kit has everything you need for hours of fun, including 50 pieces of scratch paper and 4 stencils to follow, or create your own colorful designs.
Wax Craft Sticks
Get creative in the car by designing some cool things with wax. This fun set is perfect for road trips and will allow your child to get creative with their hands, even on the go.
No sticky mess, you get over 300 sticks in a set of different lengths so the only limit is your child’s imagination!
Travel Board Tic Tac Toe and Checkers
This set is perfect for traveling with friends or siblings. The magnetic game board will let your children play checkers and tic tac toe throughout the car ride. Super simple family games that never go out of fashion!
Colorful Tangram Jigsaw Puzzle
While on the road, children can have fun with this challenging jigsaw game puzzle. The 40-piece game set will keep them busy for hours as they put together the puzzle.
Designed with road trips in mind, they include clues for everything you will likely encounter on your family road trip!
Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game
Scavenger hunt games are always fun for kids and this card pack will keep them entertained as they search for the objects found on the cards.
Best Road Trip Toys For Tweens and Teens
Don’t want your older kids simply plugged in for hours on end? Plenty of fun and creative road trip toy ideas are perfect for all those family members 10 years+ who still need busy hands and minds.
Flipslide Handheld Game
Flip, slide, and match the cubes as you are timed with this travel game. The game has 4 game modes, each with a different level of challenge, perfect for passing the time on car rides.
Triangle Peg Games
Remember the wooden strategy game we played at some of our favorite restaurants?
These pegboards can be taken anywhere so that your tweens and teens can play anywhere they go. Great for strategizing and stretching the mind.
Nintendo Switch
A Nintendo Switch can be a lifesaver when it comes to killing time while your tween or teen is traveling in the car.
They can use the same game system they use at home with portable remote controls that simply clip in to have some fun on their road trip adventure. Don’t forget a carry case to keep their console and game chips safe.
Travel Blurt Game
This is a game that siblings can play together, or you can get the whole family involved during the road trip. It’s hilarious and fun to see what kinds of things will be blurted out.
Handheld Magnetic Word Game
A travel edition of our favorite word game. Magnetic toys always make a good road trip toy. This set even includes a travel storage pouch to carry it anywhere. A great brain teaser toy for your tweens and teens looking for road trip activities that engage the brain.
Boredom Buster Activity Pack
This activity book for teens has 180 different brain games and puzzles they can do while in the car. Each brain game is challenging but fun and pitched at your older child.
The Ultimate Magnetic Puzzle Game
Nothing beats the feeling you get when you solve a challenging puzzle. This magnetic puzzle game is an impressive game that can be played in the car for some challenging fun.
Fast Sling Puck Game
This fast-sling puck game is a portable hockey game that fits on the table while you are taking a break at a roadside stop. Depending on the room you have in the car, it might be able to fit on their lap while in the car.
Magnetic Board Game Pack
This pack includes 12 different retro fun games that your tween or teen can take on any family vacation. It’s great for elementary-aged children as well, but we like it more for tweens.
World’s Largest Word Search Book
If your child enjoys doing word search puzzles, they will love working on this activity book while on a road trip.
With over 1,000 puzzles, your teen or tween will have plenty of puzzles to help them pass the miles.
We hope you’ve managed to find something in this road trip toy selection to suit every member of your family.
Other Ways To Pass Time In The Car
In addition to all the incredible games we’ve covered in this guide (yes, over 50 road trip toy ideas!) you may also want to prepare for your next family trip:
- Download some audiobooks that all the family can listen to together or a podcast series suitable to your age group.
- Family singalong. I know, I know, the 17,000th rendition of their favorite nursery rhyme might be driving you around the bend, but little kids love nothing more than mom and dad joining in. Change the words, and sing in a funny voice; it’s bound to get some giggles from the back. (Psst, there’s quite possibly an age limit on this one though, you don’t want your tweens and teens disowning you at the next roadside stop)
- Easy word games. You don’t need a fancy toy to keep the kids entertained all the time. Plenty of imaginative games in the car can be played verbally without any props. Try “would you rather” questions, alphabet listing games, or good old I-spy!
- Older kids can easily engage in road trip trivia games – from quizzes to conversation starters, easy apps you can download, or DIY games you can make up as you go.
What are your go-to toys and games for a family road trip?
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