Terrific Travel and Activity Books for Kids
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Whether staying home or traveling, it’s SO helpful to have activity books for your kids to keep them engaged in non-tech learning and creativity over the summer vacation.
Here are a mix of just-for-fun and educational travel, coloring, and activity books.
Activity Books for Road Trips
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Boredom Buster Games for the Road by Lonely Planet Kids
You’ll find fun travel games in this activity book including word games, board games, guessing games, counting games, trivia games, memory games and more!
see a sample page:
2. My Travel Journal by Lonely Planet Kids
This travel journal is filled with writing, drawing, coloring and collaging ideas that will capture a trip’s memories.
see a sample page:
3. Kids’ Travel Journal by Peter Pauper Press
Guided prompts on travel-designed pages encourage kids to write, write, write about everything that happened on the trip.
see a sample page:
also see: BLANK Travel Journal
4. Kids’ Road Atlas by Rand McNally
Of all the kid atlases, I like this one the best. It has real road maps so kids actually learn and practice how to use them. (Many of the other atlases don’t.) This is a great choice for cross-country travel in the U.S. so that you can see the map keys, play state games and puzzles, learn more about states, and more. (Use with your AAA maps and books!?)
5. Brain Quest 1000 Questions
This is a fun way to keep your knowledge from slipping over the summer. Take these questions in the car and quiz the other people in your family. (Available for grades 1 – 7.)
see a sample page (from grade 4):
6. License Plates Across the States: Travel Puzzles and Games by Tony Tallarico
For travel in the U.S. this is an engaging interactive sticker book of puzzles, mazes, games, and more!
7. Mad Libs on the Road by Roger Price and Leonard Stern
This Mad Libs is for older kids — and includes topics like car songs and historical sights.
8. Wikki Stix Travel
These bendy sticks and the 12-page book of activities and ideas will keep kids engaged for hours.
9. On the Go Secret Decoder or Water Wow!
Activity Books For Home
1. Wipe Clean: Early Learning Activity Book by Roger Priddy
Kids love these brightly colored write and wipe books for practicing numbers, letters and more. Wipe clean and reuse! I also like Pen Control which has younger kids work on drawing lines — squiggly, zig-zag, and more.
Added to: Best Preschool Activity Books for Ages 3 to 5
2. Fun with Mazes Wipe-Off
My kids LOVE maze books. They’re so beneficial for fine motor control and logical thinking. This is a great option since it’s reusable.
3. Doodle Spots! Seek, Search and Scribble by Lonely Planet Kids, illustrated by Thomas Flintham
Is it a coloring book or drawing book or activity book? It’s all! Search for things to spot, color in the scenes, and draw your own travel scenes.
sample page:
4. Tape Activity Book by Melissa & Doug
Use your fine motor skills to create tape art! Kids love tape and this book is more popular than ever.
5. Star Wars Workbooks
Writing, reading, and math practice is more fun with Star Wars characters! For preschool through 2nd grade.
Added to Best Activity Books for Elementary Students Ages 9 to 12
5. Let’s Explore Jungle by Lonely Planet Kids
One of the new Let’s Explore series from Lonely Planet Kids, this 250-sticker activity book helps kids 5 and up learn about the jungle and it’s flora and fauna as well as world geography.
see a sample page:
6. My Family Travel Map by Lonely Planet Kids
This is a HUGE map poster for travel planning and recording. Then use the 180 stickers to mark where you live, where you’ve been, where you’d like to go, and more. Flip the map over and learn facts about every country.
7. Reusable Habitats Sticker Pad by Melissa & Doug
With five scenes and over 150 stickers, this is a fun activity for kids ages three and older to learn about habitats. (Also see: Adventure, Vehicles, and Town.)
8. Brain Quest Workbooks (available for grades Pre-K, K, grades 1- 7)
Of all the workbooks in the world, my kids prefer this one. (If they had to pick.) The colorful design and easy-to-follow directions are spot on for each age group. I use these for summer vacation review and practice — picking and choosing what the kids need. (I usually rip out the pages for the younger kiddo because this is as very large book.)
see a sample page:
9. Shopkins Seek and Find or Minions Seek and Find
10. Grids A Drawing Book for Squares by Jacky Bahbout
This is a cool drawing-prompt book that is based on patterned grids. Look for activities like make your own dot to dot, drawing a cityscape, drawing honeycombs, and more.
11. My Fab Fashion Style File by Lesley Ware
This is a book that teaches readers about colors, materials, design, and more — then gives prompts and options for drawing and designing. My 14 year old is LOVING it!
Fun, New Coloring Books for Kids
1. My First Big Book of Coloring
Chunky black lines illustrate shapes that toddlers and preschoolers can easily recognize and color.
Best Coloring Books for Kids
2. Dazzling Dogs by Marjorie Sarnat
If you liked Creative Cats, or that style (my daughter did!), this is the next book for your coloring projects!
3. Cool Cats by Dover
Whimsical pages of cats playing!
4. Harry Potter Coloring Book
I love this new series of coloring books — also check out Magical Places & Characters, Magical Creatures, and Artifacts. Best Coloring Books for Kids
5. Wonderland: A Coloring Book Inspired by Alice’s Adventures by Amily Shen
Travel down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland to color detailed line drawings of the Mad Hatter’s tea party and so much more.
6. Fantastic Cities by Steve McDonald
Color in real cities — from Tokyo to Rio. Best Coloring Books for Kids
7. Tolkien’s World by Mauro Mazzara
90 pages to color including scenes from Middle-earth, characters such as Gandalf and Smaug, and more. I know my 14-year old will love this!
8. Wise Words to Color: Inspiration to Live and Color By by Zoe Ingram
My 11-year old started this beautiful coloring book of quotes and mandalas when sick. And I’ve been enjoying coloring it myself. The quotes are lovely and inspiring. Best Coloring Books for Kids
Travel and Activity Books for Kids
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