Make your upcoming road trips and family vacations happy and memorable by keeping the kids busy. How do you do this? Pick up some fun travel games for kids before you go.
Let’s face it, traveling is expensive so let’s find a way to save you money. All you need to do is head to your local Dollar Tree to stock up on road trip games for kids and travel gadgets.
The great part about Dollar Tree is finding all the cheap travel activities for kids that will keep them busy. It is always more fun and time consuming when they have something new to play with on a trip.
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Did you know that you can purchase Dollar Tree items online and get free shipping to your local store? Huge time saver when you’re getting ready for vacation.
15 Best Travel Games for Kids at Dollar Tree
Travel Games & Travel Accessories
1. Arts and Crafts
Do your kids enjoy arts and crafts? Find all kinds of different projects for your kids to do on a trip. Stringing beads is a great way to occupy their time.
Find all different bead colors and shapes, string, and even containers to hold the beads. They also sell pipe cleaners which are great for beading because the beads don’t fall off as easily as the string.
Coloring books, crayons, and stickers are another great busy activity. Find your child’s favorite character and they’ll be so excited.
My kid’s new favorites are the gel pens and small pads of construction paper. It’s always exciting to get something new to color or create. These would also be great activities at a restaurant, too.
2. Small Toy Figures
Find all kinds of small figurines and toys at Dollar Tree. Look for a character or animal your child really likes. I have found small animals, dinosaurs, army men, Paw Patrol figures, Star Wars figures, and more.
Buy a small storage container or use a zip lock bag to keep the toys organized on the trip.
Are you headed to Disney? You will find tons of small Disney Characters from Princesses and Mickey Mouse to Cars Movie cars. These would be a great surprise gift to play with on the way to the Parks.
You could also take them along as “souvenirs” instead of buying the expensive stuff at the parks. They could be surprised gifts while you’re waiting in a long line or something on their bed when you get back the hotel.
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3. Road Trip Games for Kids
I find lots of small travel games at Dollar Tree. Usually, they have a variety of small board games in zip lock bags, like license plate games, checkers, seek and find games for road trips, and more.
These are easy to keep in their own bag container and can be thrown in a purse for airplane rides, car rides, or restaurants.
Related Article – 11 Amazon Road Trip Games and Accessories for Kids
4. Workbooks and Activity Books
You can find all different types of workbooks and activity books for a variety of ages at Dollar Tree. Look and find books, Alphabet books, maze books, crossword books, and more. Pick one that your child will enjoy using and stay busy playing with.
Related Article – Free Trip Cost Calculator to Help Make Your Travel Budget & Save Money
5. Silly Putty and Play-Doh
So, this item depends on your child and how messy it would make the car. I have given the kids a Tupperware container from the dollar store and let them play with the Play-Doh while we drive.
Another option is silly putty. It’s not quite as messy as Play-Doh and can be used at restaurants or your hotel room too.
6. Working out the Wiggles
If your headed on a road trip, you are going to need some time for the kids to get out and run a little. I would suggest finding a rest stop along the highway to get out and run.
Dollar Tree has some great items to burn some energy. Pick up a jump rope, football, soccer ball, and bubbles to chase after. Buy them at the Dollar Store and if they get lost on the trip, you didn’t lose your kid’s favorite soccer ball.
7. Sand Toys
Headed on a beach vacation? Pick up some sand molds, buckets, and shovels for the trip. They’re cheap and if you lose them on the beach no big deal.
Bonus if your flying you just leave them behind at the end of the trip and use the extra luggage space for anything new you bought.
Tip: Buy a laundry bag at Dollar Tree to hold the beach toys. When you are leaving the beach, all the sand will fall out through the bottom of the bag and you won’t be carrying all that sand home with you.
Get more Genius Beach tips at 20 Beach Hacks to Survive a Day at the Beach with Kids.
8. Glow Sticks
Will you be going to any events after dark on your trip? Pick up some glow sticks for the kids to wear at night and make it a little more fun!
Fun Hotel Hack – Thicker Glow Sticks can be used in the hotel room as a night light.
Related Article – Road Trip Planner Tips Every Parent Needs on Family Vacation
The Practical Stuff
9. Car Accessories
Did you know that Dollar Tree stocks cell phone accessories? You can save so much money buying them at Dollar Tree over the big box stores.
So, what can you find? Car chargers that plug into your cigarette lighter, earbuds, USB cables, cell phone cases, and phone holders that clip to your car.
Keep all your devices running on a road trip with the car charger and USB cables. Use the earbuds so you don’t have to listen to the other passenger’s games and music.
Lastly, the clip to attach your phone to your car will make it so much easier to use your direction apps, like Waze.
Use our favorite Free Road Trip Apps to make your road trip stress free. They’ll help you find the quickest route, cheapest gas, hotels, and what restaurants are along your driving route for picky eaters.
10. Sanitizer
The Dollar Store sells individual hand sanitizer wipes and small travel bottles. These are easy to throw in your purse or car when visiting national parks, or really anytime you are out with the kids.
11. Medicine
Pick up perfect travel size medicine for Tylenol, Excedrin, and Aspirin. They also sometimes have shampoo and conditioner in smaller sizes.
Related Article – 5 Best Free Travel Apps for Road Trips
Car and Travel Hacks
12. Eating in the car
Pick up a plastic shower caddy to hold your kid’s drinks and food while they are eating in the car. They can easily balance this on their lap and it will prevent spilling.
13. The Claw
You know how the kids’ toys are constantly dropping on the car floor on driving trips? It is so hard to bend your arm around the front seat while you’re driving to pick them up and can be dangerous.
Get a claw-like the one pictured below and let the kids grab their own toys.
14. Keep your car clean
Are your kids constantly handing you their garbage on a road trip? It drives me crazy!
Fix this by giving the kids their own garbage can in the backseat. Take a plastic cereal container that has a flip-top opening and put a grocery store bag in it.
This is small enough to fit in the seat and has a top so the garbage doesn’t spill all over. When you stop to get gas, throw out the bag add a new one. Easy Peasy!
Related Article – 40 Things to Do with Kids on Staycation
15. Busy Bags
Busy Bags are a great way to keep the car trip exciting. I buy some brown paper bags and put one fun little item in each.
These items could be a small little toy, a new car game, or a box of crayons and coloring books. I scour Dollar Tree to find a bunch of fun, inexpensive items to fill their bags.
You can also use them as motivation for good behavior on the trip. No whining for the next hour and you get to open another bag. It is amazing what a little motivation/bribery can do to make a great trip.
Here are a few Busy Bag Ideas
1.Crayons and new small coloring book with your child’s Favorite Character
2. Silly Putty or Play-Doh
3. Pipe Cleaners (these are so fun creating designs and shapes with)- Add a few beads and make a fun project.
4. Gel Pens and Activity Book (mazes, crosswords, letter finding)
5. Small Figures – Dinosaurs, Princesses, Cars, My Little Pony, Farm Animals, etc.
6. Stickers and Blank Pad of Paper to stick them
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Are you ready now for a great road trip with these fun travel games for kids? These road trip games and travel accessories for kids should help create an easy and fun family vacation. Take these ideas and head over to your local Dollar Tree and stock up.
More Ways To Save at Dollar Tree
- Getting Organized is easier than you think! 17 Genius DIY Dollar Tree Organization Hacks
- Did you know Dollar Tree has the best cleaning supplies? 45 Best Cleaning Supplies from Dollar Tree That Actually Work.
- Fun & Cheap Birthday Party Decorations for Kids at Dollar Tree – The party supplies you should be buying at Dollar Tree.
- Dollar Tree has the best Fall decorations. Get inspired in my How to Make Cheap Fall Decorations at Dollar Tree That Look Expensive.
- Make beautiful DIY Christmas Decorations from Dollar Tree and get cute Hostess and Teacher Gifts.
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Thanks for sharing! I really never thought of the dollar store. Silly putty is a great one to have, I know my kid can play with it for hours! I keep forgetting how much stuff you can find at the dollar store. I’m thinking I may need to make a visit there soon…
It’s a great way to save some money and entertain the kids. Hope you find some fun items on your next dollar store trip!
Oooh!!! I’ve never thought of busy bags. What a great idea. We road trip alot do this would be helpful.
They are so easy to throw together and it makes the trip a little more exciting for the kiddos. Hope your kids love them as much as mine!
We are ALWAYS traveling in the car. These are some great ideas!
BTW, I love getting the glow wands from some of the bigger Dollar Tree stores. They are SO much less expensive than the fancy glow toys they sell in amusement parks!
Thanks Darla! You can save a ton buying things like glow sticks ahead of time to use in the parks. Enjoy your next trip!
Great ideas! I never thought of getting a claw for all those times my son dropped his toys. Will be getting one of those next!
The claw is pretty fun and works as a game in the car too. Enjoy your next road trip!
There are so many wonderful ideas in here!! I love them all!
Thank you I’m taking my 4 kids on the plane for the first time to the Dominican. It’s a 5 hour flight each way. Great ideas 🙂
Dani -Thanks, I hope the tips and games will help you. The Dominican is a beautiful country with great beaches it will be worth the flight (: I hope your family has a wonderful trip!
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A very helpful and thorough list! I love the dollar tree, too. I would have never thought about getting the claw to retrieve fallen items, great idea!
Thanks Allyson! My kids love the claw they think it’s so cool to pick things up with it.
These are great tips! Thanks for sharing and will keep these in mind for our next family vacation! It is not possible to make a happy and memorable vacation without seeing my kids cheerful.
Thank you. Hope you have a wonderful trip!
These are great tips! Thanks for sharing and will keep these in mind for our next vacation! It is impossible to make a happy and memorable vacation without seeing our kids happy.
Totally agree. Have a wonderful family vacation!