Best Toys for Airplane Travel

Best Toys for Airplane Travel

The world of toys can be overwhelming. Kids have so many options, particularly in the current landscape of instant gratification, they expect to be entertained 24/7. Finding unique, educational, QUALITY toys for kids can actually be a challenge – especially if they’re not your kids. Add airplanes to that scenario and it can seem impossible to find the perfect gift for the traveling kiddo in your life.  We’ve found brilliant children’s presents to help you with that gifting dilemma – you’ll be super grandparents, wicked uncles and aunts, amazing friends or awesome godparents before you know it!

Airplane rides are synonymous with making parents cringe at the thought of keeping their kids busy and struggling to find a solution for everyone. Check out these best airplane toys and you can be their hero!

Best Toys for the Airplane are Games

Games are the perfect thing to keep a child occupied on a long flight, but it can be a challenge to find something compact enough to put in a carry-on. For solo players, Brainbolt: Fast Light-Up Memory Game is fun, entertaining, and challenging. The Shashibo – Shape Shifting Magic Puzzle also offers endless fun by transforming into over 70 funky shapes and structures. If a partner game is what you are looking for, Hangman – Wooden Flip to Win! is a more modern take on an old classic that is portable and durable. If you want something goofy and a little unexpected, Fart! The Explosive Card Game is the perfect option.

Finding unique, educational, QUALITY toys for kids can actually be a challenge especially for tweens about to travel on an airplane! Discover brilliant children’s presents to help you with that dilemma from @WickedUncle! #TravelToys Click To Tweet

Joke Books Aren’t Just for Dads

A father reading a joke book to his tween son before bed on their vacation

Do you have a budding comedian in your life? Or a kid who loves to laugh and play pranks? Joke books for tweens are a great way to keep them entertained and teach them a thing or two. The Super, Epic Mega Joke Book for Kids offers over 1,500 jokes you’ve never heard before guaranteed to keep your creative tween laughing. What’s So Funny? A Diary With 100 Jokes offers kids the chance to keep track of the jokes they create on their own and discover a few they may want to add to their arsenal as well. If you’re feeling super adventurous, Wicked Pranks and Jokes guides kids on how to set up pranks and seriously funny stunts. Vacation just got funnier!

Fun Facts and Activities for the Win

Finding the right activity or thing to read can keep a kid engrossed in a book for hours, making the time on the plane fly by (get it? Ha!). Often, reading short, interesting facts can entertain, increase knowledge, and give kids something to converse about later. Factopia! 400 Crazily Connected Facts is the perfect book for curious kids with active imaginations – who knew facts could be more interesting than make believe? Know a kiddo who loves animals? The World’s Most Pointless Animals – Or Are They? is both engaging and silly, offering a chance for learning and fun. Lookout for the Pink Fairy Armadillo – yes, it’s real! The Big Book of Funtivity says it all, kids will have fun and stay busy with 230 pages of mindbenders, puzzles activities and more.

Airplane Art is the Coolest Art

It is no secret that most kids love to draw and as they get older, some thrive on creativity and art. However, bringing more than a pencil and notepad on a plane can be a hassle, until now. Black Glo Art – Neon Effect Drawing Board is compact enough to travel and allows the budding artist to create their own neon colored art or trace their favorite pictures for inspiration. It is one of the best airplane toys available. Animals are often an artist’s favorite subject but can create frustration early on, How to Draw Animals – Made Easy is ideal for creating on the go and will have them drawing the perfect rhinoceros in no time! Sometimes an exciting prompt is needed to inspire a masterpiece! The Boys’ Doodle Book – 100+ Illustrations has everything to get those creative tween juices flowing.

Science in the Skies

three tween boys talking about different rockets after reading a creative science book they got from Wicked Uncle Creative Toys

Science is fun! Especially with all of the at-home science kits that are available now – the good news is that there are plenty of creative toys for the airplane and compact options as well. Help the kids get science in the skies started with The Science & Inventions Creativity Book which is packed with fun activities that explore the wonderful world of science. If your kiddo is looking for something more hands-on, IQ Circuit – 120 Challenges is an entertaining brain teaser with 5 different levels that teaches circuits and logic with fun puzzles that make it a great airplane activity for tweens. Little Pack of Optical Illusions is a crazy collection that will melt their mind and bend their brain. They’ll be entertained and amazed.

Yes! Kids Can Have Fun, Even if They’re Staying Home

a Creative gift for Tweens who travel is a Scratch off poster of 100 Bucket List Activities

Looking for ways to entertain your grandkids or nieces and nephews at home instead of on the go? Have no fear! Wicked Uncle has you covered there too from the 100 Kids Activities Scratch Off Bucket List to KidzLabs – Kitchen Science Experiments and an old school Slip N Slide to Root Beer – Brew Your Own Science Kit or Building Crazy Forts to 50 Amazing Magic Tricks, there is a creative gift idea here available as unique as the kid themselves.  

Regardless of travel, if you want to be the cool Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, Friend, Godparents, Wicked Uncle has the best creative gifts for tweens. Whether it is your favorite kids’ birthday, the perfect Christmas present or a gift “just because” you’ll find the foolproof item at Wicked Uncle. We’ve already added some of the best airplane toys to our list for Baby G as well as our own godchildren. The cool part is, they break down the gifts for you by age, gender and interest making shopping a “no brainer.” Buy presents here to be the hero in their toy story.

Don’t forget to Pin this to your favorite Bucket List Board!Pinterest Picture of tween boys playing with a Science Toy they got from Wicked Uncle

Disclosure: The Bucket List Project partnered with Wicked Uncle. With that said, all opinions in “Best Toys for Airplane Travel” are our own. Using the links doesn’t cost you any extra, and our partnership helps keep the site free, fun, and community supported! Eric & Darcee will never recommend a product that we don’t genuinely believe in, actually use ourselves, have researched, and trust. Please see the disclosure policy for more information.

38 thoughts on “Best Toys for Airplane Travel

    1. I think the science stuff looks really cool too Kevin except Darcee says that we arent allowed to conduct experiments while sitting next to her because she doesnt want to get blamed when our Volcano erupts Baking Soda “Lava” all over the plane!!

    1. Ah well, Darcee & I are about to have our 1st child in October and that is how we found Wicked Uncle because they have toys for Toddlers who travel too.

  1. I think that I, as a full-grown woman, could use some of these, I hate flying (yes, really!) and am always looking for new distractions! But these are also such great ideas for kids. The science book sounds particularly cool! Can’t wait until ya’ll get to test these out on Baby G!

    1. Haha, got help Darcee if you & I (Eric) are sitting on either side of Darcee on a Long Haul Flight! But we agree that these are some fun ideas for sure. We especially love all the different books & cant wait to read them with Baby G on the way to our next adventure!

  2. What a great list! I love the joke book suggestion. Having fun things to do on the plane will set your kids up for success rather than just crossing your fingers that everything goes smoothly 🙂

    1. 100% agreed Julianne. Plus it works for husbands too as Darcee uses many of these games to keep me occupied or else she would beat me with her magazine for bugging her so much!

    1. Haha, yeah, I am ready to be that awkward, embarrassing Gen X Dad for sure. Plus, I have been working on my Dad Jokes for when we travel by Airplane that I learned in the books above:

    2. What sound does a bouncing plane make? Boeing!
    3. Why did the librarian get kicked off the plane? It was overbooked.
    4. What happens when you wear a watch on a plane? Time flies!!!!
  3. Parents always find it difficult to match the child’s energy and curiosity levels. This is even more difficult while traveling. Among the ones you have listed, Factopia! 400 Crazily Connected Facts is my choice. Fun with knowledge for kids is unbeatable.

    1. I agree, Factopia! 400 looks awesome. We also found out in doing some research through the Wicked Uncle Toy store that Factopia! 400 has a connection to Encyclopaedia Britannica! Talk about a Gen X throwback!!! Our parents saved up a lot of money and got us the complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica books back in the mid 1980s!!

  4. Love this and we always had things for road trips and its the same idea as this. Keeping the kiddos occupied is a much needed thing on trips like these 😉

    1. Yeah, we saw a funny Meme the other day on Facebook that said something like oh, you have 1,000 hours of digital Movies you can watch on your Road Trip Vacation..how Nice for you cause back in our day all we had were 1,000 hours of Trees and Clouds!!

  5. Thanks for all of these wonderful ideas! I remember when my kids were younger, it was so difficult to keep them entertained for long distance out of country flights with 24+ hours flight time.

    1. YIKES….dont tell us that Nishtha, cause if Baby G is anything like Eric, I (Darcee) am DOOMED!!! Haha, but seriously, I can only imagine how hard it must & is going to be to hold a child’s attention span for longer than a few hours even with all these awesome and brilliant toys we found on the Wicked Uncle website.

    1. Of course JJ! To be honest, we are sharing it because with Baby G due around October 22nd, we are learning how to chase our Bucket List Dreams while dealing with a team member who will cry a lot! See, Eric is a Loud Crier, so Darcee & Baby G will need Brilliant Toys to distract him, haha!

  6. No more little kids for me! But I will pass this along to my daughters. Science fir the Skies eould be a sure winner. And fun facts I always we njoy, too. Jokes definitely!

  7. IQ Circuit sounds interesting! When my son was a toddler and liked his Thomas the Train, I used to bring this Thomas track that looked like a chest board. So he played with it and fortunately the aircrew just let him standing. Then I liked to bring reading books, coloring books, and books for him to learn his numbers and alphabet. Books are always the best, in my opinion.

    1. Yeah we agree, IQ Circuit does sound cool with their 120 Brain challenges and puzzles! Love that your son loved Thomas & trains! Hoping Baby G has that same love of trains as Darcee has! Plus riding Trains make Darcee go to sleep so maybe Thomas will soothe the both of them so Eric can have some Peace & Quiet, HAHA!

  8. Thank you for the info. I don’t have children yet but I will implement your tips when I do

    1. Thanks Esther,
      Just to let you know, we don’t have children either….YET! (Baby G arrives on or around October 22nd, YAY!) But the cool thing is that we do have cousins, nieces, nephews, God Children, and even some close friends whose children are a part of our lives too. So we found Wicked Uncle was really cool because it allowed to be those Cool “Aunt & Uncle” or “Nino y Mina” for holidays and birthdays!

    1. Thank you, Liv,
      We were so happy to find a site like Wicked Uncle that is working hard to present fun but Smart toys for kids & tweens around the world!

    1. Haha, Darcee would also like to add that if anyone traveling with Eric would like to maintain their sanity, these games are equally vital! haha!

  9. When we travelled with our kids we always made sure we had lots of things to entertain them. But we made sure the toys were quiet. And we always made sure they had headphones. We would definitely check out the Black Glo Art – Neon Effect Drawing Board if our kids ever give us grandkids!

    1. Yeah back in the 70s & 80s my dad was similar only in that he was more quiet & introverted, so he loved to read or do crossword puzzles on the plane. I think that is why he always got me and my sister coloring books, mad magazines when I got older, or mind bender activity books like The Big Book of Funtivity we found at Wicked Uncle.

  10. There are some great toys here that my nephew would really like. I like Factopia and the IQ Circuit books, both fun and educational activities that he can play with at home too.

    1. Yeah, we had NEVER heard of Factopia before checking out the Wicked Uncle Toy Store online. But what a cool game and concept. It kind of reminds us of back in the 1970s when we got Wildlife Treasury Cards or in the 1980s when our parents ordered Safari Cards. Those cards were packed with tons of interesting, weird, fun, and funny info and I think even jokes for us kids to share with our friends or parents!

  11. I love this! While I usually had to come up with things to do with kids on road trips, airplane travel is a lot different do to space constraints. Joke books and trivia are great because they fit easily in a carry on.

    1. We agree Donna,
      Of course, toys for tweens can be a bit crazy in both size and structure. But at that age or even younger, there are so many activity books that are not only convenient to travel with but also stimulate their minds and even their personalities that we found on the Wicked Uncle site!
      Now if we can only get Eric to stop with all the bad Puns and Knock-Knock Jokes he keeps reading and maybe convert him to Adult Coloring Books before Darcee goes crazy!!

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