Must-Have Activity Books To Pack for Vacation
by Jennifer Garry
If there’s anything that parenting has taught me, it’s to prepare for the in-between moments when everything can quickly turn disastrous. You know the ones. They’re the times when you’re traveling from point A to point B (note: it doesn’t matter if this takes minutes or hours), when you’re waiting in a long line, or when you’re sitting in a crowded restaurant. Unfortunately, these are the times it’s easy to forget to plan for — and when all hell will inevitably break loose.
There are only so many snacks you can pass to the back seat or games of “I Spy” you can play in your hotel room in the wee hours of the morning. So quiet activities that keep your kids busy and spark their imaginations become the unlikely heroes of every vacation.
These travel-worthy activity books have something for everyone: coloring, stickers, games, and more.
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Big Backyard: A Coloring Book
Available from:Fans of Bluey will love this coloring book, which features favorite characters like Bluey, Bingo, and Bob Bilby. And kids who don’t know the show will still love coloring the expressive characters in various outdoor scenes. With 64 pages of images to tackle, this coloring book will last through car, plane, and train rides — and even a few rainy days.
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501 Backyard Animal Joke-tivities
Available from:Learning about animals has never been this much fun! Kids will eagerly dive into this big book filled with animal facts, jokes, activities, and puzzles. With over 500 funny bone-tickling activities inside, this book makes an excellent addition to your road-trip supplies.
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The Dr. Seuss Beginner Fun Activity Book
Available from:Looking for an activity book that combines learning and fun? This book is for you! Silly and full of beloved characters, this collection of five books features Dr. Seuss’s trademark rhymes, more than 100 stickers, and simple math and reading activities. The book includes Opposites and Differences, Rhyming Words, Letter Sounds, Easy Addition, and Counting Beyond 100.
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Find My Favorite Things Dinosaurs
Available from:Who doesn’t love a classic seek-and-find book? They are perfect for endless hours of fun. With an I-spy journey perfect for inquisitive young readers, ancient dinosaurs and prehistoric plants to spot, it's easy to get lost in the pages. There are also open-ended questions on each page to get imaginations revved up. Perfect for in the car, between activities, or waiting in a restaurant.
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Mad Libs Workbook: Summer Activities
Available from:Keep your kids’ brains sharp with this summer-themed workbook from Mad Libs! Inside, you’ll find lessons and activities to reinforce what your child learned at school while offering them plenty of interactive fun along the way. Kids will learn phonics, grammar and spelling, comprehension, and vocabulary while completing hilarious fill-in-the-blank stories.
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Uni the Unicorn Dream & Draw Activity Book
Available from:Calling all unicorn lovers! This coloring-and-activity book is about to become your new favorite thing — even more so if you’re a fan of the Uni the Unicorn series! This book has stickers, posters, mazes, wordplay, doodle prompts, puzzles, and more. There's even a punch-out unicorn perfect for magical play in hotel rooms and on planes, trains, and car rides.
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Peppa's Very Busy Activity Book (Peppa Pig)
Available from:Peppa Pig fans will love this colorful activity book full of adventures with Peppa, her brother George, and all their friends. Inside, you'll find coloring pages, mazes, spot the difference games, and so much more — including more than 50 stickers. Like Peppa, your kids will stay very, very busy with this book in hand.
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Nature Activity Book for Little Ones
Available from:Samantha Lewis and Brightly designed this adorable activity book specifically for younger children ages 2-5. It’s jam-packed with ideas and activities to get you and your little one outside and into nature. Use it to introduce your preschooler to the natural world around them, whether that’s in a park, the woods, or your backyard.
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Super Stickers! (Blue's Clues & You)
Available from:Super Stickers! contains more than 500 stickers — which will automatically make it a favorite for kids. But it’s so much more than that. There are also coloring pages, mazes, matching games, and drawing prompts! And kids will love seeing their favorite characters from the show — Blue, Josh, Magenta, and all of their friends. Blue's Clues fans will be hooked the second they crack it open.
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Richard Scarry's Big Busy Sticker & Activity Book
Available from:Speaking of stickers, this book has more than 800 of them! It also features mazes, games, puzzles, and coloring pages — all alongside the zany adventures you’ve come to expect from Busytown. The full-color activity book draws readers into the Busytown world as they join in on their favorite characters’ escapades.
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On-the-Go Puzzles Big Fun Activity Pad
Available from:Nobody does on-the-go entertainment like Highlights, and this big activity pad is perfect for keeping kids occupied during road trips, plane flights, or downtime. The activities inside feature various modes of transportation, and the perforated pages make it easy to tear out the pages and share with siblings during long trips. It’s perfect for kids obsessed with cars, trains, planes, and boats.
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Color with Stickers: Dinosaurs
Available from:This book takes a fun new twist on coloring and stickers. Each page features fun facts about a specific dinosaur on one side and a color-with-stickers dinosaur on the other. To “color” the dinosaurs, readers place numbered stickers on coordinating shapes to complete the picture. A sure hit for dinosaur lovers, this book combines learning and fun in a truly engaging way.
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Sticker Encyclopedia National Parks
Available from:Headed to a national park or on a cross-country road trip? This reusable sticker book is the perfect companion. It features more than 600 reusable stickers and lots of fun facts about the wildlife and geography in many of the US’s national parks. With photos and space to create scenes with stickers, this book encourages learning through play.
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The Quiz Less Traveled
Available from:Little kids aren’t the only ones who need to stay entertained during the summer break. Tweens and teens also enjoy screen-free activities, and this exciting book of quizzes is the perfect boredom buster. It’s filled with vacation-related quizzes that kids can complete solo or with friends or family.
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2021 and updated in 2023.