Picture of a stack of UNO cards on a table

Plane Games and Activities For Kids

ByClaire

A domestic flight can be torture when you have a few kids in tow… and don’t even get us started on international flights. Fear not, we have put together the best options for quiet, compact, low-mess, and playable games on a tray table.

Card games that travel easily

When taking a pack of cards with you on a plane, be sure to pack a small zip pouch, as it means the cards won’t slide everywhere.

  • UNO or UNO Flip
  • Spot It! / Dobble
  • Go Fish
  • Old Maid
  • Sushi Go!
  • Exploding Kittens
  • Sleeping Queens
  • Monopoly Deal
  • Guess Who? Travel Edition
  • Magnetic travel chess, checkers, or noughts and crosses

Games needing only paper

  • Noughts and crosses
  • Hangman
  • Dots and Boxes
  • Battleships on paper
  • Categories: choose a letter and name an animal, food, place, or character
  • Consequences or fold-over drawing games
  • “Finish the picture,” where each child adds something
  • Make a comic strip about the flight
  • Design an imaginary airline, including its logo, meals, uniform, and destination

No equipment activities

  • I Spy, using things inside the cabin
  • 20 Questions
  • Would You Rather?
  • Two Truths and a Lie
  • Fortunately, Unfortunately: Take turns continuing a story
  • Alphabet challenge: Find something beginning with each letter
  • Memory chain: “I packed my suitcase and brought…”
  • Guess the animal/person/movie using clues
  • The quiet game, with a small prize or privilege for the winner
  • Plane bingo: Look for things such as a suitcase, headphones, a cloud, a trolley, or a pilot

Creative activities

  • Sticker books
  • Reusable sticker scenes
  • Water-reveal colouring books
  • Magnetic drawing boards
  • Activity books with mazes and puzzles
  • Origami using a few sheets of paper
  • Pipe-cleaner creations
  • Story cubes or homemade picture-prompt cards
  • Make postcards to give to relatives after the trip

Good group activities for mixed ages

  • Collaborative storytelling
  • Family trivia
  • Charades using only small seated gestures
  • Draw-and-guess
  • Create a scavenger hunt around things visible from the seats
  • Each child plans an imaginary day at the destination

Avoid games with dice, lots of tiny pieces, loud buzzers, or anything that requires children to move between seats. A good plane kit might contain UNO, Spot It!, a magnetic drawing board, stickers, pencils, and a small notebook.

Keep up to date with where we are heading next on our Family Friendly Holidays blog.

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