DIY Travel Busy Bag for Kids - The Mummy Bubble

A travel busy bag for kids contains a variety of toys and activities to keep children entertained during lengthy journeys.

I put together our own DIY travel busy bags to engage my kids during a flight and while we were away on holiday – so they had something to distract them during meals out or quiet afternoons.

You can buy pre-made travel busy bags for kids but you will of course pay more for the convenience of it being put together for you.

I’ve found it’s cheaper and easier to put one together for your kids, and you can re-use, change up what’s in there and customise it for your kids’ tastes.

I’ve added brand new toys to our DIY travel busy bags however I also used some of my kids’ favourite toys they already own.

For my kids travel kit I used different pouches to organise the travel toys into categories. I just made the one for my kids to share, but you could put together one for each of your children.

I used A5 sized pencil case pouches to put my travel kit together, which is the perfect size for fitting into either my carry on or the children’s backpacks.

You may also like my top picks for kids travel toys.

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What you need for a kids’ travel busy bag

To organise your kids’ travel busy bag I suggest using these pouches to put everything together. They’re the right size and can actually fit quite a lot in!

You’ll need these things:

Zip-up pouches with binder holes
Metal book rings
Variety of pens, fidget toys, action figures and activities

Once you have everything you need then you just link the pouches together using the metal book rings. You can buy these items separately in the links I’ve shared above.

Doing this turns them into a little book, and then you can add your toys into the different pouches.

Separate them out by category – so for example have pens and a little notepad in one pouch and action figures in another.

Now you can just slip it into your carry-on bag and away you go!

What to put in a kids’ travel busy bag

On our latest trip these are the items I added to my children’s travel busy kits:

Pens

I find no matter where we go that we always need colouring pens. Even in restaurants that provide colouring pens and crayons there’s sometimes a few colours missing. I also packed a small A5 size notebook.

Fidget toys

Poppit toys are great sensory distractions for kids to play with on a plane. Put together a variety of shapes, sizes and colours to keep them busy.

Wikki Stix

I love these wax moulding sticks that can be used to build little sculptures and create shapes.

Use them to twist together or make little stick figures and objects. These make for a great mess-free craft activity kids can do on the plane or in a restaurant when on holiday.

Action/LEGO figures/LOL Dolls

Little Shopkins figures or LEGO figures can be used to act out little games on the airplane table.

Pick out some of your child’s favourite characters for them to play with.

Plus Plus Blocks

I love these little Plus Plus blocks which can be put together any way your child’s imagination can think up!

Use them to create 3D models or just a flat pattern using the colours.

Other items you can add to a kids busy kit for long journeys:

LEGO kits
Small suction toys
Snap card game
Stickers – reusable sticker kits and books are perfect for travel.
Pipe cleaners
Koosh ball
Travel Spirograph Kit – A mini version of the classic craft toy! This little version comes with everything you need to create spiral pictures including paper cut to the right size and pens.