My last two blogs have been hugely popular, so I’ve decided to follow the theme and do one last blog on travel toys, activities and games. If you missed my blog on ‘Travel Activities for 3-5 Year Olds‘ or ‘Travel Toys for 6-8 Year Olds‘ and you have kids those ages, they are worth a read.

Today’s blog is for older children. I have a child who fits into this category and a lot of the time when we are in restaurants or coffee shops, her go to ‘toy’ is my phone (which I hate and resist most of the time). I find it much easier if I have an alternative for her to keep her busy while we wait for food, wait in an airplane or wait for a rain shower to pass.

As with the other two blogs, I’ve kept within 4 parameters when it comes to recommending travel games:

• They have to be small, light and easy to travel with
• They can’t be expensive
• You have to be able to use them several times
• They can’t be toys or games that will annoy anyone else around when they are being played.

So, here goes – here are my top ten games to bring on holidays for 9-12 year olds.

1. Who’s in the Bag?

This is a fun game where you have to describe the characters who you pick out of the bag.

2. Make your own Friendship Bracelets

This lovely box has enough to keep your child busy making friendship bracelets, which they can then bring home as gifts for their friends or family.

3. Chess

This is slightly more expensive than I’d like to spend on a holiday toy but the reality is that this quality wooden game is one that won’t just get used on holidays. It wouldn’t be suitable to play while on a turbulent plane journey but would be perfect for putting in time as the adults finish off a meal or on a rainy day in a caravan.

4. Matilda Card Game

Card Games are great for evenings in or wet days in a caravan. This one features characters from Roald Dahl’s book Matilda and is aimed for children and adults aged 6+

5. Rory’s Story Cubes

This handy tin comes with a set of picture cubes. Throw them and then make  up a story together featuring each of the pictures.

6. Pick up Sticks

We have played this games in many a restaurant and it’s one that our whole family enjoy. You gather the sticks and then let them fall randomly in a pile. Then you take turns taking them out but if you make any of the other sticks wobble, you have to leave your stick where it is. Each stick has a different ring pattern and some ring patterns have more points than others.

7. Playing Cards

Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that outlive the more elaborate ones and that is certainly true for playing cards. We play Spoons, Spit and Solitaire with our ones when we are on holidays but there are so many fun games to play out there.

8. Origami

Learn how to fold paper in a way so that it looks like animals. Again, we have brought a set with us on holidays before.

9.  Legespiel Puzzle

This puzzle is made up of 4 wooden cubes and 26 wooden cards with different patterns printed on them. The aim is to turn the cubes so that you replicate the pattern on the cards. It’s nice and small for popping into a suitcase or bag and once taken out, everyone will want a go at solving the puzzles.

10. Paddington – Spot the Difference Challenges

These spot the difference challenges are really quite hard and will keep kids aged between 9-12 years occupied as they search for the differences in two Paddington pictures. There’s 80 challenges in the box and they are wipe clean. It comes with a white board marker so you can make the differences once you spot them and then clean it for the next person to try.

Well, there you have it – my top ten travel games for kids aged 9-12 Years. I think you’ll find that if you invest in some of these games, you’ll enjoy them as much as your children and together you’ll make memories out of time that might otherwise be spent moaning!

Have a great holiday wherever you go,

xx Suzie

PS. If you liked this blog and you need to buy gifts for 11 or 12 year olds in the coming future, you might enjoy my gift ideas blog for that age group here. Alternatively, if you are just looking for card games, you can find my selection of card games here.