Travel Game for Kids – Magnetic Road

My family and I are getting ready to take a pretty long road trip. Road trips are nothing new to us but I was trying to think of a way to create something entertaining and screen free for my son but that would be minimal mess for me. He loves toy cars, takes them everywhere and leaves them everywhere. Cars are a great toy to take on road trips because they are small and take up very little space however they fall on the floor only to be lost until a year later when you finally have time to clean your vehicle. This gave me the idea to create a travel game for kids that would be mess free. It cost me under $5 to create, many items you probably already have!

Materials                                                                                                 

Here are the materials I purchased and used for this travel game for kids:

• 1 Artist canvas panel- I used this as the base of my world because of the size and the rigidly.
• 1-2 Adhesive magnetic sheets or a roll of adhesive magnet tape.
• 1 pack Mini toy vehicles
• Felt sheets (9 in x 12 in). I used one green, one brown, and one blue.
• Glue- I used E6000.
• Acrylic paint – This is for the lines in the road and is optional.  
• Velcro (the rough side)- I happened to have a few little pieces left over from another project.
• Cardstock- This will be to create your Velcro stickers.
• Clear tape- I had some packing tape left over from our move. I used this to seal the Velcro stickers.

Travel Game Road Construction

1. Create 8 roads that are 4 inches long by 1 inch wide.
2. You will also need 2 magnet strips that are 4 inches long by 1/2 inch wide.
3. Take one of your ½ in magnet strips and cut one to fit the bottom of your mini vehicles.
4. Test that your vehicles are strong enough to stick to the road without falling off. If your magnets are thin try layering them to give a stronger hold.
5. After you’ve successfully tested the hold strength, you can glue the magnets to the vehicles. Be sure to glue the adhesive side.
6. Line up the road magnets on your canvas panel creating any pattern that you like. When you have them arranged you can remove the backing and stick them in place so they don’t shift while gluing them down. You will want to glue them as the adhesive is not sticky enough.
7. Take your felt and cut it out to fit in the blank white areas of the canvas. After dry fitting your cut felt you can glue it to the canvas.
8. Optional: paint the lines on the roads.

Velcro Stickers

1. Using the cardstock draw or paint your images. You could even print some off. This could be a fun activity for the family to do together.
2. After your images are complete cut them out in easy shapes like squares and rectangles. This makes it easier to wrap the tape.
3. Use packing tape to wrap around your images therefore sealing them.
4. Now you can make final cuts around your images. Also cut the rigid side of Velcro to fit your images and glue to the back.
5. If you have road signs you can apply the Velcro to the bottom of these too and glue into place.

Customize your travel game for kids

There are endless ways to customize this travel game for kids. You could use blue felt for water, brown felt for deserts or construction sites. You could skip the felt and just paint colors and use stickers instead of creating Velcro ones, or paint an entire scene if you are skilled.

No cardstock? Use whatever blank white paper you have. I liked the cardstock because it made the Velcro stickers stiffer and more durable.

Use a laminator or self laminating sheets instead of tape.

Don’t have E6000? Just use whatever glue you have that will stick to the surfaces being used.

I really enjoyed creating this project and love how customizable it is. I already had most of the materials needed so it only cost me around four dollars to create. If you don’t have any of the items mentioned it would cost around ten dollars. Be sure to tag me on Instagram if you recreate this kid’s travel world. I’d love to see what you come up with.