A Coloring Kit That Travels Well With Kids

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A child coloring a pumpkin page on a clipboard with a crayon in the back seat of a car

Ten minutes into your drive, the red crayon rolls under the seat, a marker loses its cap, and the thin coloring book folds in half across a small lap. A kit that travels well carries fewer things, and each one has to handle a moving car, a tiny table, and a child who drops everything twice. Here's what to pack.

A travel coloring kit for kids: twistable crayons in a clear pouch, coloring pages on a clipboard, and a cloth bag

1. The pages

Bring a few pages, not a whole book. Loose pages, or a thin stack torn from a one-sided book, weigh less and take less room. Tear out five or six, and your child can't lose the whole book at once.

Pick pages that suit the setting.

Car rides: big shapes and bold outlines. A moving car makes small details hard even for older kids.
Waiting rooms and restaurants: pages your child can finish in 15 to 20 minutes, before the food arrives or someone calls your name.

Printables are handy for travel. Print a few pages the night before, and it doesn't matter if they get crumpled or left behind. Our printables are US Letter PDFs; how to print a coloring page at home covers the settings.

2. A small number of tools

More colors means more to drop and lose. Six to eight colors is plenty away from home.

Best for the car:

Twistable crayons or twist-up colored pencils. No sharpener needed, and they don't snap. Our picks: 36 twistable silky crayons and Crayola Twistables colored pencils.
Triangular crayons or pencils. They don't roll off a tray or seat. Our picks: BAZIC triangle crayons and GIOTTO Mega-Tri chunky triangular pencils.

Use with care:

Washable markers are fine at a restaurant table, but caps get lost and ink gets on car seats. If you bring them, count the caps on the way in.
Regular pencils need a sharpener, and pencil shavings in a car are no fun. A small sharpener with a lid that catches shavings helps.

Leave at home: anything that needs water, glitter, anything permanent, and loose small pieces.

3. A firm surface

A lap, a car seat, or a restaurant table with crumbs makes a poor coloring surface. A firm board also stops the page from tearing.

A clipboard holds pages in place and doubles as a desk. A letter-size clipboard fits a printed page exactly. Our pick: Mr. Pen plastic clipboard.
A lap tray or travel tray with raised edges catches rolling crayons in the car. Our pick: Loddie Doddie foldable lap desk, made to double as a car-seat tray.
A hardcover book or a cutting board works in a pinch.

4. One container

Put everything in one pouch or case that closes all the way.

A zip pouch fits tools and a folded clipboard in a bag. Our pick: clear mesh zip pouches, a pack in several sizes.
A clear pouch lets a child see what's inside without dumping it out.
A small box with a lid that clicks shut is better for younger kids, who have trouble with zips.

Keeping mess and lost pieces down

Count the tools out and in. Six crayons out, six crayons back. It turns packing up into part of the activity.
Use a tray with edges in the car, or a shallow box lid on a restaurant table.
Choose tools that stay put: triangular shapes, and twistables with no loose caps.
Pack a small bag for finished pages, so they come home flat instead of getting left on a seat.
Keep a spare kit in the car, refilled after each trip.

A child coloring a cat page on a clipboard with a chunky crayon at a table, with a box lid holding crayons

What to put in it

We print our kids' books one-sided, so you can tear out a few pages for the trip:

My Little Halloween, ages 4 to 8: one big friendly subject per page with bold outlines, easy to color in a moving car.
Halloween Night, ages 9 to 12: full scenes with finer lines, for longer waits.

Or print a few pages before you leave: download a free Halloween page for kids.