When our daughter was in preschool and elementary school, we always tried hard to not hand her a screen the second we turned the car ignition on or buckled our airplane seat belts. But the older Teen Traveler gets the more she gravitates toward electronics for entertainment.
Luckily, there are all kinds portable electronics for kids and teens that are creative, engaging and even encourage reading. There is also tech for when they just need to kick back and play a few games.
I’m all for taking advantage of tech that’s clever and travels with them, especially if they can use it at home, too. And I love it when it’s compact and light enough for little ones to carry themselves.
Here are 18 of my favorite portable tech gadgets for taking in the car or on a plane. They’re labeled by age to help you find the best gadgets for the teens, tweens, kids and preschoolers on your list.
Do some low-tech gifting too, with these lists of
• puzzles
• table-top games,
• crafts
• and books for kids from tots to teens
Gift Guide: 18 Travel Tech Gadgets Kids & Teens Love To Get
My Favorite Picks for Teens
If They’ve Been Extra Good: A GoPro Hero
Smaller and lighter than other GoPro cameras, the Hero 4K can really go anywhere they do.
It’s rugged and waterproof, with image-stabilizing and a wide-angle lens that takes photos and shoots both regular and slow-motion videos.
Choose the basic Hero or treat them to the HERO 13, which has a more high-tech stabilizer and some additional capabilities. The Hero 13 bundle includes a handheld mount, an extra battery and a case to hold everything.
A Digital Instant Camera–Cool!
Teens who have outgrown their Instax instant cameras will love the new Fujifilm Instax Mini EVO Hybrid Camera, which is both a digital and instant camera.
It’s a digital camera, so you can upload your photos to your phone or laptop.
You can also print your favorites on the instant film the camera holds.
No wasting film on too-dark or too-far-away shots. And if you run out of film you can still take pictures to print when you reload.
This one comes with film, an SD card and a case.
Retro Photos From Your Phone
Fuji has introduced this Instax Mini Link Smart Phone Printer, which has some advantages over the original Instax instant camera.
You can zoom in and edit photos before printing them, resulting in better images than you can sometimes get with the camera.
Add filters, frames, doodles and shapes to the photos you print.
It’s thermal printing, so there are no ink cartridges. And while you can buy a case to carry it around in, you can also take photos with your phone and print them anytime.
Harder To Lose Earbuds
We resisted getting earbuds for Teen Traveler for quite a long time because they’re so darn easy to lose, and plenty of her friends have lost theirs.
But Beat Fit Pro buds are made to be worn while exercising and have a small hook that discreetly keeps them securely attached to one’s ear.
Like all beats, they will switch all the sound to one ear if only one bud is in, so we can ask our teen to keep one ear open when she’s out and about by herself. She can choose whether or not she wants to be in noise-canceling mode, too.
They’re sweat-resistant and have six hours of power, as well as 18 hours of recharging in the case. And they pair easily with Apple and Android phones.
A Speaker To Get Them Off Their Headphones
JBL’s Bluetooth speakers are popular with my readers because they deliver great sound for their price.
This Go 3 Eco portable speaker is compact, waterproof and surprisingly rugged. It’s small enough to clip to a backpack, beach bag or mountain bike and has a loop this makes this easy to do.
It also fits easily on a desk or windowsill at home. It comes in a bunch of different colors.
Kids who have grown up listening to music on their phones via earbuds don’t appreciate the joy of filling their bedroom with their favorite music of the moment.
This mighty gadget will change that without breaking the bank.
An Affordable drone
It has a high quality camera lens and several different options for steering it from the controls or your phone.
Popular Mechanics named this Sanrock U52 the best drone for taking photos in its list of top drones for young people.
Choose a mode that keeps things simple or one that gives lots of maneuverability.
Stocking Stuffer: Their Own Portable Charger
Teens need their own portable charger. For travel, yes, but also to keep in their backpack for the phone, calculator or notebook they forgot to charge at home.
This Lezchiportable charger is slim. It’s flush with the wall while it’s charging and fits easily into backpacks, purses and other bags.
It has three wires attached that can charge Apple and Android devices as well as some games and phones. And it has a USB port in case none of those work.
I love that it can charge a few devices before it needs to be charged, it’s compact and teens don’t have to keep track of cords for it.
My Favorite Gadgets for Tweens
Handheld Gaming Anywhere
If your teen or tween is angling for a tablet or phone primarily to play games, skip the monthly mobile fee and buy a handheld game device like the Nintendo Switch.
It comes in red, white or a mix of red and blue and players love it for the very high-quality graphics.
Tweens and teens can download games from the Nintendo store. Some are free; most are not.
But you do get a lot game-playing for your money. Kids can attach the two controls to the screen for handheld solo play, or remove them from the screen for two-player games.
And when you’re home, it has an HDMI cord to connect to your TV. So you get a home-gaming system as well.
It’s compact for tucking into a backpack, but a hard-shell case to protect it is worth the relatively small extra cost.
Let Them Make Their Own In-Flight Movies
When my kid went through her movie-making phase she loved the many Stikbot kits Zing makes for use with its stop-motion movie-making app for phones and iPads.
The small figures are pose-able and have suction-cup hands and feet to hold action poses. You can start with a few basic figures and add pets, safari animals, monsters, dinosaurs and props.
The best part is that they are small enough that an airplane tray-table can be your kid’s movie set, and the suction cups will stick to that, too.
It gives new meaning to the term in-flight movies.
A Headphones upgrade for Tweens
When kids want headphones that look less kiddish and you’re okay with some noise-canceling, upgrade to these Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiets Bluetooth headphones.
Readers like them because the bright pink is more punk than preschool. They are lightweight and have a volume limit along with a noise-canceling feature.
They have a 30-foot range, can go for up to 35 hours before they need to be charged and pack flat in their own carrying case.
A Retro Instant Camera
The original Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 is popular with my readers every holiday season. It comes in 5 pastel colors sure to please the middle-schooler on your list.
Buy a package that includes a case and starter box of film. Or, buy a starter kit that includes the case, 4 packs of film, stickers and a photo album; your budding photographer will be all ready to capture your next vacation or their next sleepover.
My tween had a lot of fun with her Instax camera but quickly learned that they’re best for up-close, daytime photos. They don’t do well with scenery or at night.
My Favorite Tech For Kids
Kid-Proof Binoculars
Another Readers’ favorite, these Vanstarry Compact Binoculars for Kids have an optical lens with a respectable 8X magnification.
They’re made to withstand kids with a shockproof and waterproof exterior. The bridge adjusts to kids’ small faces and they’re designed to be easy to use.
They have lanyard and storage bag and come in eight bright colors.
For Preschoolers & Kids: Amazon Fire
The Amazon Fire HD 10 2023 kids edition is always popular with my readers who have preschoolers.
It has a bright-colored protective case, a dashboard you control from your phone, screen-time limits and a two-year guarantee against breakage.
It also comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which includes access to age-appropriate books, apps, games, videos, songs, Audible books and more.
A Kids’ Kindle
The Paperwhite Kids Kindle has most of the same great features as the adult version. It’s waterproof, has a warm screen that doesn’t give off blue light for nighttime reading and has ten hours of battery life.
It also comes with a cover in kid-friendly woods, robot or tiger motifs. It also has a vocabulary builder and an OpenDyslexic font for kids who might want it.
It comes with a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. This includes access to videos, games and apps as well as eBooks, but the first three items aren’t available on the Kindle so kids can have “distraction-free” reading.
Teens will be happy with a standard Kindle Paperwhite, which comes with or without three months of Kindle Unlimited.
Headphones for Kids’ Kindles & Fires
Kindle and Fire still use wired headphones with a standard jack; not Apple’s ubiquitous USB-C jack.
So my readers are choosing these Noot headphones to use with them.
The headphones are comfortable, adjustable and have a built-in volume limit and a five-foot cord. They aren’t noise-canceling, which is a plus for younger kids.
Save Paper With An LCD Drawing Tablet
My readers with younger kids really like these and have been buying a few different brands. I like this one from Kokodi because at 12-inches wide, it has a bigger surface than most for writing and drawing.
Let kids doodle away with the attached stylus. When they’re ready to start again, they can erase with the touch of a button.
It’s thin, light and mess-free; perfect for travel.
If you are buying tablets for multiple kids, consider the 8.5-inch wide Kidwill LCD tablets, which come two to a pack.
Feline Headphones
Given how good my daughter used to be at getting cords tangled, I can fully get behind Bluetooth headphones for kids.
These Gorsun wireless headphone are comfortable and adjustable and have a microphone and built-in volume limit. They also come with removable cat ears and in three color combinations.
The price is right, too, for headphones for kids.
A Protective Shell for iPads
If one of your kids will find an iPad under the tree this year, consider adding in this shock-proof silicone case from TopEsct to keep it safe.
It has two side handles for holding it, a top handle for carrying and a screen-protector.
There’s also a stand and a strap that can go around car or airplane seats (if the person in front of you doesn’t mind.)
It comes in four colors; green is the most gender-neutral.
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