Fun activity books for kids

Anyone who has traveled with kids knows the necessity of keeping them occupied for stretches of time, whether that be in the car or on public transport. One thing I like doing when we have to catch the shinkansen anywhere is picking up a few different activity books to keep my two kids occupied, and these were my recent finds!

These fun kids sticker books are perfect for keeping little ones occupied on places like the shinkansen. Added bonus = they're not messy like some kids' activities!

They are these cool reusable sticker books, which you can buy on Rakuten for around ¥ 700 a piece – I haven't seen them in stores before so I don't know if you can find them elsewhere for cheaper, but let me know if you have seen them! They come in a variety of types, but I picked up a couple of princessy ones, and a couple of transport themed ones.

My kids were super excited for these as something a bit different than standard coloring books. Basically, you open them up like a book, and inside you’ve got a themed little “world” where you can place your stickers on, over and over again.

Here is the inside of the princess book. You actually get to "dress" the Disney princesses too, for a bit of added fun.

You get a pretty decent amount of different stickers, too. Here's the collection from one of the transport themed books I got:

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the giga potato tow truck…

Part of why I like these activity books so much is that reusable concept – it’s not just a “one and done” scenario. They’re also quite sturdy, made of a laminated-type plastic that seems like it’s going to hold up well to repeated use.

I do think these books are probably best geared towards the 3 to 5 year old age group. My daughter who is 7 still found them fun, but she's a little too old to stay occupied by them for too long. My son, however, was a big fan, and they kept him entertained almost the whole way from Urasa to Tokyo – that's about 90 minutes on the shinkansen.

Do you have any go-to items that make trips with your children a little easier? I’d love to hear your suggestions for different age ranges, and links to purchase the products if you have them!