These days, kids who are too big for strollers and aren’t keen or able to walk long distances have a fun solution that works brilliantly on family vacations and during outings in your hometown.
To give you a little background, I investigated buying my then 6-year-old daughter a scooter to travel. I was worried about her tolerance for walking long distances during our trip to China. I abandoned the idea because I’d never heard of anyone bringing a scooter on holiday.
Sure enough, while walking from one end of Tiananmen Square to the other (it’s massive), she got tired and had a mini-meltdown. If she had a scooter, I’m sure we could have toured for longer.
Her scooter of choice for a long time is a Micro Kickboard. You can slip it into the back of the car for road trips to far-flung places or even jaunts within your hometown… in our case, to one of our favorite San Diego beaches.
With this new-found appreciation for high-quality, lightweight scooters and confidence that I can actually travel with one, I’m here to tell you that you can and should consider bringing one for your kids on your next family vacation. Here’s why.
1. Travel Scooters Cut Down the Amount of Walking
For families embarking on urban holidays that may involve a lot of walking in between sights, the Maxi Micro scooter is an ideal solution for keeping the kids happy.
But you might be surprised by how many places around the world a scooter can come in handy. I wish I would have had one during our family vacation to Kaanapali, Maui. Walking to Whaler’s Village isn’t far for adults, but 10 minutes to dinner when hungry can feel like an eternity for young kids.
Also, boardwalks are ideal for scootering. I can give the dog nice long walks along the beaches here in San Diego without my daughter complaining. It’s a win-win for all. The Micro Maxi scooter delivers a smooth and relatively quiet ride because it seems to bumps in the sidewalk.
Kids in our neighborhood also ride their Micro Maxi scooters to school.
2. Instant Fun on the Fly
Bored at a hotel? Have extra energy at Grandma’s? Bust out the scooter and let the kids whiz around. If disassembled for travel, the Micro Maxi is easy for kids to reassemble in a few seconds, put on a helmet, and go.
3. Kids Don’t Need a Ton of Space to Enjoy Them
The Micro Maxi is very easy for my daughter to ride in curving manner, which makes it exponentially more fun than her prior scooter. She happily circles around small spaces with no problem, using her body weight and handlebars to lean into turns… much like a skateboard.
In fact, there are two interchangeable handlebar styles. She has the traditional T-Bar style, but the Joystick handlebar provides even more curving and carving action.
When I’m walking the dog, she’ll scooter away from us and then back again throughout our walk because we’re moving slower than she is. She loves it.
4. They Make Scooters for You, Too
What? Yes, parents can get in on the fun with scooters made especially for adults and teens like the Micro White scooter (pictured folded below). It’s so smooth and easy to ride that I’m not going to lie… my daughter rides it all of the time when I’m not looking. This style of scooter collapses with the push of a button and while it isn’t for your suitcase, slipping it into the car for a road trip or beach day is super easy.
Scootering together as a family is a hoot, trust me. Micro Kickboard has scooters in a variety of options for all ages, including kids under 5.
5. Travel Scooters Are Smaller Than You Think
My daughter’s Micro Maxi easily disassembles, and it is small enough to fit into my handbag, including the helmet. Though it’s a touch bulky (which I really don’t mind), it’s lighter than some of the camera gear I carry. I wrap the bottom—or the entire thing, depending on what I have around the house—in a plastic bag before slipping it in.
At just 5.5 lbs., the Micro Maxi is an easy add to checked luggage, too.
The Benefits of Kick Scooters for Kids
Think about what it takes for you to ride a kick scooter. Then, consider the following.
Balance and Direction
Scooters are powered first by a kick but directed using balance. Scooters can help improve coordination with use at any age, particularly when kids are young and learning how to balance using their weight.
Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Developing gross and fine motor skills enables kids to become more independent while opening doors to exploration, creativity, and learning. Parents Magazine surveyed several experts for an article about why motor skills are so crucial for kids to cultivate early.
Scooters help develop both sets of motor skills kids need in everyday life. They must be transported to a place of play (often by the kids), perhaps assembled if they are foldable and maneuvered properly. They can even be used as a centerpiece for imaginary play or barreling down a grass hill.
Pre-reading Skills
The above benefits are also essential pre-reading skills for very young kids. Since our books are printed from left to right, experts believe it’s important for new readers to be familiar with the concept of direction at an early age.
Motor skills are essential for many other reasons. Kids not only need to hold the books and flip pages, but a good pencil grip later enables them to write words down to remember them better. They’ll hone motor skills to brush teeth, type, and a number of other things throughout their lives.
Confidence
Kids usually don’t take long to master riding a kick scooter. When they do, the confidence they gain from knowing they can handle it can potentially make them eager to tackle other skills.
Safety
California law requires a helmet for anyone under the age of 18 to ride non-motorized scooters, skateboards, and bikes. By riding scooters, kids can learn more about the importance of protecting their bodies and the consequences of not doing so.
Fun
Seriously, kids love the freedom and ease that riding a scooter provides. The bottom line is that kick scooters are fun, and also let them ride when walking might be a burden.
Tips for Using a Travel Scooter
Before taking a scooter out on the town, it’s essential to know where they are permitted and where they aren’t. Also, helmets are a must. California requires anyone under 18 to wear a helmet when riding a non-motorized scooter (as well as when riding a skateboard, riding a bicycle, wearing in-line skates, and wearing roller skates).
Also, use judgment. In big urban centers with crowds, kids on scooters might be a hazard to themselves and others.
We would take it with us camping.
My daughter would use it this summer on our very first California Trip! We are headed to Newport Beach for a week vacation & then a day in LA! Also, right outside our home we have a 2 mile walking path with our puppy we walk daily, two miles gets long for her. She could use it then and we all could enjoy it! 🙂
We travel to Spain twice a year and will be traveling a lot for business soon. This would be great for our kids to use there, and here hanging out around San Diego. 🙂
We’ve got several great parks nearby in walking (scooting!) distance, so this would be great for us 🙂
This would be great for big European cities or even day trips to NYC!
With my kids this scooter would get lots of use on the boardwalk or bayside areas of Mission Beach.
Would love to take this to Hawaii!
My daughter will use this scooter everywhere! Starting with our weekend walks, and our family travels. She does ballet, so her feet are always really sore! She will be blown away with this great option. This will be a good solution during our long (and very often) walks. 🙂
I would take keep it in the car for trips to grandparents house in LA. We do a lot of walking there and little legs get tired.
My 3 year old loves her Micro Mini. So much so, that my 9 year old is jealous that he doesn’t have one. We take it to the beach, downtown to the farmer’s market, and anywhere we want to make sure she can keep up without whining.
I would take it to the little league park for my grandson to ride while his older brother plays.
My son would love this to scoot to the local playground just down the street from us!
Airports (USA, Thailand, Europe, etc., etc., etc.,); zoos (especially our hometown zoo: Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium); around Seattle…and…very likely in our living room.
my 3 year old would ride it everywhere!!! he has seen one in stores and rides the tester throughout the store
I would give it to my grandson, who would take it camping with us this summer.
My daughter would take the Micro Maxi Kickboard to the end of the cul-de-sac where we live
I was just talking about scooters on vacation with a friend this week! I would love to win a scooter for my 6 year old for our upcoming trip to Washington DC.
I purchased the Mini Micro Scooter for my son and he outgrown Mini scooter but he still loves to ride on it whenever he can. This year we will be going for a family holiday to Singapore and Hong Kong. This would be his second time visiting Hong Kong and Singapore. Last year when we travel there, we didnt bring his stroller, so we had to carry him when he’s too tired to walk. After reading your article I am inspired to take his scooter in our next holiday. I think with scooter we might be able to explore a bit more of Hong Kong and Singapore this time around.
Our neighborhood is fairly quite so we would take and use it in our neighborhood, the Grandkids would love it.
Thank you, Katie, for your insightful article on traveling with scooters! We couldn’t agree more! They are a wonderful and fun way for kids (and adults) to get around.
Scooters are awesome. I would take my daughter along with me on runs along the Bayshore. She would ride her scooter while I ran until it became un-rideable! It would be great to do that with her again.
would take it on our road trip up North to visit family and use around our area!
tvollowitz at aol dot com
I love the size of the scooter. We could easily take it anywhere with us. We have a great park just down.
it would go to our bike and hike trail.
I would take it to California
My grandson would take this with us to the park and on our upcoming beach vacation!
My grandkids, who are the weight & age category for the Micro Maxi Kickboard would LOVE this!! It is also the highest rated scooter for ages 5 to 12. Its Safety certified by the CPSC & is recommended for kids up to 110lbs. I like that it is portable & is a great cruising scooter for urban and suburban neighborhoods alike.
I would take it with us when we take the grandkids places like the park, nature trails, camping, downtown bike paths, vacations, when visiting family/friends with kids, etc.
My son would use this around the block and take it to the park.
I would let my daughter ride it to the park with me
We would take it to the park!
To the Oregon Coast this summer!
I would take the scooter to the park with my nephews.
We Would Take It To The Park!
We would take it to the park…we go there about 3 times a week if not more!
We would take it everywhere but since we are in Carlsbad, we would take it to the boardwalk/seawall most often. Love it! I could just keep it in the back of my 4Runner!
I’d love to have my boys scooting around our neighborhood!
We’d take it to Monterey when we go visit the grndparents!
We would use this at our local parks.
Grand kids would use it everywhere they go from walks ,to the park, and skate park
I would let my two little daughter take it to our park with them thanks for chance
The Micro Maxi Kick Scooter would be perfect for when I take my daughter into my NYC office with me. No more running for her to keep up with me on the busy streets during rush hour.
I’d love to win one for my daughter! We’d take it to the beach and ride it to school in the mornings.
I’d take it to la jolla!
Really, mostly around our neighborhood! It would be a great energy burner.
I would take it everywhere! Our local parks, grandmas house, traveling. 🙂
We would take it everywhere we don’t own a vehicle so we walk, the kids would have so much more fun if they had a scooter. Thanks for the Giveaway I hope we win.
This is a great idea.
We love ours so much and I’d love to get another to donate to a kid who couldn’t otherwise afford one!
I would love to be able to give this to my granddaughter! She would love to scoot around our local park!
can i just say we’ll take it to all the places? 😉 we’d love to take it to chicago when we head there later this summer.
Gramma is an easy walk from the house so thats where my kids would ride it to
I would like to give the scooter for my nephew. They are going to a trip to Singapore and Hong kong. I am sure he would love to take the scooter on holiday with them
I would take it downtown Chicago.
We would take it to the park. My son’s been asking to go on a picnic so this would be perfect to take along!
Our older kid loves his and having a second one for kid 2 would be awesome!
My son and I would take it to our park and our local nature preserve and ride on the bike paths!
I would take this to local parks with walking trails, when we go camping and when we go on family vacations
We travel during the summer on the train to my dads so this would be a great compact toy to bring with us to parks amd the river.
To North Carolina!
I’ve never thought to travel with a scooter but that is genius!! My kids would love it!
I would love to take it to disney world with us when we go and also when we go camping
I would love to take these to Coronado for my kids! Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
We would take it to the Grandparents house, and to the walking trail at the park!
It would be perfect for our summer road trip! when you need them to burn off some energy at a pit stop! Great ideas!
My 6 year old would love the green or blue..perfect for our upcoming vacations to the beach and boardwalk!
A Micro scooter would be perfect for our family camping trips and for the boardwalk in San Diego!
around the neighborhood or any trips that we go on
My son would ride it to the park. I would also take it to my parents!
To the PB boardwalk! Kiddos would have so much fun riding along on their scooters!
YES! We’re headed there tomorrow. 🙂
Scooters are so much fun! We have a 20+ mile bike path that is blocks from our house. We like to do about 3 miles around the pond. The kids would love to do it with a scooter!
We would take it to my older children’s practices so that my son has something to do.
Where wouldn’t we take it?? The park, grandma’s house, for strolls around the neighborhood, to school, everywhere!
We have a local trail here and that is where it would get a lot of use.
I would leave it in the car and take it everywhere we went. My boys both love scooters and ride them all the time!
My grandkids and I would take it to our park
Our local park!
I would love my kids to use a stroller like yours!
Would be good for our local park.
My granddaughter would ride it on the local bike trails
My kids would love this. We’d take it to the park and to their grand parents house.
To the campground! Plenty of paved roads for them to ride on.
This would be great for taking to the park or to the local walking trail.
My son would take it around the neighborhood and down to the beach.
Take it to the park
would take it to the park
My granddaughter would take it to the park, to the school, around the block and to her dad’s house to use.
To my daughter’s OT. Getting there is such a pain, she’s too heavy to stroll but it’s far for her to walk, especially if we’re rushing to the appointment or coming home tired.
I’ve always thought about traveling with a scooter but afraid that they’ll get too far ahead of me! I feel inspired to try now! Maybe when we go to washington dc!
After having my daughter practice enough, we’d probably take it to the park
I would take my daughter down to the park with it. She would love it!
i would take it to the park
We would take to the local bicycle trails.
Local park or even our neighborhood under supervision.
This would be a blessing to win
My grandson lives near a really good park for this
Would be great at the park- or even here on the farm!
It would be nice to take it on our trip to Key West.
My girls would be so happy
My daughter is going to India in a few months and she would love a new scooter for her trip and all the new adventures it will bring to her 🙂
My son would enjoy it around the neighborhood park, lake front, and grandma’s house
we would take it to the boardwalk by the beach!
Kids would take it to our local park to play with
I’d bring my kids to the boardwalk and park with this. They would have a blast.
I would take it around the beach and when we go on vacation to New Hampshire I would take it along the paths and beaches.
My 2 daughters: 6 and 2 are going on a european adventure this summer for a month and a half and hitting Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, Malaga (Spain) and Stockholm. I was looking for traveling tips with toddlers and this post popped up, and I would definitely want to bring a scooter for the kids as we travel and see the sites. So fun!
I would take it to Hampton Beach when we go visit my mom.
I would let the kids take this to the park and have a ball.
I would let my granddaughter take it to the camp ground
I would take this to my nephews house because they would love it and use it. I would proceed to take pictures and capture memories to last me a lifetime. Thank you so much! I love it.
This would be to use at the park in Winston Salem with my grandbabies!
I would take it with us to family camp. You can ride bike or scooters there.
We would take it to the park.
We would go on a walk with the Dogs.
This would be great for my granddaughter to pack into the car, when she comes to visit Grandma. Thanks!
We would take this scooter to the park
I would take camping use here in the neighborhood and I think it would be fun on are local greenways/bike paths
I see kids riding these everywhere in San Francisco, its amazing how young kids can get the hang of riding these.
Bringing a scooter to a recreational area is a great idea. You can get to enjoy the scenery without the hassle of carrying your child. He can also enjoy it.
Do you have recommendations for a backpack that will fit a collapsible scooter so I can carry it around Paris and have my kids use when they want to?