Keeping the Youngsters Entertained on the Road : Among new products are a travel diary, hiking outfit, bird-watching kit and zippered U.S. map.

Family travel has never been more popular. Recognizing a lucrative opportunity, many manufacturers of travel products have jumped into the children’s market. The following gear and gadgets are fun as well as functional. Prices do not include shipping:

When I was a kid, all my parents could find to keep me amused on long car trips was Travel Bingo, and I got pretty bored crossing out dogs and mailboxes and clotheslines each time we hit the road. When plane travel was involved, all they could produce were a coloring book and crayons, which seldom held my attention beyond takeoff. Today’s traveling tyke has all sorts of travel-oriented books and games from which to choose. And now there’s also a neat trip diary designed just for them.

The 80-page softcover volume is actually more than a diary. It’s a thought-provoking travel primer and game book as well. The “Getting Ready to Go” section includes tips on preparing for a vacation and space for itemizing “What I Need to Do Before I Go” and “What I Want to See on My Trip,” among other things. Then there’s a 28-day trip diary divided into such categories as “Things I Like Best About What We Did Today” and “A Drawing of Something I Saw Today.” Finally, there’s a “Memories” section with space for thoughts about the experience and several blank pages for pasting in small, flat souvenirs such as stamps and postcards. Scattered throughout the book are puzzles and games.

The book is designed for ages 6-12, but adults might have fun taking along one of these for themselves. After all, how many of us have meant to keep a trip diary but found it too much of a chore? Now if only I could find that pressed butterfly from Brownie Camp . . .

Kid’s Trip Diary (Item No. BC682V) is $6.95 from Magellan’s; (800) 962-4943.

Once junior has made a list of what to take, it’s time to stock up on neat stuff to pack. For outdoor adventures, one of the cutest hiking outfits I’ve come across is a cotton khaki shorts-and-vest set sold by The Nature Company. The vest’s front has a heavy-duty zipper and is loaded with pockets--three with Velcro-fastening flaps, one that zippers shut and two more open chest pockets. If that’s not enough cargo space, the back side has one long pocket at the waist, divided into three spacious chambers.

The shorts have an elasticized waistband, two flapped pockets and two slash pockets. Altogether, this outfit has enough space to stash a frightening amount of stuff found in the wilds. Ribbet, ribbet.

I wish I had a hiking outfit this solid. The khaki is very soft but heavy duty, with double stitching at all seams, hems and flaps. The metal zippers are top-of-the-line and the vest is lined with the same cotton khaki used on the outside.

Kid’s Khaki Vest and Shorts come in sizes 3/4, 5/6 or 7/8. Vest (No. 569010) $25, shorts (No. 569510) $19 from The Nature Company; (800) 227-1114.

The Nature Company also has come up with a bird-watching kit to introduce youngsters to the chirps of the wild. A red nylon fanny pack contains a pint-size pair of fixed-focus binoculars, a mini-camera that clips onto standard 110 film cartridges and a bird-caller that chirps when twisted. There are also five bound-and-laminated bird-identification cards with a nylon cord for stringing around the neck.

The sturdy fanny pack has an adjustable clip-fastening waist belt and three zippered compartments that provide plenty of room for additional gear, even when loaded with the bird-watching equipment.

This is a fun kit for primary school-age children; older kids will want a more grown-up camera and binoculars. Mom and dad take note: When junior isn’t using the fanny pack, the belt adjusts to a large-enough size for an adult to filch.

Junior Birder’s Fanny Pack (No. 518597) is $19.95 from The Nature Company, (800) 227-1114.

Rand McNally, the map company, has designed a fun way to help children learn where the 50 states go on a map. A cotton bag unzips and opens to become a 24-inch-by-16-inch color map of the United States with multi-colored, soft-sculpture states that fasten with Velcro to their proper, labeled locations. All states are not created equal here, unfortunately. The New England states are clustered in a single shape, as are Virginia and West Virginia; Alaska is added at the bottom left-hand corner of the map, and poor Hawaii is sewn in next to Alaska without a soft-sculpture top.

Still, with those few affronts to geography and state pride, this detachable map is a great way for kids (the suggested age range is 5-8) to track a cross-country route, perhaps attaching each soft-sculpture state as they come to it on the highway. A challenge for adults: Tape over the names of the states abbreviated on the bare map and see if you can place all the soft-sculpture states correctly. But don’t let the kids see you cheating.

Zippered U.S. map (No. 86606-9) is $44.95 from Rand McNally; (800) 234-0679.

Of course, the tiniest tots are just along for the ride--but they’ve still got plenty of gear that goes with them. This navy-blue nylon bag has loads of pockets for infant essentials plus some innovative engineering touches I haven’t seen in similar bags. An outside pocket unzips to reveal two zippered “wet” pouches for wet clothes and diapers. Another outside pocket contains a pullout 29 1/2-inch-by-14 1/2-inch changing pad--larger than most portable types. The main compartment has pockets at each end for baby bottles, lined with Thinsulite to keep hot liquids hot and cold ones cold. There are four compartments for baby food plus plenty of space for baby clothes as well as some adult gear. The bag can be carried by its webbed double handles or a detachable shoulder strap.

I discovered that if you take out the changing pad, this bag metamorphoses into an ideal beach or gym bag for older children and adults. The plastic compartments can be used for wet bathing suits and towels or sweaty exercise wear instead of diapers; the Thinsulite pockets do fine keeping sandwiches and sodas cold instead of baby bottles. And there’s plenty of room for toiletries. Come to think of it, the changing pad makes a great ground cloth--assuming all evidence of baby use are gone.

Deluxe Diaper Bag (item 2241-3P12) is $45 from Lands’ End; (800) 356-4444. A smaller, simpler version of the diaper bag, without the Thinsulite-lined bottle pockets (Item 1680-6P18) is $29.50.