You are planning to travel with kids for first time?
Or your last trip with kids was a nightmare?
Okay, we know that screens work, but young kids might get tired of them during a long trip.
Also, I’m sure you want to avoid any tantrums over screens.
This is the post that you should read before your next trip.
Let me share my top secrets about the best categories of toys for traveling with kids.
They also work, if you are just going out to a restaurant or a café.
After Covid lockdowns we did four flights (from 6 to 13 hours) with our toddler for first time.
I used my long working experience as a Kindergarten teacher and I prepared one cabin luggage full of snacks, toys and objects that would potentially help us to make it through!
And we made it! But after these flights, we were definitely better prepared for our future trips.
#1 Magnetic boards and toys with magnets.
There are various options of toys with magnets. Magnetic building blocks are great for entertaining one or more kids at home, a restaurant, an airport or a plane!
Also, wooden animal magnets , magnetic mix-and-match outfits and magnetic fishing games can all be fun for our little ones.
Magnetic toys can be used on refrigerator, fridge, magnetic easel, dishwashers, garage doors or other magnetic or metallic surfaces.
#2 Sensory toys
This sensory busy board for toddlers is easy to carry with you and it will entertain your kids for hours. It includes puzzles and kids can draw and learn numbers, letters, colours, shapes and life skills. Also, busy cubes like this one are 6 in 1 toys that can keep busy children of different ages.
You can find a variety of fidget toys that can keep your kids busy during a flight, a car ride or at a restaurant. We have spent many hours playing with a pop bubble round toy, marbles and colourful pom pom.
Playdough can be a bit messy, but not necessarily. If you make your own playdough or you buy soft one, it won’t be too messy. Also, you can easily find things to add to your playdough to make it fun. From sticks, rocks and shells to coffee cups, chopsticks and disposable cutlery, these materials could all make playdough super fun and keep children’s interest.
Here is our amazing homemade soft playdough recipe!
#3 Stationery
In this category of travel toys are included coloured pencils, notebooks, stickers, scissors, glue, masking tape. I love these Faber-Castell Colour Marker 20 Pack, as you can clip them together neat and tidy or create your own designs using the “Connector Clips”. I guarantee that you won’t lose them that easily…!! Also, these Crayola 24 Mini Twistables Crayons are safe, non-toxic and you will avoid peeling labels and messy shavings.
You might have all these already, but it is much easier to take them with you if you pop the items that you kid loves in a transparent document bag (A4, A5, A6 size). A plane flight could be a great opportunity to practise your kid’s cutting skills as you sit next to each other and you can give your full attention.
An Invisible Ink Pen or Spy Pen with Light is great for older children. These magic pens in 10 different colours with built-in UV lights will keep your kids busy writing secret messages!
Also, I recently ordered hole punchers in a storage container. Everyone loves them! You can take with you the set or just a few hole punchers. There are punch craft sets with various shapes, letters and numbers! The stencil shapes can be used for pasting, crafts, greeting cards and so much more. The punchers are not easy to be used by kids younger than roughly 2.5 years old. However, little ones, who enjoy crafts, could still have fun, if an older sibling, cousin or parents help.
#4 Small books and activity books
Baby soft books or this Peter Rabbit finger puppet book are perfect for trips as they are light and they don’t take much space in your luggage.
Also, the set of 8 manner books can keep your little ones busy during your trip or when you are at a restaurant. The brand is Sesame Street and it includes the following titles: Let’s Share; Be Polite; Please and Thank You; Good for You; Taking Turns; Be a Friend; All About Feelings; Working Together. They are 16 pages each and measure 5×5 inches or 12.7×12.7 cm.
Activity books are one of the best options for children over 2-3 years old. If your children are around 2 to 4 years old, this You can get this
Last but not least, children enjoy these Skillmatics Search & Find Activity Mats that comes with 6 double-sided activity mats, 2 “Skilly Billy” dry-erase pens, 1 duster cloth and 1 achievement certificate in a light suitcase. The Elfew Search and Find Cards , which I recently bought a a birthday present, includes 12 double-sided reusable activity mats and comes in a dinosaur bag!
#5 Card games
Card games can be fun for the whole family. If you have children older than 7 years old, the classic UNO or ‘Do you really know your family? card game could be perfect for family fun.
Scavenger card game could be great for kids, who learn letters. Also, a simple matching card game could entertain kids from 24 months to 144 months, as it says in its description box.
Also, this Skillmatics Card Game is a travel edition scavenger hunt for kids from 4 to 7 years old. It’s a great on-the-go family game that you can easily keep in your hand bag during your holidays! Otherwise, you can get the Indoor & Outdoor Combo Edition.
#6 Inflatable toys, balloons & balls
Balls can keep busy little ones and older kids. However, we have to think about the right size of balls based on the transportation and the age of your children. Also, the giant inflatable solar system could offer great opportunities for learning at home and you can take one or a few planet with you for a trip.
A water inflatable play mat would be great for little ones.
Balloons are super easy to carry and fit in any bag. These reusable punching balloons with string and light could be amazing for older kids! Nevertheless, parents need to keep in mind that they are also a choking hazard. So children under 8 years old need to be supervised, while they are playing with balloons.
#7 Toys for pretend play
Small toys that encourage kids’ imagination and creativity could be finger puppets, small figurines, animals and pocket dollhouses. For instance, these Disney finger puppets can keep children busy, during trips as well as bath time.
Moreover, this Farm Animals Toy Set would be great for little ones as it includes 10 farm animals and 10 barns. Each animal can be played as a finger puppet toy as well!
Also, kids can be engaged in pretend play, while they are playing with playdough and other various toys such as transformers, hot wheels cars and emergency vehicles.
#8 Toys with light
Toys with lights are perfect for traveling in the night. That was something I hadn’t thought before our flights. Our little one woke up in the plane, while everyone was sleeping and we didn’t want to turn our individual lights on. We were lucky to have glowing sticks with us. Other options are a projector flashlight, a light-up popping game or a light-up pop tube. A portable squishy colour changing bunny can be great to entertain kids during travel and use it as a night light as well. A busy board, which I found recently and I’m sure your kids will love it, is this LED light busy board.
#9 Toys with multiple uses
These spinners toys with suction are great for any surface. Either you are traveling on a plane or you want to entertain your child during bath, these toys are suitable for all kinds of places. You can suck it on windows, wall, floor, bathtub and so on.
These sorting and stacking toys can entertain your little one at an airport and you can easily use them at a beach for sand and water play.
Also, this drawing board is amazing for traveling or taking with you to a restaurant. It includes three magnetic shapes for the drawing board and a puzzle game at the back! The back of the board is nail plate comes with 110 shapes, a storage bag and a puzzle-manual. It is light and you will be able to entertain kids of different ages.
#10 Bubbles
Bubbles are always a winner! If your little ones are unsettled, upset or super hungry, bubbles can distract them for a while. They are light and easy to carry with you. Personally I always carry one or two of these little bubble wands in my handbags. You never know where and when you will need to distract or entertain your toddler or another little friend.
Personal recommendations
- If your kid is into tools, this toy will not disappoint you at all! This screwdriver board set kept my son busy for 1,5 hours during my graduation ceremony! Tools are sized for smaller hands and are made of non-toxic wood, metal and plastic. This gives children the opportunity to practise and complete real-life tasks. It comes in a canvas bag, which fits all the pieces for easy clean up. It isn’t the lightest travel toy for a flight and you might be worried that you will lose screws and tools. However, if you know that your little one loves tools, it’s definitely worth it!
- A toy steering wheel was a game-changer for our trip. First, we tied this on a suitcase and the pram at the airport and then we used this in our car during our road trips.
*Bonus Tip*
Rotate toys in the toy bag that you get with you, when you go out to a restaurant or a café.
-> Don’t forget to check the 9 must-have travel accessories for kids and the biggest mistakes that parents make when they travel with kids!
These 10 toys for traveling with kids are life-savers!
Please share this post with friends that plan to travel soon or just go out and about often with toddlers and young kids.
Also share below your favourite travel toys!
Safe travels!
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