We have traveled with our two little ones all around the world and we love it! But, we know traveling with toddlers, especially on the airplane, can be stressful and overwhelming. Here are our recommended travel-friendly toys, games and gadgets for toddlers to little kids during both short and long flights!
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(1) Plain old crayons / markers and paper / coloring & activity books: You would be surprised at how simple drawing items can keep your kids busy for hours. Sometimes we will switch up the drawing utensil (e.g. crayons to markers to color pencils) or bring new coloring books which can make it feel special. If you don’t want to bring a full set of crayons and paper, our friends love the drawing tablet (so you can erase and draw as your heart desires) and the mess free coloring books.
(2) Play-Doh & the Starter Kit: Our kids are huge fans of play-doh and it keeps them busy for awhile creating pretend food or building little animals. We just keep it to two colors at a time so it doesn’t get out of hand.
(3) Tablet and headphones: A classic. When we are traveling with kids, we give them as much screen time as they would like. One of my kids loves to watch different shows and my other kid prefers to work with his hands or build something. We always bring our trusty Amazon kids fire tablet and soft foldable volume control headphones.
(4) Snacks: Snacks are a huge lifesaver when we are traveling and keeps their fingers busy for a long time. I like to use bento boxes or snack boxes to make eating fun and easy. We like to bring sliced fruit, chips & crackers and we can’t forget the sweets for bribing. Our favorite kid-bribes are these organic gummy bears for those moments of desperation.
(5) Playing cards: I’ve noticed my 3 year old had recently taken an interest in card and board games. While board games can be obviously be tricky on an airplane, a travel-friendly deck of cards goes a long way and can keep us busy for hours! We like to play simple games, including Go Fish and War. Or, we play a few rounds of UNO, a family favorite!
(6) Small vehicle toys & playing figurines or dolls: Sometimes, I’ll bring our kid’s small collection of hot wheels in a little bag and they can play alone or together for awhile. Or you can bring playing figurines like the popular calico critters or animal toys. Do the kids drop the toys on the floor once in a while? Yes, but I don’t really mind if it keeps them busy during the flight.
(7) Books: Whether your little one is starting to read or just loves looking at the illustrations, books are always a good idea! We like to bring the “Step into Reading” paperback books that are not too big and not too small but have tons of fun stories & illustrations, like this book or this one. They have so many books to choose from so pick a few that you think your child would enjoy reading. Even though these are “learn to read” books, my 3 year old loves to flip through the pages and can work through a book just staring at the pictures for a good 20 minutes. It’s kind of a two in one if you have a reading toddler and a non-reading toddler because both can enjoy. For toddlers under 3 years, a quiet activity book or a soft cloth baby book are always a hit!
(8) Sticker activity books: Our kiddos love stickers and these sticker activity books kept their little fingers busy for awhile as they moved stickers from one page to another.
(9) Legos (4+): If you have older toddlers, we like to bring legos for building. I really like the $15-$20 lego technics because you get a 2 in 1 set where the box contains two building challenges (e.g. a set can build digger and then can be pulled apart to build a dump truck). I’ll also bring along a small container to hold all of the pieces so nothing gets lost (though who am I kidding, a piece always gets lost, but then my kid figures out how to build something without that piece).
(10) Blanket / Stuffy: Both of our kids had a soft blanket, burp cloth or lovey to aid their sleep, making napping anywhere (including an airplane) much easier. Our friend’s kids had their favorite stuffy that would go everywhere with them. We always made sure to pack it in our carry-on! We forgot one time, and it was a disaster getting our child to fall asleep even though he was so tired. So, if your kid has a special sleep aid that they like to help them sleep, remember to pack it!
Happy traveling!
One response to “10 Essentials to Keep Toddlers Entertained on Airplanes & Flights”
[…] first time, but also nervous about flying with a baby and of course… jet lag (Check out our list of essentials for keeping little ones entertained on a flight and our essentials when traveling with kids). Again, Aidan surprised us all and adjusted pretty […]