The Best Travel Toys for Toddlers (And You!)

The best travel toys for toddlers that fit in your bag, keep them happy and keep you sane. It’s what you’ve been looking for!

The Best Travel Toys for Toddlers

Flying with a toddler can be a great adventure, even long haul. Or it can be a nightmare, even short haul.

The right preparation makes ALL the difference. After criss-crossing the globe with baby lab, from New York to Athens and beyond, I tested out a lot of the best travel toys for toddlers.

The best travel toy for your toddler is, of course, you. But even you need a break and your toddler will benefit from other toys as well.

What makes something one of the best travel toys for toddlers?

What works well as a toy at home, doesn’t always translate to a great toy on a plane. 

Essentially, travel toys need to be non-messy, easy to find in the dark, hard to break and quiet to avoid annoying everyone around you. 

It’s also good if they don’t take up too much space and don’t weigh too much but, quite honestly, these are secondary considerations!

And, of course, they have to be able to pass through airport security. 

• When you don’t need to worry about flying with a toddler, then take a look at these toddler staycation essentials. There are some great suggestions for travel gear and toys when you’re not in the air.

The Best Travel Toys for Toddlers on Airplanes: Tested to the Max

With that in mind, here’s my recommendations for the best travel toys for toddlers on planes. We’ve flown long and short haul with a two year old and tried and tested these to the max!

I’ve also included the Amazon link because, let’s face it, chances are you’re reading this on your phone with a toddler nearby or in the dark while breastfeeding or cramming all your life admin into 10 minutes so who has the time to wander off shopping elsewhere?!

If you buy through these affiliate links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. However, all of these products have been tried and tested by our own toddlers, on a flight, and we’re only recommending the ones that worked!

The Airport Busy Book

Airport Busy Book – a hard board book for younger, enthusiastic fingers with moving parts and flaps. 

This is a great way to prep your toddler for the upcoming flight as well as explain parts of the airport and takeoff. 

It’s robust and interactive. You can’t go wrong with a nice, quiet book. Always a hit. 

Aquadoodle: Art on the Go

Aquadoodle – draw with water, no need to worry about getting pen and crayon everywhere!

Plus, the travel version comes in a suitcase so they can carry it themselves and feel as though they’re joining in the airport extravaganza.  And then sit down and play.

These really are some of the best toys to travel with for a toddler.

Puzzle With Connected Pieces

Worm on a string – develops fine motor skills and concentration and coordination without dropping small pieces on the floor. Also, strangely therapeutic as a stress reliever for parents as you thread the worm in and out and in again…

Airport Sticker Book

Airport sticker book – one step better than an ordinary book, this sticker book makes it easy to talk to toddlers about what’s going on around them. T

Washable Crayons and A Colouring Book

Washable crayons & small colouring book – more for restaurant use after you’ve ordered a meal than on the plane but can work for both. I was skeptical at first but they really ARE washable. 

Travel Books for Toddlers

Travel books can be a tricky one because of their weight. Increasingly, though, flimsy paperback books can be bought for less than a dollar. In the US, you’d call them “dollar stores,” in the UK it’s more likely to be Home Bargains.

Hide them from your little ones until you’re mid-flight and then pull them out the bag pizazz and panache, relishing the surprise factor. To be honest, this applies to all of the toys on the list as well. 

That said, toddlers will love this lift the flap travel book and Maisy goes on a plane is another favourite.

Magnetic Drawing Board for Toddlers

I see plenty of travel blogs recommending magnetic toddler toys but in my experience, you spend a lot of flight time scrabbling around trying to find the pieces. A good alternative is this magnetic drawing board, an equivalent to the Aqua Doodle if you want to keep everything dry. 

What about baby travel tips?

Babies don’t really need travel toys but read this article on flying with babies for other recommendations for a peaceful, pleasant flight.

Safe Screen Time

Paediatricians may recommend screen time limits but remember that applies to everyday life, not the rare time you travel on a plane. 

That said, protect little ears with these noise-limiting, tangle free headphones for children three years and up. And keep the screen as a last resort, if only to give yourself options! Download favourite episodes before you fly and make sure they’re available offline. 

Kids Travel Trays

One product I’m yet to test but which looks like a genius idea is the Kids Travel Tray for flights and long road trips. It promises to fold up for easy transport but works as a desk during the journey. There are mesh pockets for drinks, sturdy buckles and detachable sections to suit car seats, open spaces and more. Check out the Kids Travel Trays on Amazon and let me know how you get on!

Car Seat Organiser

This is a handy travel hack: repurpose a car seat organiser for the plane. The only snag is that most are wider than a single seat so it works best for a toddler sat next to an adult. 

Corral all the toys and snacks into different sections in a bid to spend less of the flight on your hands and knees looking for lost toddler travel toys…

You can check out the prices and buy these car seat organisers on Amazon here.

Glow in the dark magnets

How about these toys from Geomag? They glow in the dark and are magnetic, so if you drop them on the floor in the dark of an overnight flight… you can easily find them again.

What about travel toys for toddlers for road trips?

Most of these toddler toys work just as well during road trips as they do on flights. However, I’d recommend keeping smaller parts to even more of a minimum for road trip toys than when you’re on a plane. 

Bear in mind that if you’re travelling solo, you won’t be able to reach around and intervene if they start choking. You know your kids better than anyone else, but don’t take chances with the serious stuff!

Looking for more family travel tips?

• Read how to preserve all those childhood memories from your trips. 
• Discover the best places to travel with a baby in Europe and the US
• And the baby travel gear you need (and what you don’t.)
• The easy way to plan a zika-free babymoon
• The best travel gifts for kids, from toddlers to teens
• How to breastfeed on a plane in a few easy steps