Small Miles

Best Travel Toys for Older Babies and New Toddlers

[Updated May 2019]

The best travel toys for older babies and toddlers have these three things in common:

1. They are small.
2. Things fit inside of other things.
3. There’s some sort of movement or action.

If it doesn’t “do” anything and it’s not a comfort object, it stays home. Second-string stuffed animals don’t make the cut. But if it’s an animal that’s a puppet with maybe a button you can push, now we’re talking.

Here are some favorite travel toys that went around the world with us and provided lots of entertainment in airports, on airplanes, in hotel rooms, and in the car:

My First Pet Carrier: There are quite a few Ebba carrier sets to choose from. The “My First Pet” set has a dog that barks, a cat that meows, a rabbit shaker, and a bird with a squeaker inside. The carrier is a roomy enough home for these four pets that I was able to stuff a few finger puppets, necklaces, and Little People inside for the airplane.

Fisher-Price Little People Ramp ‘n Go Carrier: This set contains an auto carrier truck and one Little People car. Trucks are awesome when you’re one, first of all, and second of all, the carrier truck can be crammed full of more squeezers, finger puppets, cars, etc. And it also folds and opens in interesting ways when there’s not room to roll it around. The little car is great for sending down hallways or off of hotel beds.

Maracas: Loud enough that your child can hear them, not so loud that the people on the airplane will too. Fun to have for shaking along to music in the car or to slip into a bored little hand during a long stroller walk.

Finger Puppets: Finger puppets. The MVPs of the travel toy team. The IKEA ones are super cheap and come in a variety of sets. You can do different voices, teach animal noises, tell stories, and help your child practice fine motor skills by learning how to take them on and off. Finger puppets are great to stuff in purses and pockets when you think your little one might need a quick surprise.

Beach Ball: A beach ball packs really tiny, and then, voila, you have an enormous ball ready for your child to play with at the park, in the pool, or just to roll around the hotel room floor.

Annoying. Electronic. Toys.: It’s a nice idea to travel with one or two of these, so that your kid can mash buttons for a while and marvel at the twinkly lights and you can actually catch your breath and maybe do the in-flight crossword puzzle.

Bathtub Squirters: You probably have a set of these at home already. When you travel with these squeezers, you’ll always have familiar toys for bath time. Most of these are also good for teething babies to gnaw on too, so you don’t have to bring separate teethers. You can also use them to teach animal names and sounds. They also make great companions in the sandbox too. Speaking of which…

There’s one exception that I will make that doesn’t fit the above criteria: sand toys. We travel with a small set of sand tools, and it’s so nice to not show up empty handed at the park when all the other kids have their own shovels and buckets. These bad boys fold up flat for easy transit! Some playgrounds we visited had common sand toys for all kids to share, which was fantastic, but you can’t count on it. Sand toys can also double as tub toys.