Our Favorite Items for Traveling with Young Kids
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Traveling with kids can be exhausting! There is so much prep work involved and they inevitably get bored within the first five minutes of the car ride or flight! In my opinion, the stress of traveling is always worth it for the memories created!
One item that isn’t listed below and is crucial to any trip with children, is food! Pack as many snacks as possible, and when you think you have enough, pack more! Apple sauce pouches are a great option for a healthy snack that is easy to pack.
Below are some of the items we have found helpful while traveling.
Go Gear Tablet Holder
While traveling, screen time limits do not exist for us. This tablet holder has been a favorite of ours during road trips for rear facing kids. I like that we can put different size devices in it without adjusting anything. We have used iPads and iPhones in it without any issues. This is a must have for any car trip!
Dollar Store Toys
I like to buy some new toys to occupy my kids attention for trips. However, that can get expensive fast! I love going to the Dollar Store and stocking up on random toys. These toys are especially great to take on airplanes because if they get lost, I don’t care. After our trip, I use these toys in our kids “restaurant backpacks.” These backpacks are always in the car and filled with toys and activities for restaurants or other quiet places.
Target Bullseye’s Playground Items
Leading up to a trip, I will stop by every time I go in Target to see if there are any great travel toys in this area. There are usually good coloring activities or window gel clings. If you use the window gel clings in a car, be sure not to roll the window down while they are stuck on there. Unfortunately, we did have some permanently stuck on the inside of our door! Thankfully it has not affected the window function!
Melissa & Doug Restickable Stickers
These fold out sticker books are great for travel! They can fit into a backpack and children can move the stickers around as much as they would like to create different scenes. Below are a few of the available options.
Sketchbook and Accessories
My daughter’s love to color, so a sketchbook with some crayons and new stickers will entertain them for awhile! For our most recent trip, I added in some mini sticky notes for something new.
Busy Books
Busy Books are a favorite in our house. There are so many different versions depending on your child’s interests. Each one comes with figurines, a play mat, and a book that you can store everything in. The figurines are small, so I wouldn’t suggest them for kids that still like to put things in their mouths. For trips, we will typically leave the book and mat at home but take the figurines to play with. Below are a few different options.
Squigz
Squigz are great for traveling or restaurants because they stick to many surfaces and are easy to clean!
Mini Picasso Tiles
Our kids love Picasso Tiles, so when I found a set of these smaller tiles at Home Goods, I bought them. Even though there are some limitations for building while traveling, I still think they are great to take along! Even if you can’t build large structures while in a car, you can use them once you reach your destination.
Packing Cubes
Packing cubes have helped make me so much more organized while traveling. Instead of digging through bags looking for something, I can just grab the cube it’s in and I save a ton of time! The smaller bags are great for holding things like chargers. I will even use these with the girls’ clothes on overnight trips. I put Charlotte’s clothes in one and Eliana’s in another and then I can pack them inside the same duffel bag. There are a ton of different colors available.
Huggie’s Overnight Diapers
No one wants to deal with a blow out or leaky diaper while traveling! We always use overnight diapers while traveling by car or plane since they absorb more than regular diapers. When traveling by plane, make sure everyone has a change of clothes in your carry on. You don’t want to be on a 6 hour flight with pee or vomit on you the whole time!
Car Seat Travel Bag
If you are going to check a car seat while flying, I would suggest buying one of these car seat bags. It’s padded to add some protection and it prevents your car seat from getting wet or dirty. As an added bonus, we have put things like diapers and life jackets in the bag to save space in our suitcases. We have an upcoming plane trip and I plan on using this as a checked bag, even though we are not traveling with a car seat. The reason for this is because it is a backpack and we will need as many hands as possible for our rolling suitcases and wrangling children through airports!
Munchkin Disposable Changing Pads
Changing diapers in public places can be gross at times. These disposable changing pads are great for traveling because you can just toss it in the trash with the diaper. I usually prefer to use our regular changing pad but while traveling, I prefer to use these.
Disposable Bag Dispenser and Wet Bags
These disposable bags have so many uses. We typically use them for poopy diapers when we are out. However, you can also use them for dirty clothes or trash while traveling in the car or an airplane. A reusable bag for dirty clothes that I love is the Charli Banana Wet Bag. Another use for these wet bags is to throw it in your pool/beach bag for wet swimsuits!
Wet Wipes Antibacterial Hand Wipes
We keep these in our diaper bag all of the time. They are perfect for traveling too!
Summer Infant 3D Lite Stroller
This is a great stroller to travel with because it takes up such little room and is lightweight. I think it’s significantly better than a lot of the cheap umbrella strollers because the handles are higher and more comfortable for an adult to push. It also has a storage basket, which a lot of other umbrella strollers do not.
Crayola Color Wonder Markers
Whoever invented these markers is a genius! They only work on the special Crayola Color Wonder paper, so no need to worry about getting marker all over while traveling. There are also stamper sets you can buy to go with the markers. This Paw Patrol coloring pad is smaller if you are looking for something to fit in a backpack.
Medela Quick Clean Wipes
These wipes are great for traveling, especially on airplanes! They are designed for cleaning breast pump parts but I like to use them for cleaning toys too. Young children are notorious for throwing their toys on the floor and it’s much easier to clean them while traveling if you have these in your bag.
Mesh Zipper Bags
These mesh bags have so many uses. For traveling, you could keep toys together, put a change of clothes in them, or keep snacks organized. They can basically be used as an extension of the packing cubes.
