Looking for Great Travel Toys

I see mothers who have written this already, but a portable DVD player is a great thing to have. I have a two year old daughter and even if we are traveling from the east bay to Nana's house in the valley, it has saved my life.

hot wheel cars (the tiny kind) and match box cars, like another mom posted. Five of those kept him occupied the whole plane ride across country. perfect!

Brand new books and match-box cars, books with magnetic play pieces. My two year old boy entertained himself for a whole road trip with a Gordon train and coal car (of Thomas the Tank Engine). Sometimes it just needs to be something new that he hasn't seen before, and it will keep his attention for a longer time.

Bring along:

. healthy snacks
. children's music to play in the car so everyone can sing
. children's reading books for you to read or dvd/tapes to listen to
. finger puppets or stuff animals for a puppet show
. play games ... using the view outside the window (I SPY) count how many cows there are or whatever your view may be.

Today's world kids are watching dvd in their car. This is an option. We didn't have this and if we did, I probably opt not to go that direction. Its a healthier way to bond with your child when you interact.

At this age, you are the one who will be the entertainer. I did this when I was the driver and as a passenger. It will get easier as they grow older. Good Luck!

Mother of Four Well Balance Children

Alot of the other advice sounds good, dvds, coloring, etch a sketch, but what is really great is a big box of bandaids! It will keep him busy for hours.
Good luck
K.

We travel a lot with my 2yr old, both plane rides and one recent long road trip. She can sit and listen to me read books for hours! Go to the library and get books your child has never seen before. Also, Magna Doodle is great, they sell small ones. Coloring/stickers. Also, my daughter loves tiny animals and dinosaurs. You can buy animals at Michaels or toy stores. I put them in a little coin purse or pouch to carry them on trips or to restaurants. She'll play out scenes with them. We have also gotten her to play a rudimentary "I spy" with really easy things "I spy something green" "Is it the grass?" on car trips. Also, the Dollar Tree store sells flash cards with things like "which is bigger", or "match tops with bottoms" type things. (they have good coloring books too for $1) We do also have a protable dvd player, but if we do all the other stuff first and then snacks, she often will fall asleep during a movie on a plane ride, which is awesome! Also, if you're on a plane, your child will sit way better if you bring their car seat on the plane. They're used to being strapped into it.

For a car ride - bubbles. You can use them in the car, but even better, at rest stops to get him running around chasing them.

A slinky or other springy toy is fascinating, especially if it's new. You can even attach it to the handle above the door so it springs UP and he pulls it down. Slinky's are also good for plane rides.

Also, for rest stops, plan ahead with a treasure hunt. Have him find leaves, rocks, sticks, ants etc., check them off a checklist and color the checklist when he gets back in the car or at a picnic table where you stop.

Another rest stop idea is an inflatable beach ball. It doesn't take up much room because you don't have to blow it up till you get out of the car, and can deflate it when you start driving again.

For a plane ride - you can precut pictures out of magazines and help him with a glue stick to make a collage. Also works in the car if you are in the back with him, or he can use a glue stick well. This is a perfect craft for the ride home, because you can use the brochures of the places you've visited and it can become part of your photo album, scrapbook. (Make sure you get several brochures of each place so you can use pictures on the front and back, and still have whole brochures if you want them).

If you are visiting family, you can ask for photos of each person in advance and make a photo album of the people you are going to see - then add to it for the return trip with pictures you and your son have taken.

Have fun, sing songs and enjoy your trip.

I have to 2nd the story reader, but may want to bring a pair of headphones in bringing on a plane, since they like to play with the volume and turn it all the way up. Color wonder markers are great. For some reason both my kids will play with those longer than just regular crayons. Silly putty provided both my kids lots of entertainment on our last plane ride and doesn't take up a lot of space in your carry on. The aqua doodle pens with the coloring pages are great too, and provide endless hours of entertainment. Once they are finished with one, they move on to the next one and by the time they are finished, the first one has disappeared and is ready to be colored again. Mess free since it is just water in the pens and also doesn't take up a lot of space. I also 2nd the portable dvd player, but save it until you have exhausted all other options. I don't go on any long trips without ours anymore. Now if I could just get my kids to like the same movies. Magna doodles are always good and my daughter enjoyed her first leappad on our last trip. Don't forget lots of snacks and any comfort objects that help your child settle. Also regular books are a good standby too.

I know this is going to sound funny but it definitely works and is cheap! Bring a kleenex box and let him pull kleenexes out and then put them back in the box again. This can be repeated several times and probably won't bother anyone. I teach Gymboree and we've talked about this travel tip alot and everyone comes back saying it was a great tip.

Have a fun trip!

J. F.

We bought a portable dvd player with head phones. Buy stuff without batteries. in one piece. or you will be stopping every five minutes to retrieve parts for a screaming child.

I read that you should bring the child's car seat on the plane. That is correct. We always do, but make sure it is airline approved. There should be something on the label on the side. The flight attendants have become quite picky as of late and took my car seat last time. I flew out of town with it, but they wouldn't let my daughter fly back with it - The label came off. (It's 5 yrs old.) It was an uncomfortable trip. She liked her car seat and she was used to napping in it. She was up the entire trip and unhappy, which has a trickly effect. Flight attendant wished she didn't take the car seat in the end.

Also, give the child something to drink on take off and landing ...sucking must be involved , either bottle or straw, to help with ear pressure.

As for toys, you've had lots of great suggestions. We took it all at 2 , dvd, colors, little toys, and don't forget the thing your child snuggles with. Do NOT put it under the plane w/luggage. Yeah, we made that mistake once.

Stephanie

We just took our 17 month old to Hawaii and the best thing we ever bought was a portable DVD player. She also liked the magna doodle we bought her. We also bought her new little toys and books.

Hi K.,

We just took our two year old on 2 plane trips that were each over 5-6 hours in length. The toys that really worked well were: mini etch-a-scketch; small little Mr. Potato Head kit - travel on with potato, corn, & carrot (this kept him entertained for a solid 30-45 minutes each time) ; coloring book that had crayons and stickers to put all over; play-doh (a little messy, but he loved it); books with pop-up/open flaps ("Johnny the Tractor" worked well); Bob the Builder trucks (however, he did tend to make lots of truck noises with these). The key to the toys is having them be novel things that your son won't see or play with until the start of the trip. We did bring a few of his favorite things as well, but he played with the new toys mainly. We also tooks healthy snacks and a portable CD player which he loved. Hope this helps.

If you do not have a DVD player in your car, I think Target has portable ones for cheap. There's nothing better than kids watching Nemo (with headphones!) 50 times to keep them busy.

Also my kids like MagnaDoodles in the car.

I bought a bunch of little containers in the travel section of Longs. I filled them with unusual objects and treats. My 20 month old loves to screw/unscrew/pull apart/put back together/ etc. I keep it all in a old make-up bag that is filled with different sections to explore. It definitely keeps him occupied for a while. Good Luck with your trip!

Hi K.,

I had twins. Traveling with them was some times LONG. Then I got a couple of ideas from some friends. I bought each child a roll of nickels from the bank before a trip. The deal was they could each have the nickels to spend when we returned home from our trip. Any time we had to get involved with a disagreement, fight, bad feelings, etc. they each had to pay us a nickel. They could also earn back or earn more nickels for helping each other. That worked GREAT! The first trip we did this nickel roll, one had 15 cents and the other had 25 cents. They learned REAL quick after that trip. LOL Another handy little thing I did was I got them each a clip-board keeper. I put color book, paper, colored pencils, dry-erase markers inside the keeper. Crayons can melt. That kept them busy drawing and coloring. They could also draw right on the clip-board keeper or on the windows with the dry-erase markers.

Good luck!
N.

My 2 year old really likes the Magna-Doodle. This a little more exspensive, but I would invest in a portable DVD player if you don't already have one. It has saved us on many long trips. Also just any new little toy (the Dollar Tree is great for that)will make him really excited and keep his attention. Get a few of those and spread them out throughout the trip. I hope you have a good trip.
S. R

My daughters both loved the Story Reader and Leap Pad interactive reading books and games. They also were endlessly entertained with small plastic animals. (get alot, as they tend to fall and get hidden under the seats). Play Foam (not Floam which is very sticky and messy) is a good option because it offers sensory play without the mess (you can find it at Target). Paper and pens/crayons work as well. We also bring a DVD with us on our trips, which always works, especially when they are tired. Are you driving? If so, bring a small container and a shovel so he can play outside when you stop along the way. Have him collect rocks or such and you can talk with him about his treasures when you get back in the car. Good luck, and happy travels!!!

I bought a sticker book with something like 700 stickers and that kept my daughter entertained for quite a while. She liked the books that have specific spots for the stickers and were more like puzzles better than the sticker books with coloring pages where the stickers just went anywhere. She needed help with them but enjoyed it.

Hi,

I always wrap presents for my kids on the plane. It makes it a little more fun. When they were that little, it's hard because nothing really keeps them going that long, right? I packed small amounts of playdough and cookie cutters, (my kids also liked birthday candles to stick in the playdough) and little cars and trucks (or maybe a toy airplane?). Does your son like tattoos yet? Those are great because they take no space at all, and you can just use a baby wipe to stick them on. Playmobile makes those small boxed sets, and those are good for a new toy to buy for the plane. Oh, my kids also both loved those dot stickers that you can buy at the office supply store, that people use for labeling. They are just different colored dots. They would stick them all over their clothes and bodies and on me and everything else. Tons of entertainment value there. Ice cubes were also fun to chew on and melt in their hands. Good luck!

PORTABLE DVD PLAYER!!!!
AND PLENTY OF DVDs...
Love, G.. :0)
http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

Hi K.,

I suggest that you get a No Dropsey. It is a lifesaver on any kind of trip because you child can retrieve his toy/sippy cup himself! Check it out at www.NoDropsey.com.

Our daughters are that age and love the Doodle Pro Travel size. It's a small sized Magnadoodle type toy. They can scribble on it and then erase and start over. Or we can draw shapes and pictures for them to identify. Great car toy.

Color Magic products from Crayola are good because the "pen" doesn't work on anything other than the special Color Magic paper. Basically, the paper has swirls of color covered in black (the paper just looks black). The pen removes the black so that the drawing is made from the swirled-color background, not ink. There are no worries about getting pen on the plane/clothes/etc. There's also no sound, so it shouldn't drive you nuts :)
Our son was pretty good on plane rides at that age, but he did have one meltdown flight where none of the surprise little gifts, etc., worked. We ended up making a light show out of the overhead lights. So if you're really desperate...
K.

I always get my boys who are now 2 & 4 the Color Wonder marker and book combo from Walmart or Target. They love it and there is no mess because the markera only write on the Color Wonder paper. I also have a DVD player, and we don't take trips without it. One Step Ahead also has a large arrangment of travel toys. www.onestepahead.com
Hope that helps.
K.