On Road Entertainment: Our Favorite Travel Play Toys for Kids
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TDM, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Keeping kids entertained while traveling can be a difficult task, as attention spans are short for little ones, making flights or long days in the car sound more than a little tedious. Luckily these days there are so many toys on the market that keep kids playing for hours. From crayons designed for coloring on the road for older children to developmentally designed rattles for infants, these are some of our favorite travel play toys.
Ollies Wooden Blocks
Handmade in Israel from high quality oak, combined with safe, durable, colorful interlocking plastic pegs, Ollies Wooden Blocks ($119) are kind of a combination of Lego and Lincoln Logs, and provide kids with hours upon hours of play. Possibilities of what to do with these blocks are limited only by imagination, and kids can create whatever they want. We like how they are travel friendly and pack down easily for on the road entertainment.
Ozobot
Keep the kids entertained when traveling this summer with Ozobot (starting at $99). Designed to kickstart kids’ creativity and critical thinking through quiet, interactive play Ozobot is a smart robot toy that at just 1 cubic inch is also optimized for travel. The pocket sized robot coloring toy comes with markers, you’ll just need paper for the kids to follow the drawing commands on. After they finish, the Ozobot responds with actions from spins to dance moves and zig zags using a patented color command language (learning it is part of the critical thinking play). Families can even play along together.
World Village Playsets
Created by a mom looking to recreate the cultural immersion experience of living abroad, World Village Playsets brings the world (okay at this point, China) home to play, so families who love to travel can have fun when not on the road in an armchair capacity. Each World Village Playset ($59.99) includes a detailed two-layer play mat, chunky wooden figures set in a puzzle tray, a story and activity book and story cards, and gives kids the chance to explore places around the globe, although currently this is limited to China, with an Ireland edition expected in the fall and more countries to roll out afterwards.
BuddyPhones Moomin
Help protect your child’s hearing by using a headphone, like the ones made by BuddyPhones, that comes with a built-in, volume-limiting circuitry that caps the sound automatically at 85 decibels, which is the level the World Health Organization recommends for kids. BuddyPhones Moomin ($44.95) are a safe sound solution for kids, adorned with bright and cheerful Moomin designs portraying the fairytale family and their friends in Moomin Valley. We love how durable and bendy these headphones are, making them fit a variety of head sizes. They also feature a flat cable design for less entanglement and the option for up to four audio cables to connect to the device, making it perfect for sharing.
Okuma Voyager Travel Combo
Young fishing fans will love the Okuma Voyager Travel Combo ($44.31), which is a five road and reel travel combo (and so will parents, because it packs up so easly). It comes with 5 piece fishing rod, spinning, small box and a convenient padded travel bag. At just under $50, the price-point is fair too, especially if you aren’t sure whether your kids will like the sport.
Smart Noggin Toys
When it comes to traveling with infants, we love these developmental rattles. There are three different versions, and each focuses on a specific stage of baby’s development. They’re the perfect size for little hands and every part of the rattle serves a purpose for stimulating baby’s senses. For instance the NogginStik® developmental light-up rattle ($24.99) resembles a cute baby rattle, but is actually specially designed to help encourage early infant milestones by lighting up red, blue and green to stimulate your infant’s eyes and encourage visual tracking — it also provides a great distraction on long car rides, although avoid on flights because the base does make a soft rattle sound.
Baby Jack
An entertaining learning device the Learning Lovey by Baby Jack (starting at $24.95) is also great for travel play. It is small enough to carry easily and designed for early learning of basic shapes, colors, letters and numbers. It has a specific travel function with options that encourage toddlers to identify animals, signs, cars, trees on their travel journey.
Crayola: Washable Sidewalk Paint Sprayer
The crayon company has a number of great products to keep kids entertained while on vacation, especially if you’re headed to a private property – hotels might be less than thrilled. The Crayola Washable Sidewalk Paint Sprayer ($14.99), however, is fun for groups of cousins on a family holiday as it lets you transform any ordinary outdoor surface, even those covered with grass, into a blank canvas for kids creativity. Designed for ages six and up, the Paint Sprayer features two pre-filled paint cartridges, two stencils and an instruction sheet to get you going.
ThumbThings Finger Puppets
Handmade in Peru, these fair trade finger puppets ($5) are so much fun for creative play, whether on the plane, train or at the hotel. Super affordable, the puppets bring out the child in all of us and are a creative way for kids to interact with each other or with parents while fueling their imaginations. The company also makes lines of knitted beanies and plush toys.
