For under 1s:

Sensory tissue box – Full of fun and colourful pieces of material, these are a hit with both our 6-month-old and our toddler. The one that we have has interactive elements on the actual box and some of the ‘tissues’ make a crinkly noise and have different images on them.

Spinning toys – Barnaby has a set of three fidget spinner type toys with rattles inside and characters on the top. He loves them! They can be secured firmly to lots of different surfaces including tables, floors and windows. Perfect for all types of travel since they’re so compact too!

Mobilo – Mobilo or any other chunky characters are amazing for little ones. Whether they are used for imaginative adult-led play, learning animal names or turn into teething toys, they’re fab!

Building blocks – A few building blocks can provide a lot of entertainment. We love wooden toys, MegaBlocks and Duplo. It depends on our capacity as to what we take.

For Toddlers and Older Kids:

Plastic crayons – Don’t come at me for plastics but these are SO much better than the wax ones. For some reason they don’t transfer onto fabric surfaces and although they can be broken, they’re definitely sturdier than standard wax crayons. Perfect for long travel days, days in or packing for a dinner in a restaurant.

No-mess colouring – You can now get colouring pens that can only work on paper. Game changer! Bella received a number of sets for her birthday and christmas. They include popular children’s characters and somehow the colours poly show up on the special colouring sheets provided. No worries of them colouring themselves or their carseat or the furniture in your AirBnb. 

Aqua draw mats – Similar again, aqua draw mats provide hours of entertainment with no mess. The mats can be folded up tiny for travel and can entertain the kiddos for hours.

Busy boards –These are amazing toys for keeping small children engaged and learning. Bella was gifted one by some friends before we started our travels and she loves it. IT includes various learning opportunities for letters, numbers, colours and shapes as well as practicing different types of fastenings. It keeps her entertained for so long in the back of the car and she’s learning valuable skills whilst doing so. 

Threading toys – You can get threading cards or various types of buttons or beads to thread. We love them all as they require lots of concentration and engagement of fine motor skills. Bella loves creating ‘necklaces’ to wear. Just ensure that the beads are either too large to be swallowed or your child is always supervised.

Play dough – Engages lots of muscles and promotes imaginative play. Play dough is a great way for kids to unwind whilst engaging lots of muscles within their hands. We recommend trying it out at home first just to check that the colour doesn’t run out before taking it out in a hotel room or in rented accommodation. 

Tonie Box – Provides hours of audio entertainment without any screen time. With the option for your child to also wear headphones, they can listen to stories from some of their favourite characters to themselves. Bella is entertained for literally hours with her Tonie box. You can even personalise some of what your child listens to by uploading content onto creative tones. We also love that the Tonie box has a low maximum volume to protect little ears.

Reusable stickers – Most children love stickers and our daughter is no exception. She loves stickers so Melissa and Doug’s reusable sticker scene books are amazing. She can create her own scenes and then take them off and redo them. The stickers are more of a silicone texture than a traditional sticky sticker so they can also be used on windows.

Books – Reading is so important for young children to be exposed to. Even if it’s just one story before bed. Bella loves hiding away with a book or reading in the car so we always have lots with us!

Child’s digital camera – Who wouldn’t love to see a travel trip through the eyes of their child? WE take so many photos nowadays so why not let the kids join in too! I’d definitely recommend a camera specifically targeted at children, like G-Tech as they’ll withstand more of the bumps and drops than a standard camera.

Water toys – Easy to inflate toys (rubber rings, beach balls, themed floats), small balls, plastic figures, bath toys etc. Whether these get used in the bath, pool or at the beach, they’ll give your child lots of opportunities for entertainment.

Magnetic tiles – These can provide endless entertainment and opportunities for imaginative play yet they don’t take up too much space. They’re also so much safer than the stick and ball magnetic toys, especially if you have younger children. 

Magnetic games – Compact and fun, magnetic games are a winner with our daughter, Isabella. We have a magnetic dress up game, a magnetic fishing game and a magnetic dry-wipe board that we use all of the time. They’re all compact and easy to travel with.

Card games – Depending on the age of your children, there are various options for card games that you can play.

Games – We love to play games together. Orchard games are particularly good for under 7s and we love: shopping list, heads and tails and their animal pairs games, as well as Ravensberger Memory games (these come in different character sets including: Gruffalo, Peppa Pig, Disney, Bluey, Mario as well as object sets). 

For toy storage:

Zip wallets – We empty puzzles and games into individual zip wallets to conserve space. The wallets can lie relatively flat and save so much space over bulky cardboard boxes.

There are probably loads more that were missing. We switch up our toys each time we travel, taking a mixture of well loved and familiar toys from home, mixed with a few new toys. Inevitably we always end up buying one or two things along the way too!