Travel with Toddler

Items to bring for travel with Toddler

Activities for carry on

Refer to Toy list for explanations

Toys (view picture beside >):
- Trucks/cars and road map: this is good for a bit older toddlers (2-3) where you can either draw a road or buy one and have them drive their little cars on it.
- Mess free marker sets: can find these at dollar stores, but again better for older toddlers (2-3) to let them reveal colors with the marker without making a mess!
- Easter eggs: you can put little treats/snacks in them for them to find especially good when they start getting in a mood and you want to distract them or cheer them up. And then it can become fun for them to open and close them.
- Pom poms in container: toddlers like putting things in and out of container so could be a good game for them if they are in the mood to focus.
- Button zip toy: My son really enjoyed playing with this toy to practice their dexterity and it’s a great toy for on the road.
- Mini board books: toddlers love to read (when in the mood of course) and if you don’t have a tablet with books this could be another alternative without taking up too much space!
- Cheerios on a yarn: For older toddlers you can have them put the cheerios on the yarn to make a necklace or bracelet and then it doubles as a snack that is fun!
- Kids flashlight: this one in picture (found from dollar store) is good since it’s not super bright to annoy people and hurt your toddlers eyes. Also, it offers cute reels to put inside and show pictures of whatever you theme you pick for them (in this case dinosaurs).
- Window gel clings: you can usually find these at the dollar store with whatever next holiday theme is coming up! These are great for older toddlers or kids to keep them busy by the window seat. They easily come off window and you can dispose.
- Headphones: We bought these amazon headphones and they fit well for my 20 month old toddler and were adjustable. But can’t say how long your toddler will actually where them for. You can also get the noise cancelling ones for babies if you want to try to get them to sleep.
- Favourite toy: As long as not too heavy and compact size, bring a toy you know your toddler absolutely adores!
Snacks!: good to bring snacks for the airport and even for the first day or two before you can go stock up once your settled into your destination. Bring snacks that you know your toddler will like and are healthy. Fruits & veggies are okay to bring on carry on. If snacks are more liquid (like pouches) just remember to pack separately in ziplock bag when going through security. Same goes for water bottle and milk.
Tablet: Yes some extra TV time is okay for special circumstances and you will thank me later for this. Most toddlers don’t have a large attention span, but once you get past 18 months, you find they will watch some TV shows. Youtube kids is always a good option too since they can change what they are watching when they get bored and you can put filters on what they can watch. The only thing is it requires WIFI, but if you subscribe to premium (even just for one month when you are travelling), they compile some downloaded options for your child based on what they watch when you are ‘offline’. Only thing it is limited on how many videos are available offline. Another great option is the Amazon fire tablet that is super kid friendly and includes kids shows, books & games. You can download shows for when there is no wifi like cocomelon, blipi etc. And my son in particular really loved listening to us read to him from downloaded books on there! Again since they don’t have huge attention spans - bust out the tablet when they start getting cranky or ancy or you just need a second to breathe!

Ziploc bags: ziploc bags for everything! Large ones to place all the snacks in so you are not searching. Little ones to put their activities and keep the pieces together. Medium ones for all the liquids to separate when going through security. It just makes it so much easier !

WIPES! and diapers: Yes make sure you have a whole pack of wipes. For cleaning hands from toddler hands touching everything. Post messy eating. If you spill anything. Wipes are always clutch when travelling with or without kids. And enough diapers of course for your travels!
Options for sleep
- rent a crib or playpen: we rented one for my toddler when staying in a house and he slept the best on vacation in that crib!
- buy & return playpen: from local walmart or target (keep receipt!)
- check in playpen (can only pick 2/3 to check in for most flights either playpen, car seat, stroller)- so only works if not bringing car seat or stroller
- bring playpen in suitcase - this a great compact playpen for travel and didn’t take much space in suitcase!
- see if your stay has crib/playpen available - NOTE: for hotels in U.S they can provide playpen, but cannot guarantee your request and usually the playpens are quite old & dirty from my experience

Car seat: if you rent one either through your car rental or secondary service, it’s super convenient instead of lugging the car seat around especially in airport.
Travel sound machine: Amazing sound machine you can clip on to anything while trying to get your toddler to nap or sleep on the go. Anything to drone out background noises and get them to sleep and stay asleep. Especially once you settle in to your new ‘home’ for your vacation. I feel like on the airplane you may or may not need it since the airplane does have that cabin noise. But it could be helpful for any unexpected noises from other passengers.

Travel Tips

Not to be pessimistic, but before you travel with your toddler you should set your expectations low. As you already know, toddlers can be unpredictable, want to do things on their terms, not always want to cooperate, get cranky or change moods for no reason…the list goes on. When you add travel into the mix with messing up their routine and different environments it can get a bit dicey. I feel if you set your expectations low, it can help when things are not going your way and it’s kind of more expected. Vacation with kids especially toddlers is really more of a RELOCATION.

Now after saying all that, you can be surprised at how adaptable kids can be and how intrigued they are to try and see new things while taking in their new environments. It can be exciting for them and interesting to see the change of scenery, see things like airplanes and metal detectors and big crowds. You may be pleasantly surprised at how well they take in the change especially when they have their mommy and/or daddy with them. But at the same token, there are limitations to what they can handle!

These walking escalators were a favourite activity to stretch his legs and have some fun before boarding plane. And they were not busy! I think we went on it at least 50 times.

Try to actively keep in mind their downtime vs active time. If you know you are going to be boarding the flight soon, make sure you give them some time to stretch their legs and get their jitters out so by the time you have to sit on the plane they may be more content with sitting and chilling for some time. Play a game with them. Let them run around in areas that are not busy. Make sure to change their diaper before you board so you don’t have to worry about the diaper for some time. And this downtime vs active time ratio also applies to the vacation. You can tell when they are over stimulated and need some down time, quiet time or even nap time. If their are not able to nap (you have to skip it since the timing doesn’t work) make sure they can relax in the stroller or car seat. It’s okay to push the nap time on vacation or even skip all together some days. You can’t always fit their nap time perfectly in and still be able to accomplish your ‘vacation goals’. On the other hand, you can also tell when your toddler is getting ancy and needs some time to be able to run around and do when they want to on their time. Even if you don’t stick to their regular schedule, if you keep in mind that down time vs active time, you find you will have a more successful experience with your toddler and you will all be able to enjoy yourselves.

Having a beach type vacation is a bit easier with toddlers since you are mostly alternating between beach time, eat time, nap time, pool time and maybe the occasional excursion thrown into the mix. When you get to more adventurous or exploring vacations with excursions you want to get done, you may need some ‘buffer days’ added to your vacation timeline. Days that when you’re toddler is not cooperating, you don’t have to both be miserable. You can last minute save an activity for another day when your toddler is feeling more up to it. And try to incorporate more kid friendly alternatives to break up the day like visits to local parks, stroller walks, places where they can run free a little bit (open fields) and some kid friendly indoor spots on rainy days (i.e. aquarium, playplace, kid museum, mall). Before I go anywhere, I like to research local things to do that are kid friendly or just spots I want to see and bring the kids. And I look into how far these places are from where I am staying. I generally don’t have a strict itinerary (unless you have to prebook), but I list these places on my phone so on any given day depending on weather and mood, we pick one or two of those things to do or check out. And if we don’t get around to everything that’s okay. And then I’m not scrambling on vacation trying to figure out how to entertain your toddler and yourself!

And this research can also extend out to places to eat! It’s good to have a list before you go of some places you want to eat for brunch, lunch, dinner that you personally want to try out or are kid friendly and that list will be varying lengths depending on if you are staying at a hotel or house (where you will cook more). That way when you are on vacation, you don’t spend 30 minutes trying to figure out where to go and eat and if it has appropriate menu/vibe to bring a toddler. And have different options available on the list so if you are in the mood for italian, pizza, southern, seafood etc., you have at least one option ready to go!

When you do bring your toddler to a restaurant, try to keep in mind their limitations. Maybe go to the park before you head over or even an open field to let them run around before you have to sit down. When you get into a restaurant and settle in, try to get your food order in (or least their food) with your drinks to get things moving along. Once you order it takes time for your food to come so you may need to walk around with them either in the restaurant or if it’s too busy just head outside for a few minutes to reset them. Resort to the tablet after if you find they are not settling or they don’t want to sit while eating. Ask for high chair so they can eat on their own. Eat and get bill early once you are wrapping things up. Their mood can change fast and it’s nice to avoid scenes..you are on ‘vacation’. When eating out with kids, I generally love more casual places where you can order at a cashier, wait to have it made, go pick it up and pick your own seating. Those places are causal, quick and still decent fresh food.

On the topic of eating, while you are on vacation you need to be a bit flexible with your toddler’s eating since it may not be the same like at home. They may be too busy and occupied with all the excitement and change to want to sit and eat. You may have to resort to the tablet to get them to sit & eat or follow them around while they are playing and shoving bites into their mouth. Or, as many adults get on vacation, they may become not as regular when they are away so they may not want to eat as much. And that’s okay. Try to keep track of their bowel movements and it will make more sense when that does happen. And in the meantime, give them things to help with staying regular. Things like craisins/raisins, pears/apples, prune juice/pouches, shakes with flax/chia etc.

Remember later bedtime is okay. You may be pushing naps, shortening naps whatever the situation. You are on vacation time so your toddler will adjust just be reasonable with how far you push it and patient if it doesn’t go well. All the excitement, adventure and fresh air is good for them and will hopefully tire them out for bedtime. You may need to spoil them with extra cuddles at night since they are not at home and in their own room. But that’s okay too. You just may need to work on some adjustment for when you return back home into regular routine life.