Travel Accessories for Kids
Do you have a family road trip or travel plans? After several years of traveling with kids, I put together some of our favorite travel accessories for kids.
Traveling as a family can be tricky. How much gear is too much, and which essentials are needed so the suitcase will zip with ease?
What helps spring break with young children go just a little smoother?
Which bags help store all the things?
And which item helps your baby sleep a little better as they share a room with the entire family.
I have the answers to these travel accessory questions.
RELATED: Don’t forget to look at our tips for road trips with kids.
You do not need everything on this travel accessories for kids list.
Consider which items help your travel plans go a little smoother. Finding the right gear is everything, and I want to make sure you buy one thing once rather than buying dozens after an hour-long search.
This travel accessory list includes items you need for your next family trip and contains items that will last all summer long. – Items that your kids can use again and again and gear you can pass down to family members when your children outgrow them.
I’ve organized your travel gear into four main categories
- Travel and Sleep
- Eat
- Travel Accessories
- Playtime Travel
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RELATED: Try one of these 19 experience gifts for kids!
Travel and Sleep Accessories
Let’s begin with sleep. Without it, vacation is just no fun. I am a mom that needs a full night’s rest to conquer the following day. I know that is unlikely in another city, so I come prepared.
SlumberPod
In the past couple of weeks, I have had several friends asking me to borrow this SlumberPod. It’s lightweight, folds up nicely, and blocks most of the light.
I would suggest keeping the front window open as your child sleeps. This worked well for us on our beach trip. We had a family of five, all in the same room with sunlight beaming in the windows. I have yet to stay in a beach house with blackout curtains, so this did the trick.
Portable Crib
Here is a great portable crib option that folds up and travels well. Pair this with the SlumberPod for a good night’s rest. It’s a quick setup and stores in a backpack.
Twin Blow Up Mattress
This mattress worked well for my older boys. Actually, who am I kidding? Vacation means we all had an opportunity to sleep on it.
Slip a thin sheet over the top, and it is good to go. We have a peanut allergy, so bringing our sleep gear for peace of mind is easiest.
The five of us were also sharing a room, so this worked well to help everyone have a place to rest.
Sound Machine
We use this brand at home and love it. Again, this helps when the windows are blaring with sunshine at bedtime.
Travel and Eating Accessories for Kids
When we travel, we pack most of our food and gear. Here are some of our favorite items for eating on the go
Kid’s Pack
This is our FAVORITE kid’s pack! Fits well on young children and carries snacks and water bottles. We don’t leave home without these backpacks.
Soft Cooler
Whether packing for a long road trip or packing for the pool, this caddy will help you keep everyone’s snacks and supplies organized.
Large Ice Pack
Counter High Chair
This is a sturdy chair to bring to a vacation rental house. Slides on with ease, and children typically feel comfortable sitting in it.
Travel Accessories for Kids
Travel Potty
This travel potty may never leave our car. We have used it for years!
Play Yard
If you followed me last summer, you know this play yard was my ultimate accessory. I used it at the pool along with the beach. You can pretty much place this play yard anywhere to catch your breath.
Lightweight Stroller
This stroller acts like an umbrella stroller, yet it is well designed to help with comfort and folding. It does not fit in the overhead compartment on airplanes but will check at the gate.
Travel Packing Cubes
Backpack with Compartments
No more dumping into an endless pit. This backpack will help keep everything organized to find what you need as you are in a new city.
Kid’s Headphones
We use these kid headphones on airplanes to sit back and enjoy some of the inflight movies.
Kid’s Camera
Several years ago, my seven-year-old received this camera and hadn’t put it down since. Since then, all three of my boys have owned this camera and taken it on hiking trips. We come home and download the new pictures on the computer.
Keep in mind this kid’s camera has games that can be locked in parental settings. Directions are in the owner’s manual. It also comes in a variety of styles. I have noticed my boys lose interest in the games when it becomes less of a battle that they are not allowed to play them.
Portable DVD Player
We don’t have DVD players in our car, so we plug these in and fire them up for road trips! It’s endless fun of movies that we don’t typically make time for at home. The boys think this is such a treat. I think of it as eating doughnuts for breakfast on vacation. It’s a vacation. We can hit restart once we return because a 7-hour road trips call for movies.
Safety Locks
Have small children traveled to a rental home or grandma’s house? Toss these safety locks in your bag to protect your children from chemical cabinets that may be within reach.
Travel Sunscreen
These sticks make applying easy and won’t spill in your carry-on. Now that’s a HUGE win!
Natives
These shoes are perfect for summer and travel. They slip on and off easily and are comfortable for kids. We make sure we have these on our spring/summer trips.
Travel and Play
Once we arrive, we have a couple of staple items that also fit into our suitcase. Almost every trip we take includes these three suggestions.
Seek and Find Activity Books
These are some of my favorite activity books by Melissa and Doug. Rather than hand over the entire book, I carefully tear out one illustration with matching stickers at a time. I tape down the illustration to a tabletop to secure it steady. We love this Seek and Find!
Magnetic Tiles
Anytime we are taking a road trip, we also grab our collection of Picasso Tiles. My kids do not play with them on the car ride, but we use them after reaching our destination. This makes a great break from TV during the downtime.
Plus Plus – BIG size
We also love our Plus-Plus BIG manipulatives.
After years of traveling with kids, these are some of our favorites!