The Best Travel Gear for Young Families: Babies and Upward
Want to know what the best travel gear is when you’ve got a young family? Thinks babies, toddlers, and elementary-aged kiddos.
We’ve done our fair share of traveling with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers over the last five years. From 2-hour to 10-hour trips, we’ve learned which gear is necessary and what we could do without. In the car, meals, sleep, and non-screen fun. We’ve got you covered!
Traveling with little ones can be intimidating, so I’ve put together all of my favorite things to help you have a successful trip. Day trips, vacations, and road trips are some of the memories that will stick with your kids for a lifetime. Let me make life easier on you and give you my cheat sheet to set you up for success!
Here is my list of the best travel gear for young families:
The Best Travel Gear for Babies
1. Rohm Sound Machine:
The Rohm is by far our favorite portable sound machine! It has a 6hr battery life and four basic white noise sounds. Sleeping in the car can be difficult for babies, but having a great white noise machine helps!
Looking for a sound machine to use when you’re at home? The Dohm is our favorite for a great sound machine option to stay in your kiddo’s bedroom (or even yours!). We have one in our bedroom and we love it.
2. Munchkin Snack Catcher Containers:
These containers are some of our favorites for older babies and toddlers. Getting snacks out of the container burns time during a long car ride! It’s a game and snack time all in one. We use these when we need to keep our little one occupied for a few minutes at home, too. Put puffs, cereal, or dehydrated fruit in them!
3. Contigo Straw Cups:
Our favorite cups for traveling are these Contigo Straw Cups. Once your baby learns to use a straw cup or even for older children, these non-spill cups are the best! Bonus point: Using a straw helps with speech development! There are lots of color options as well as plastic vs. stainless steel options.
PT tip: Need a tool to help your baby learn to use a straw? The honey bear training cup is a must! We’ve used it with two of our kiddos (as soon as we learned about them) and have had several other families use them per our recommendation. This recommendation came from a pediatric OT friend of mine. (Yay for therapy friends!)
4. Pack and Play Blackout Cover:
This is by far the least expensive item to create a dark sleep environment for babies and toddlers on the go. It fits around a standard pack and play for a nice, dark place to sleep. If you’re away from home without those blackout curtains your little one will still sleep like a dream.
For an upgrade, check out the SlumberPod that looks like a personal tent to fit around your baby’s pack and play. Our friends have this if you’re looking for an even darker sleep environment that blocks a bit more noise. Great for frequent travelers and if your baby is sleeping in a room with a lot of light!
5. Hexagon Playpen:
Suppose you are traveling somewhere where you need to keep a baby or toddler contained in a safe environment. This hexagon playpen is lightweight and folds up for an easy travel playpen. Throw in some balls and make it a ball pit for even more fun!
6. Baby Carriers We Love:
For most trips, we opt out of bringing our stroller and bring a carrier instead. Hands down the ErgoBaby is the top-rated carrier by my Mama friends. For another great option, check out the Ilia carrier. My friend let me borrow hers and we love the extra lumbar support it has! Small things like that make our PT hearts happy.
7. BOB Stroller:
You cannot beat this stroller for running, navigating uneven terrain like grass/trails/etc., shopping around a local farmer’s market, or even taking it to the beach! Plus side: This stroller runs amazingly well on sand. For tiny babies, we recline it and our little ones nap while we walk on the beach! No need to run back to the hotel for nap times. Downsides: It is bulky and a bit heavy. If you’re low on space, you may want to leave this behind. For your daily and weekly use, it’s worth it! We have both the single and the double version of this stroller.
8. Toys for Travel:
Honest mom opinion here: None of our babies were entertained by toys very well in the car. Objects like car keys, empty water bottles, and the like tended to do the best job. Not to mention silly siblings or playing with mommy or daddy in the backseat. If I had to pick one thing, grab something that has a mirror like this, or use your mirror that attaches to the headrest!
19. Our Favorite Portable Fan:
This portable fan has been our favorite out of the several that we have tried. Perfect for the beach or attaching to a stroller. The best part is the octopus-like legs that can wrap around any surface! (Note: Do not let your kiddos play with it or you might end up losing a leg. From experience, of course).
10. Wide-Brimmed Beach Hat:
We have loved this Amazon find! From our baby to our Kindergartener, this adjustable hat has good coverage and quality. We love the price, too! Great for the beach or everyday use when playing outdoors in the summer.
The Best Travel Gear for Toddlers and Older Children
Activities for the Car
1. Water Paint Books
These Melissa and Doug water paint books have been a hit on plane rides and car travels. No mess and reusable pages are two reasons why we love these!
2. Travel Bingo
Travel bingo is a new game we’ve tried as our kids have gotten a little older. They LOVE to play “I spy” these days, so these bingo cards are super fun for them. We like to play, too!
3. Coloring Books
Coloring is a great way to pass time in the car. Our daughter especially loves to color and draw. You can even keep it simple and use a plain notebook from the dollar store. Our son loves to practice his letters and write notes to friends and family on car rides. We love these coloring books here. If you use markers, get washable ones like these! I’ve learned my Mama lesson on that one.
4. Mini Whiteboards
These mini whiteboards are one of the best purchases we made this last year! Not only are they great for practicing writing, they are fantastic to tuck in a purse, backpack, or diaper bag for appointments when littles tend to get the antsiest. My kiddos are more prone to pick these up to work on writing and drawing than your typical paper and pencil. Bring these in the car or even bring them while you wait at a restaurant for a portable and reusable activity for your kiddos.
Free and Fun Travel Ideas
1. “I spy”
This has been my three and five-year-old’s favorite game to play as a family lately! We love playing in the car, but it’s also great to play with kids who are getting a little irritable at the end of the day or as they wait on their dinner.
2. Enjoy the Beauty of Nature
Point out the wonder and beauty of nature as you’re driving. Show them towering trees, rolling hills, mountain peaks, and even unique clouds. The “art of wonder” is something I learned about from another family and we’ve tried to adopt it in our marriage and parenting as well.
3. Snacks on Snacks
How could I make a list of the best travel gear without including snacks? We pack lunch when traveling and have plenty of finger foods on board to pass the time. Mom tip: Choose specific times for snacks so that all of your food isn’t gone by the time you’re 1 hour into your drive.
4. Make Some Phone Calls
Our “big kids” (aka our two oldest kiddos) love chatting with friends and family via video chat. This is a great time to call grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and otherwise. It also gives parents a break from conversations for a little while.
Happy Travels!
Save this resource for your next day trip or road trip! I hope this list of the best travel gear when you have little ones will be helpful for you and make your travel time that much sweeter. Traveling with little ones doesn’t have to be something to dread. I hope you glean some wisdom from this article and make sweet memories with your families this year!
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