Travel Toys for Two-Year-Olds
Nothing makes a mother’s stomach tie itself into a knot faster than the idea of traveling with a two year old. Traveling in a car with a two year old is tough—even armed with the best toys for two year olds in a loaded travel bag—but an airplane trip takes it to another level of travel torture because there are witnesses and innocent bystanders involved.
A parent’s best chance for a successful trip with a two year old is to have a bag of tricks that will offer a child—who is trapped in a small space for a long period of time—an outlet for their interest, curiosity, and desire for play and entertainment. And that means a handy bag of travel toys that will absorb a two year old to the limits of their short attention spans.
Travel Toy Tips
When it comes time to pack the best toys for two year olds when you are preparing for a trip, it’s not enough to simply grab some of the toys in their bedroom or from around the house. The key to travel toys is to keep these toys completely separate from the ones they play with every day at home and only bring them out for traveling. Does this mean you have to buy brand new toys every time you travel? No, but you do have to hide the travel toys or keep them out of a child’s reach when you aren’t traveling. This makes these toys something special that your child will look forward to playing with—meaning they start out being excited about the trip, which is always a good first step toward successful travel with a toddler.
Cute Colorforms
The best toys for two year olds during travel need to be small, lightweight, and easily portable. They also should offer many different ways to play, rearrange, interact. One group of toys that meet all of these demands are Colorforms. A Colorform playset offers children multiple flat play pieces that stick magnetically to a background scene. The pieces can be arranged and rearranged in multiple ways to spark creative play.
One popular Colorform toy is the My First Colorforms, Miss Weather Dress Up Set. This features a backdrop of a little girl, and the Colorform pieces are multiple outfits for different types of weather. A child can change the girl’s clothes, add boots and an umbrella, and many other outfit changes for various weather conditions.
Another good choice is the Colorforms Picture Panel Playset featuring vehicles. It includes a variety of cars and trucks and construction gear pieces that can be arranged in multiple imaginative ways.
Other fun Colorform choices include Disney-themed playsets, popular Paw Patrol sets, and Marvel comic character play sets.
Stickers are Staples for Travel
All children love stickers. Some of the best toys for two year olds for travel entertainment are sticker books. Many coloring books also come with pages of sticker sheets so young children can color and decorate with stickers. Also, the Puffy Sticker Playset by Melissa and Doug offers children a 3-pack of double-sided background pages with lots of cute, reusable puffy stickers, with sets including a farm theme, safari theme, and an adorable chipmunk house.
Early Learning Company also has an adorable book called Sticker Activity Animals with Coloring Pages which will keep a two year old busy with beautiful photographs of animals and over 100 easy-to-peel stickers to place throughout the pages.
Back to the Drawing Board
Magnetic drawing boards are another one of the best toys for two year olds to play with while traveling in a car, bus, train, or plane. Travel Magnadoodle is a classic, or the cute Magnetic Drawing Board Mini Travel Doodle by AiTuiTui, which offers classic magnetic doodling, along with stamping and instant erase so it can be used over and over.
The Quiet Book
One of the best toys for two year olds who are confined in a car seat or airplane seat is The Quiet Book for Toddlers, by DeMoca. This is a soft, puffy travel book with 9 hands-on activities and movable pieces that are tethered to the book so they can’t be lost or misplaced. There are velcro shapes, and practice buckles, zips, snaps, and buttons, to increase fine motor skills. It also includes turning cogs and gears sized perfectly for tiny hands.
This is a great travel toy that can occupy a toddler without making a sound.
Travel Companion for Kids
Finally, kids need a soft and cuddly travel companion. The best stuffed toy for traveling is the Playskool Dressy Kids Plush Toy. This comes in a boy doll and a girl doll and includes clothing adorned with zippers, buckles, snaps, buttons, and shoe laces, so young children can practice these skills while traveling, and also have a cuddly travel buddy to nap with.
The best toys for two year old travelers are lightweight, non-messy, and quiet. Toys that bring out a child’s creativity and imagination key for happy trails—and happy travelers!
Resources– FlyingWithABaby.com, OurGlobeTrotters.com, TheBump.com
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