The Best Restaurant and Travel Toys for Toddlers and Little Kids

With a toddler and preschooler (I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old), I’m often looking for ways to keep them entertained–but not requiring us to entertain them. While we are by no means an anti-screen family, we tend to only offer TV or the iPad in small amounts at home and/or as a last resort when traveling. My husband and I decided early on that we would not allow screen time anywhere near where we’re eating—either at home or at a restaurant. And we go out to eat at least once or twice a week… so that means many meals out where we need to keep our kids occupied. Not to mention, my son and daughter have very different interests, which means we have a lot of experience in trying out different toys and activities. 

So, countless meals out and many car and plane trips later, I’m sharing our favorite restaurant and travel toys and activities for little kids, especially toddlers and preschoolers (ages 1-5 years old). (Disclosure: All links below are affiliate links for which I earn a commission) 

Best Restaurant and Travel Toys for Young Kids

Magnetic blocks

Magnetic cubes have become a recent hit with both kids. We picked up a set of 35 mini magnetic blocks for a recent trip, and my 2 year old son has been obsessed. He played with them for almost 2 hours on the long plane ride. I love the magnetic tin case it comes in to keep everything together.  

We also have a small Tegu magnetic block set which is compact and high quality, but I find that it’s not enough blocks for too much money. We do sometimes mix them with other magnetic blocks and tiles for more interesting builds. 

Mini magnetic tiles

We actually have two sets of mini magnetic tiles, one for each kid, because they are so good for independent play and both kids love them. While our sets are different brands, they work with each other and allow for bigger builds.

• MAGNA-TILES microMAGS: This 26-piece set is my favorite because of the convenient magnetic tin they come in for storage and building. It’s easy to throw the tin in my bag for an easy on-the-go activity. 
• CreateOn Crayola Mini Magnetic PIP-Tiles: The 24-piece Crayola set has slightly bigger tiles and comes in a cardboard box, so it’s not quite as travel friendly but it still offers loads of entertainment. I love how the fun color options, like this glitter set that we got for my daughter. 

Sketch pad and coloring items 

Drawing is by far my daughter’s favorite activity, especially since she turned 3. Blank paper and coloring utensils allows her imagination to flow versus coloring books. Depending on the outing or trip, we bring a mix of markers, crayons or colored pencils and keep them all conveniently stored in a mesh zippered pouch. My daughter prefers drawing on actual paper because she likes to treasure her masterpieces; but LED pads are nice lightweight reusable alternatives. 

• Sketch pads: I highly recommend Melissa & Doug mini sketch pads. They lie flat, pages tear out easily, and are small enough to fit in a pouch. 
• Markers: These Crayola Clicks retractable markers are perfect for travel. No cap to be lost and they don’t dry out easily. It takes a bit of strength to push the markers open, but my 4 year old can do so by herself easily (2 year old needs help still). And I can attest that they are, in fact, washable. 
• Colored pencils: We have a complete Crayola twistables colored pencils set at home, so I just bring a handful of them in a smaller mesh pouch with us since they don’t require sharpening. 
• Crayons: Crayola also sells similar twistable crayons, but we actually prefer this set of Faber-Castell beeswax crayons for our toddler since they’re sturdier and come in a hard plastic case that’s perfect for travel.

Magnetic puzzles

As you can sense, I love magnets for travel. They help keep things together, especially when you’re dealing with loose parts like a puzzle. My kids love puzzles–my toddler still needs a bit of help putting them together, but my 4 year old can easily do so. These two-sided Melissa & Doug magnetic puzzles are my favorite since they’re set up well where you can keep the pieces on the side but still see the image; they have farm, princesses, and vehicles options. Mudpuppy has some cute designs (like this unicorn one!) but I don’t like their set up quite as much where you can’t see what the final image looks like when you’re putting together the puzzle. 

Road tape and small cars

My son loves cars and trucks and all sorts of vehicles. Layout some road tape, hand him some cars, and he has a blast. This PlayTape road tape works great for airplane trays, tables, and floors–just don’t keep it on wood for too long, otherwise the adhesive could cause some damage. We always carry a few Hot Wheels cars in our bag because they’re always guaranteed to provide entertainment. 

Stickers and window clings

Toddlers love to stick and restick items. Of all that we’ve owned, these have been our favorite sticker activities and window clings: 

• Melissa & Doug puffy sticker sets are great to throw in a diaper bag and are reusable for multiple uses. We prefer the spiral-bound page books like this Pet Place version, since they offer more variety and take about the same amount of space. Some of the stickers can be quite small, so best used with supervision for young toddlers.
• Gel window clings for the plane window. These are much better quality than others we’ve tried, since they stick and restick easily and hold up well to toddler abuse–making them worth their slightly higher price tag. There are multiple themes available from animals to cars to mermaids.
• Melissa & Doug Sticker WOW! are great for young toddlers to use, with stickers that stay on paper but aren’t too sticky on other materials. But it’s single use and older preschoolers might get bored quickly.
• Usborne dress-up activity sticker books are good for older kids (ages 4+) but I don’t find them very reusable.

Playdoh

I’ve tried the more “natural”/cleaner versions of playdough and I find they always end up getting too sticky and messy, especially for travel. So, I always end up going back to the Play-Doh brand modeling compound. I like this 9-piece Play-Doh starter set, although I don’t usually bring the whole kit with me out–just a can or two, with a couple of tools and/or toys like mini construction vehicles. My kids also really enjoy these dinosaur dough molds–which even toddlers can use–they lay flat which makes them easy to pack. 

Honorable mentions

This list of travel toys have provided a decent amount of entertainment, but either didn’t hold my kids’ attention as much as the above, needed too much supervision/caused too much mess, were single use, and/or may be better suited for older kids. 

• Skillmatics Dot It Sticker Art – Kids have to place dot stickers to help “color” in images. This definitely keeps my kids engaged for a while, but it’s more of a single use activity as it was difficult to remove the stickers after. 
• Crayola Mess Free coloring set – Good for young toddlers who like to color like the big kids, but you don’t want to worry about markers getting everywhere. Despite being clear, the markers appear with the designated color on the special Mess Free activity pages.
• Just add water painting books – These watercolor painting books are better suited for ages 3+
  —my daughter likes them, but I found the paper tends to pill quickly. Younger toddlers do better with these Water WOW! books where water unveils preset colors, but both of my kids never were interested in these for very long.
• Etch A Sketch Mini – My daughter likes to play with this so I sometimes bring one as a travel toy, but it doesn’t hold her attention quite the same way as drawing on paper does. 
• Magnetic men toys – My kids like playing with these for a short while, and sometimes will even add to their magnetic blocks or tiles. But I find magnetic blocks and tiles hold their attention for much longer. 
• Clixo magnetic toys – I love the flexible nature of this toy, which allow for more unique builds, but it’s best for ages 4+. Also you need a lot to be interesting; I recommend having 18+ pieces to do much. But they lay flat so are super easy to pack as a travel toy.  
• Skillmatics Foil Art – This is a fun activity best suited for preschoolers and above but I found that I ended up having to help my daughter more than expected and it created a lot of little pieces of trash as you peel off the sticker backing, which wasn’t fun for plane rides. It’s also a single use activity, which I didn’t think justified the cost. 

Organization

To keep all my travel toys organized in my bag, I keep almost everything in labeled mesh pouches so I can easily identify what’s what. These are my favorite travel organization products:

• Colorful zipper mesh pouches in a variety of sizes so you can find a pouch that fits whatever you need. From holding colored pencils and markers to organizing Lego Duplo blocks to snacks, these pouches are perfect to keep your items together in one place.
• See-through mesh pouches with a handle are great for activities that can be brought out on their own as needed. For instance, I use these to keep our sketch book and coloring utensils all together.
• Label maker to help you identify contents of each pouch. The one I linked has held up well to many, many labels being made over the past year. It’s rechargeable, small, and allows you to print various lengths (unlike many other label makers on the market).

Hope these restaurant and travel toys help you as you embark on your trips and/or dining excursions so you can get some screen-free peace and quiet on the go! Also be sure to check out my post on must-have items when traveling with babies and toddlers, including a tutorial on how to use WiFi cameras like Nanit in hotels.