21 Best Toys For Airplane Travel For 3-Year-Olds

To keep 3-year-olds occupied while they’re traveling on a plane on route to their vacation destination, or even while they are at their hotel, parents may want to consider the award-winning Osmo Little Genius Starter Kit for toddlers (3-5 years), which is equipped with age-appropriate games that allow kids to to engage in learning core subjects through hands-on play, while having fun, and inspire in them a love of learning. Learning kit includes 4 educational game apps that help kids with letter recognition, phonics, drawing, social-emotional learning, problem-solving and more. These interactive learning games teach core subjects in the most innovative way possible.

This developmental toddler toy provides a good balance between challenge and fun, without actually frustrating your 3-year old toddler. It provides eight different activities to keep your toddlers busy throughout the travel time. Activities include velcro gears, zippers, latches, shoelaces, rainbow slides, and others. It is also made of wood and free of detachable materials that endanger your children. It is also made of high-quality materials that are free from any sharp edges to keep your children safe.

If you’ve been looking for a sturdy and long-lasting drawing board, your search is done! Because the Chuck drawing board is made of a double layer of plastic, it will not shatter easily if your child steps on it, sit on it, or throws it on the floor! We’ve got your back! In addition to the standard size board, we’ve included a four-color compact size board that fits in any bag! This is fantastic for you because you can take it with you on car drives, plane rides, and restaurants and keep your child entertained wherever you go.

Over 50 Fun Flaps to Lift and Learn Board book: This interactive board book from the new First 100 Lift-the-Flap series is great for teaching newborns and toddlers about their first animals. Over 50 flaps to lift reveal hidden photos of animals underneath. They are organized into categories such as pets and on the farm for convenience.

This busy board is fantastic. Among all the plane toys, it is undoubtedly one of my all-time favorites! Despite being slightly larger than the other toys on this list, the quantity of interesting components packed into this one board is enough to keep your child entertained for a couple of hours. The zips, buckles, belts, hooks, numerals, and letters are ideal for entertaining a toddler who is tired of the never-ending aircraft travel!

Melissa & Doug is a great brand with good quality toys, and very affordable. This puzzle activity board is safe and will keep this busy for quite a while. There are no parts that detach so you can’t lose anything.

Keeping your toddlers busy and entertained can help you make traveling with them less challenging and stressful. One thing that can help you achieve this is bringing them some toys they can play with while on the plane. As a travel expert, one travel toy I can recommend is the Dot to Dot for Tiny Tots Wipe Clean Activity Book. Activity books are great things to bring because these are not just fun but also educational. And this specific one is a great first activity book for your kids because it contains many different simple exercises and puzzles. And it is something your kids can use for quite some time as the pages are easy to wipe clean.

As a mom of five who has traveled with little ones more times than I can count (including lots of international travel!), I came to realize that some of the most occupying toys for 3-year-olds on airplanes were the smallest and simplest of toys! A simple, compact toy that we always take with us for airplane travel are the Melissa and Doug Water Wow books. What’s neat about these is that your child can color the pages again and again, so they never run out of things to color. (Don’t forget to leave the refillable water pen EMPTY until you get through security! 😉) My toddler recently found a new way to use the Water Wow pens on our last international flight – she “painted” my nails with water and stayed busy for hours! By the time she did all 10 of my fingernails, they were dry and ready to make shiny all over again! 😁

Stimulate your baby’s senses with this fun ring! This little activity sky contains a little squishy chewing moon, tags for playing, a soft mirror with an embroidery patterned surface on the back, a tiny star with a bell inside, a rainbow with a crisp inside when touched. Perfect for those long flights to keep your baby entertained for hours. Made in 100% organic cotton, silicone.

The busy cube is an educational toy for children aged 1-3 years old that can improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Busy cube is a toy for toddlers aged 1-3 years old, however it is also appropriate for children with autism. Solid wood, plastic, and stainless steel make up the activity cube. It’s non-toxic and has no flavour, making it suitable for both adults and children. There are no rough edges and the surface is smooth.

This Montessori toddler play is designed with comfortable grips to be more than a zipped interactive cloth book; excellent for travels, or anytime he needs to be quiet for a while and give mom some time to herself without worrying about missing components. This silent book allows children to play with a variety of materials while also learning, this activity book is also suitable as a sensory toy for autistic children.

Flying with a toddler is tough! Soothe baby during travels with the Soft Dreams Elephant Music and Glow Soother! Made with a soft plush body, this cuddly buddy plays gentle soothing lullabies to calm and comfort on-the-go. All of the hard parts are safely tucked away making it safe and extra snuggly. Parents appreciate the rear strap that easily attaches to a car seat, stroller, crib and more, making travels even easier!

I absolutely love the idea of busy boards for toddlers, especially for long trips in the car or in an airplane. It can be tough to always keep your child entertained, but busy boards can keep them occupied for quite a long time. The Varano Busy Board is one of my favorites because it is quiet, has so many mini activities, and is super bright in color which is very attractive to small kids. It also folds up to be very thin, making it easy to slip in your carry on without taking up much space. Busy boards are also very educational, and can teach your kid simple skills like tying a shoelace or using a zipper. It helps with their fine motor skills but is also simple entertainment.

As a mother who travels extensively with her 3-year-old, this toy has accompanied us on multiple flights of varying durations (including multiple long-haul flights). This is a great travel toy because it is compact, self-contained, and engaging for children. The magnetic pieces stay put and attach to the accompanying pages. It comes with two age-appropriate level puzzles that will keep a child engaged and challenged for an extended period. As an added bonus, once completed the puzzle functions as a seek-and-find game. Parents can choose between vehicle, farm, and princess themes depending on their child’s interests.

This is a 22 inch, colorful dual writing screen that is perfect for keeping three-year-old kids busy on a flight. It is lightweight, waterproof, and anti-fall to ensure any accidental dropping does not damage it. The pad is electric with a built-in replaceable battery that can last for six months. Kids can use a stylus pen to draw on it or any hard object and only need to press a button to erase it. This LCD pad also supports a full-screen lock to prevent accidental deletion. It is a perfect way to keep a three-year-old engaged on a flight.

The buckle toys busy board is a fun and educational toy to help kids develop motor and problem-solving skills while simultaneously keeping them engaged. It is especially suitable for flights since it reduces tantrums by eliminating boredom. On it, kids can learn how to buckle and unbuckle clasps, tie shoelaces, and pull zippers up and down to reveal shapes. It is designed to fit easily into travel bags and has no batteries and loud noises.

The puzzles are great and entertaining fun for a three-year-old. But ordinary elements are easy to lose. Hence, magnetic puzzles are the perfect solution. The ones produced by Yarloo are a small book with two pictures to arrange, each with 20 elements. It’s a great toy for an airplane, as well as car, train, hotel, restaurant, i.e. more or less everywhere, even where you do not have much space for arrangement. The most important thing is that thanks to the magnets there is a much lower risk of losing the elements and you can safely put them on a freeboard in the booklet, which is also the packaging of the puzzle. The whole thing is designed in such a way that the puzzle can be placed either on a pad or on a picture. The puzzles are closed and when folded, they take up as much space as a small book.

Playing Mikado never fails. Take all the wands in one hand and drop them. Now, pick them up one by one, but don’t move the others. If any of them move, you will lose your turn. This toy is perfect for taking on a trip because it is small, does not take up space, and we can always carry it in our bag. It also has multiple benefits such as agility, coordination, tolerance to frustration, and strengthening family bonds.

Activity cubes $19.99 are one of the best travel toys because they keep your toddler active and engaged.This cube has six activities in one, so your 2-year-old can be entertained during a long road trip or airplane ride. For toddlers who just turned two, this is a fun activity toy that helps them develop critical skills. For parents looking for interactive activities, this is a fun toy that toddlers will enjoy.

Quiet books $14.99 are fun learning travel toys that toddlers will love. As the name suggests, they are quiet, so you won’t disturb passengers on an airplane or cause a fight with siblings in the car.These books help your toddler learn essential skills. Two or three-year-olds learn their independence by practicing with this book. Your toddler will learn things such as how to tie their shoes, button a short, loop a belt, tell time, and build with shapes.

The Busy Board Backpack $26.99 is a functional backpack that is also a travel toy. This backpack is lightweight for 2-year-olds. They can use this backpack to carry their toys and snacks.I am a fan of toddlers carrying backpacks, it’s a great way to tire them out while traveling.The additional weight requires them to use more energy, which after some time walking in the airport should have them tired enough to sit and play on the airplane.