The Best Toddler Travel Gear [2023]

Looking for the best toddler travel gear to ensure your trip goes smoothly?

Traveling with children can be stressful, but you can easily set yourself up for success by investing in the right gear! The best toddler travel gear will be gear that keeps them entertained, safe, and comfortable. And of course make your life easier!

But how do you find the best toddler travel gear? Without having to spend hours scouring the internet or a fortune on things you won’t really use? One way is to use the tried and tested products from those who regularly travel with their little ones. Both of our children traveled abroad before they were two so we are experts on toddler travel gear!

Best Toddler Travel Gear For Navigating Airports and flights

Note: I’m not sharing any airplane footrests. While I think these are fantastic products, most airlines do not allow them. You might get lucky but you might not and I don’t want to recommend something you won’t get a ton of use out of. This post contains affiliate links, however, all opinions are my own. These are things I own and love! I appreciate your support when shopping through this site.

Cares Airplane Harness

The decision to bring a car seat on the airplane is extremely person. If you opt to check your car seat, a great alternative to the provided lap belt is the Cares harness. It slides around the seat and creates a five point harness for extra safety during the flight. We have used this product for both kids and love it! One recommendation, if you use this board first so you can get it setup before other passengers board. You will need to slide it under the tray table behind you so you either need a cooperative buddy or the seat behind you to be empty while you set it up.

The Cares harness is FAA approved so you can use it on any airline.

Car Seat Travel Bag

If you are anything like me, you spent a ridiculous amount of time picking out the perfect car seat. You don’t want to run the risk of ruining it while traveling! A car seat bag will help protect your car seat when you check it at the airport. If you decide not to check it, you can use the shoulder strap to carry it through the airport easily. I love that this one is padded to keep your car seat safe.

Light-weight travel car seat

I love our car seats but they are heavy. For travel we opt for lighter weight seats that will be easier to transport but still meet all of the safety standards. I spent a ton of time looking for online recommendations so you don’t have to! We love Cosco car seats for travel.

Best Toddler Travel Gear For Keeping kids entertained

a toiletry bag (really!)

Trust me on this one. A toiletry bag makes an excellent toy carryon for little children. My toddler enjoys findings his toys and sorting them almost as much as he enjoys playing with the toys! This is next level travel organization!

Water Play Coloring Pads

Experienced toddler moms know Melissa and Doug make some of the best kid’s toys. These water-only coloring books are absolutely brilliant. You fill the coloring pen up with water and let them unveil beautiful photos. Once the pages dry, the picture disappears. So you can use these over and over!

Best toddler gear for surviving the hotel

I don’t love sharing a hotel room with my kids. I’m a light sleeper, they are light sleepers. It’s honestly just a recipe for disaster. However, the cost of multiple connecting hotel rooms or rental homes isn’t much fun either. This gear has enabled us to share hotel rooms as a family of four. And get a good night’s rest!

Inflatable toddler bed

When our youngest climbed out of his crib at just over a year old, I was ready to kiss my sleep goodbye. After two weeks he figured it out but we ran into another hurdle: a week long vacation. I had no idea what to do with a crib-free child that young, but hiccapop had me covered. This inflatable bed is insanely easy to set up and packs down compactly, making it perfect for travel. As an added bonus, their customer service is beyond responsive and helpful.

SlumberPod Canopy

If your children are anything like mine, they need a dark room to sleep. Enter the SlumberPod. The blackout canopy goes over your pack and play or travel mattress to create a little pod for your tiny traveler. It helps to create a separate space for families sharing a hotel room. This is one of those items you will see again and again on best of lists from seasoned travelers.