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25 Best Travel Toys for 3 Year Olds

This article about the Best 3 Year Old Travel Toys was written by toddler travel expert Celine Brewer and may contain affiliate links.

If your toddler is anything like mine, then you know what it’s like to travel with a mobile, inquisitive and talkative little person. While he has a much longer attention span for watching shows and movies, I still like to pack travel toys for my 3 year old.

I found, like many of the other toddler stages, traveling with a 3 year old just needs a little bit of planning and preparation. To help you, I’ve come up with this list of the best travel toys for 3 year olds. I’ve personally traveled with so many of these 3 year old travel toys (and many others), which has helped me figure out which ones are winners and which one’s aren’t!

At 3 years old, your toddler is becoming a preschooler and will have more of an attention span for shows and movies. For quiet activities, the American Academy of Pediatrics gives us an idea on what our toddler can do and activities we should include based on their hand and finger skills. Drawing, coloring, solving puzzles, building blocks and even stringing bead (or cheerios!) are perfect are this age.

My Top Picks for the Best 3 Year Old Travel Toys:

Here are 5 top picks to include in your toddler carry-on bag. For the easiest toy shopping, pick up one of these Keep em Quiet Packs created just for 3 year olds.

LCD Writing Tablet – Perfect for the car or the airplane, your 3 year old can draw over and over again.

Dot to Dot Activity Book – Your toddler can reuse this book over and over again!

LEGO Duplo Building Sets – Duplo is great for toddlers who love to build!

Coloring Book and Crayons – Your 3 year-old is getting better at holding crayons. A coloring book with large images is the best choice.

Reusable Sticker Pads – 3 year olds will love to create different scenes with these reusable sticker pads.

Everything we packed for our 3 year old travel toys.
Here’s one example of what we packed for 3 year old travel toys.

What You’ll Find in this Article on the Best Travel Toys for 3 Year Olds:

Best 3 Year Old Travel Toys

When it comes to packing, parents know that toddler travel essentials for 3 year olds go beyond backpack diaper bags and travel strollers.

Here is my list of the best travel toys for 3 year old toddlers:

3 year old playing with Lego Duplo - best 3 year old travel toys
Our toddler building with the Duplo we brought on our trip.
3 year old and older sibling playing with Melissa & Doug Reusable stickers - best travel toys for 3 year olds
Our toddlers playing with their Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pads.
3 Year Old Activity book being used on family vacation
This dry erase Dot-to-Dot activity book was a great activity for our 3 year old toddler.

If you are looking for more information or even more options, we have loads of tips for flying with toddlers, and even more ideas on screen free toddler travel toys, airplane travel toys and the best toddler travel toys for car trips that will definitely help make that easier.

3 year old on train drawing in activity book
Our 3 year old occupied with the Dot-to-Dot activity book on a train.

More Toddler Travel Resources

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The Best Travel Toys for 3 Year Olds

This post was written & edited by:

info@babycantravel.com | Website | + posts

Celine Brewer is the owner of Baby Can Travel. Not only does she have years of experience traveling with babies & toddlers, but she's helped millions of new parents travel with their babies and toddlers for over a decade. In addition to writing on her baby travel blog, she has shared her expertise on traveling with a baby or toddler by contributing to articles about traveling with a baby with the Washington Post, USA Today, the Lonely Planet magazine and Pregnancy & Newborn magazine.

Celine also writes about family travel on the site FamilyCanTravel.com, which she co-owns with her husband. Being from the Canadian Rockies, she shares her passion about her home and travel to Banff National Park and area on their site TravelBanffCanada.com.

Read more about Celine Brewer.