Best Toddler Busy Bags for the Airplane

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The Best Toddler Busy Bags for the Airplane (and How to Make your Own too!)

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Busy bags can be key for travelling with a toddler as your stationary newborn is now a little person who is able to walk and share their opinion with you so airplane travel can become a little more difficult! Some airlines provide you with a decent activity pack, like Emirates below, but if in doubt, buy or make your own.

For more entertainment ideas, see this popular and super useful and easy 35 Toddler Activities for the plane too!

Toddler busy bags are available ready-made online so here are a few options for you to choose from and some suggestions below of how to make your own!

My Busybots.com 

Price range: £22 – £25

What’s inside:

The 18 months – 3 years busy bags includes:

Bag 1 (Wild Wanderings)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 2 large laminated activity cards
• 6 square activity cards
• 6 rubber wild animals
• 1 Brightly coloured storage bag

Bag 2 (If you’re happy and you know it)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 20 square laminated activity cards
• 1 Brightly coloured storage bag

Bag 3 (Easy peasy lemon squeezy)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 3 A5 laminated activity cards
• 12 rubber fruit and veg
• 1 Squeezy scoop
• Optional extra – Miniature trolley
• 1 Brightly coloured storage bag

Bag 1 (Cookie sparkle)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 5 Cookie cutters
• 20 Pompoms in different colours and sizes
• 1 Handy pincer
• 1 Brightly coloured storage bag

Bag 2 (Somewhere over the rainbow)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 1 Jumbo double-sided activity card
• 24 Smaller square object cards
• 1 brightly coloured storage bag

Bag 3 (Wild Wanderings)

• 1 Information card with instructions and ideas to extend the activities and list of skills being developed
• 2 large laminated activity cards
• 6 square activity cards
• 6 rubber wild animals
• 1 Brightly coloured storage bag

This UK company sell busy bags in bundles which are themed to suit your child. These range from love to learn, in my world and dreaming big.

Resources are focussed on learning and aim to help to promote literacy numeracy skills with use. There are also bags for older children who are about to start school so there are options for everyone!

The site explains the skills developed by each activity which can give you complete peace of mind that your child will be learning as they travel instead of being glued to a screen.

The resources are all mess free which makes them ideal for travel. Prices are around £20 but the website also sells individual resources which could help you to personalise the bags or add to any that you have made yourself.

Upon researching, they have a sale and added gift when spending over a certain amount so keep your eyes peeled for some deals.

The Little Things (UK)

Price range: £14.50-£25.95

What’s inside:These are examples from the long journey packs so there will be slight variations for the short and medium journey packs.

1+ bag:

• Drawstring Bag pack
• First colouring book randomly selected from an Usborne collection
• Fold out book/ touchy feel book randomly selected from our Usborne collection
• Geometric construction shapes
• Jumping animal
• Chunky non- toxic crayons
• Wooden top
• Pop up monster

2+ bag:

• Drawstring Bag pack
• First colouring book randomly picked from our Usborne collection
• The Little Children’s activity book randomly picked from our Usborne collection
• Geometric construction shapes
• Play-Doh set
• Chunky non-toxic crayons
• Wooden top
• Tilt puzzle
• Mix and match puzzle

3+ bag:

• Drawstring Bag pack
• First colouring book randomly picked from our Usborne collection
• The Little Children’s activity book randomly picked from our Usborne collection
• Geometric construction shapes
• Play-Doh set
• Chunky non-toxic crayons
• Wooden top
• Tilt puzzle
• Mix and match puzzle

This site next caught my eye for activity bags for toddlers. Their travel kits for toddlers boast either 7 or 9 selected resources which are age appropriate (you can choose the bag dependant on the age of your little one).

They all include an Usborne colouring book and even come in a reusable draw string bag. Each bag has a description of roughly how long they should provide entertainment with travelling with a toddler and comes complete with dimensions to help you to know which hand luggage you can squeeze it in!

You can even choose a bag specifically for either a boy or a girl but there are also unisex options. These bags are a little more expensive with some costing around £25 depending on the age of your little one, however they look very carefully considered.

ETSY

Etsy UK have some beautiful unique busy bags for travel for various ages. You can find the Etsy USA here.

Keep Em Quiet

Price Range: £13.99-£19.99

What’s inside:

The contents will be varied dependant on the age range you specify before ordering.

• Toys
• Activities
• Crafts
• Educational items
• Books
• Learning activity workbooks
• Puzzles
• Games
• Collectables
• Healthy snacks

The website notes this before ordering which is good to know:

“Whilst we will try our best to ensure it contains different items to your outbound pack, some items such as felt tips & other generic well liked items might be duplicated, on the whole it will contain different items though! “

Keep Em Quiet are a very popular company to use when considering activities for a road trip with a toddler. Their website is comprehensive and easy to find what you would like and meets the needs of your children.

You specify the specific age of your child, the length of your journey and can add additional bags at a very small extra cost. The toddler travel activity packs range from £13.99 to £19.99 and are full of hand-picked activities by their team of Mums and Dads.

This portable activity kit for toddlers comes in its own drawstring bag so your toddler can even carry it themselves throughout the airport or open and close it independently to retrieve their goodies. These bags can be shipped worldwide too. There is lots of great feedback from parents using these bags who are saying how easy they are making car travel, holidays abroad and have been spoken of as the best busy kits for toddlers.

Amazon and Etsy have other various options but prices and availability can vary widely. Be careful to check the descriptions to ensure the contents are safe for your child and are of good quality. One of the better quality ones is this busy board below.

Busy Boards

Another idea for younger children, is a travel busy board – where everything is in one place but there are plenty of activities for little hands. This Montessori Busy Board is a great sensory toy with lots of zips, buttons and games to play which are all part of a bag. The bag had enough spaces for favorite books, coloring crayons, paper, snacks and even a water bottle too!

Some other beautifully crafted magnetic games and activitty sets which are perfect for kids are by Janod (also available on Amazon) We got bought the battleships and love it! Most come with travel cases too. 

DIY busy bags for toddlers and pre-schoolers

There are pre-made options busy bags for toddlers like those above and also pre-made busy bags for pre-schoolers if you’re lacking time or perhaps have left it to the last minute to make your own. However, DIY busy bags for toddlers, one year olds and older, are easy to make and there are lots of places to purchase the best toys to keep a toddler busy on a plane. 

First of all, you need to consider the bag itself. How big do you want this to be? Does it need to contain anything else such as your child’s tablet or cuddly toy? Amazon sell waterproof drawstring bags which are available in various colours for less than $3/ £2 or you could recycle a rucksack that you already have at home. This makes it easier for your little one to carry, or to hang off the pushchair when they get bored of doing that!

The contents can be as general or as specific as you like; many of the ideas of toys to keep toddlers busy can be themed but are just as effective when generic. Places like Poundland and $ stores and supermarkets often have lots of themed bits in their party and toy aisles and it sometimes can be the adhoc purchases which your little one likes the most.

Next, you need to choose some activities to add. Here are some options for you.

Busy Board

Another idea for younger children, is a travel busy board – where everything is in one place but there are plenty of activities for little hands. This Montessori Busy Board is a great sensory toy with lots of zips, buttons and games to play which are all part of a bag. The bag had enough spaces for favorite books, coloring crayons, paper, snacks and even a water bottle too!

Wooden lacing toys

• Amazon, Melissa and Doug, and Baker Ross boast a large selection of good quality versions of this. You can pick animals, food, clothes to name but a few of the shapes available. These will keep little fingers busy, are mess free and reusable so they fun never ends!

Board Book and Finger Puppets:

• These board books can easily be picked up on eBay or Amazon and can provide lots of entertainment and education for your toddler. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s a win for toddler road trip toys! The books are usually full of key vocabulary and even real pictures, and the finger puppets can be used for a variety of role-play chat and story-telling with or without the use of the book.

Biscuit cutter puzzle:

• You may find you own a selection of these amidst your baking bits in the kitchen but otherwise, these can be picked up cheaply in charity shops, Amazon, your local supermarket or pound/dollar shop. They keep little hands busy, you can name the colours and shapes and talk about the changes of sizes. Little minds are creative so I’m sure they could come into play with the finger puppets mentioned previously. 

Dominoes:

• You can obtain classic dominoes or more child-friendly dominoes which have animals or characters on. Great for matching and number games with counting. You can pick these up in charity shops or most supermarkets.

Drawing pad and stickers:

• Endless possibilities with this for all sorts of inventive games. These are easily found and poundland have some great themed options for you to choose from.

Mini wooden puzzles:

• Mess free, usually have large pieces which are easy to hold and difficult to lose and your little one will enjoy completing it independently. Melissa and Doug which can be purchased on Amazon, are great examples of puzzles appropriate for little hands.

Playdough and cutters:

• This can be a little messy but it’s open ended and little ones with busy fingers will thoroughly enjoy this. Amazon do some great deals on playdough and sets with matching cutters or even pieces which can help you with your creations. 

Alongside these fun activities, just have a browse through your nearest PoundStretcher and look for little toys which could provide some road trip entertainment for toddlers. Remember, sometimes the simpler ideas are better with textures and sensory experiences or look for toys which match their current interest. 

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