Keep reading below for a description of each item and why we love it!
1) Sassy Ring O’ Links Rattle Developmental Toy – First off, something that will not only serve as a great toy and teether, but will help keep all your other toys connected. This way you won’t have to spend your flight contorting your body into bizarre positions even your yoga instructor would struggle with trying to retrieve the last toy that went airborne while Junior happily waits to do it again! Bright and colorful with different textures, these links can be hooked to pretty much anything (your purse/handbag, Ergo, Phil & Ted’s Traveler, light-weight travel stroller, etc.) so they can safely accompany you throughout your travels without you having to drive yourself nuts constantly checking to make sure you didn’t leave something behind. While we LOVE their regular links, we cannot recommend their Letter Links. We thought they looked great, till we tried them – and nothing stays linked! They’ve been fine as a toy at home, but definitely don’t work to keep things tethered while you’re out and about.
2) Sassy Look Photo Book – (Let us just say straight off that we have no connection to Sassy other than loving their products). We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this toy. Our daughter was fascinated by it when we first flew with her at 3-months-old and it’s sitting attached to our Uppa Baby Vista stroller as we speak, fresh from a trip to the store yesterday. Really, who doesn’t like to look at photos? The best part is that when this toy starts to get old, you simply print out some new photos, slide them in and in a matter of minutes and for pennies – a brand new toy – just waiting to be unveiled at about the midway point in that desperately long flight. Plus, it can be linked on and wiped off, two key points for a great toy of any kind but especially for a great travel toy!
3) Sassy Illumination Station – This toy is billed as a highchair toy, but we really never found it worked very well for that. It was way too easy for our little one to pull it out of its base – even just spinning it had it popping out – and that’s what the toy is designed to do! However, that hasn’t stopped us from loving this toy. It especially shines (pun intended) as a car toy for driving at night. The toy lights up when spun and this effect is far more dramatic in a dark car or even darkened airplane at night. Its super easy to attach with links, and has kept our daughter’s attention for a long time!
4) Lamaze Freddie the Firefly – We have to be honest – we have no idea why this toy is so fascinating! Our daughter has played and played with it though – and still asks for it even though she’s now 19-months-old! It does offer plenty of different textures and surfaces to teethe on and the link makes it super easy to attach.
5) Sassy Baby’s First Books Gift Set – Our daughter’s enjoyed all of these, but Dotty and Friends is the one that’s come with us on our travels. Extremely light weight, since it’s not made of paper, and easy to link on (do you sense an obsession here?) this has been the perfect book. Plus, it’s easily wipe-able and can stand to be chewed on.
6) Learning Curve First Keys Teether – Extremely light weight, compact, cheap and for some reason, endlessly fascinating – how much better can a travel toy get? There’s a reason keys are such a classic toy for babies – they love them! We loved how these didn’t make noise and took up much less room than many other versions, while still keeping our daughter happy for a long time. Plus, according to the packaging they’re BPA free, which was important to us.
7) Learning Curve Star Teething Blanket – It doesn’t look like it, but this toy actually comes with a button hole at the top and a link that goes through it, making it easy to keep it close. Our daughter loved all the different textures and the the one squeaky point to the star, too. It’s very lightweight and easy to shove into a pocket or purse.
8 ) Rhino Toys Oball Rattle (Colors May Vary) – It’s a rattle, it’s a ball, it can be linked on – need we say more? This is perhaps the ultimate travel toy. It’s SUPER light weight, all those holes make it easy for baby to hold and shake, and it squishes down nicely to fit wherever you have a little bit of room left. Better yet, when you get to your hotel room, or while you’re waiting for that plane, it’s a great ball to crawl after or toss around. Given how light weight it is, it’s not going to break anything when it gets thrown, either. The fact that it’s phthalate free and BPA free too is the icing on the cake! Plus, at heart it’s a ball – so this isn’t one of those toys that will get played with for a couple of months and then outgrown.
9)Tiny Love Sunny Stroll Arch for Car Seats and Strollers – Finally something that doesn’t link on – because it doesn’t need to! This toy attaches all on its own to your car seat, your stroller, a bassinet, the back of a chair or the arms of your airplane seat and managed to keep our daughter entertained for long stretches of time. With several different activities it helps keeps the toy interesting for longer.
10) Moose or Fox Jittery Pals by Infantino – We have the elephant, but we’re sure the others are equally entertaining. Great as a stuffed animal to cuddle with (or teethe on ), you pull these down and they “jitter” their way back up to the link. Did we mention the link?
11) Infantino Tag a Long Chimes Elephant and Lion – Ok, so sue us, there are 11 items on our Top Ten list. We can’t help it – these are such great toys and perfect for travel. They do make some noise, obviously, but definitely nothing that will be heard above the background noise of the plane or that will send the folks in the hotel room next to you into a fit. They’re light weight and easy to dangle from just about anything and the sound is pleasant enough that it shouldn’t annoy even the most sensitive of adults. Plus, there’s always the added fun of trying to figure out how to un-stick the Velcro! Our daughter STILL plays with hers, and she’s 19-months-old.
Hi Wendy,
I looked at your Top 10 … great website!
Judy
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