It’s hard to believe that school holidays are nearly here and whether you plan to leave Ireland this summer or plan on staying in Ireland, it’s nice to stock up on a few new toys to keep your children occupied. With this in  mind, I thought I’d write a short blog with 10 travel activities for 3 and 4 year olds. Most of these toys/activities are under €10 and can be used on planes/ trains/ buses/ cars and in coffee shops/restaurants. Some are perfect for keeping your child busy if you happen to have a rainy day on holidays and all of them are small and light for travelling with.

So, here goes….

1. Window Stickers 

Window Stickers are re-usible stickers that your child can play with on your car window while you are driving. They are great for imagination and creativity. I stock two type – a larger Jungle themed box that comes with 4 Window Markers and a smaller Farm themed box. Alternatively, if you want to use these on a plane, why not purchase a magnetic white board to use them on. These come with a white board marker so your child can draw scenes around the stickers, then wipe clean and put the stickers away for the next trip.

2. Magic Pictures

These are little notebooks that look like they are full of blank pages but when you use a coin and rub over the page, an image appears, which your child can later colour in, if they wish to.  I stock two types of these  – Farmyard and Animals (the animals one is currently out of stock but I should have it back in by the middle of next week). These little note pads are perfect size to fit into the glove box of your car or into your handbag to produce when you want a peaceful cup of tea in a coffee shop! If you need some chunky crayons to colour these in, you can find some here.

3. Lacing Beads in a Bag

These little bags contain all you need to make a necklace or a couple of bracelets with the wooden beads and string. They are perfect for developing fine motor skills and will keep your child busy while they sting them together.

4. Sticker Books

i am often amazed at what you  can get some children to do with a sticker. Sticker books like this Colour, Shapes and Sizes book teach your child while they move stickers from the sticker page to the correct spots on the pages.

5. DIY Bracelets

For children that love crafting this set is perfect for travelling with as it is flat and light. It contains 3 double sided glittery bracelets and over 100 stickers to decorate them with. Once made, your child will love wearing them.

6. Water Wow! Pads

These activity books are designed with this age in mind and from personal experience, they are brilliant. The cover of these pads comes with a build in compartment that holds the water brush. This holds about a tablespoon of water securely (so it’s not messy) and when your child uses this brush over the pages in the pad, it changes it from a black and white picture to the coloured one with items to discover on each page.  Within minutes the page has dried and the picture has returned to black and white – ready for your child to use again. Here are links for the farm one and the under the sea one.

7. Wipe Clean Books

Now that you are on holidays, you have more time to spend with your child than you probably do on a regular week, so why not spend some time doing some educational stuff? At this age, your child probably won’t see this as a drudge and will enjoy sitting down and learning new stuff. This Wipe Clean Numbers Book will help your child learn to recognise numbers, count and hold a pen correctly. For slightly older children, I stock a Mazes one and a Spot the Difference one.

8. Jumbo Crayons

Jumbo Crayons are perfect for little hands to grasp and all you need is some blank paper or a colour book and your child will be kept busy on a rainy afternoon in a caravan or hotel.

9. Mosaic Stickers

These First Mosaic Stickers from Galt Toys is a lovely box that has 6 pictures to complete using the 400 raised foam stickers. These are easy for small children to peel off and stick on and are also great for developing their fine motor skills and teaching them colour recognition.

10. A Bug Viewer

If your child isn’t keen on walks and you are, then bring something that will make the walk interesting for them. These bug viewers are lovely toys. They have a magnifying glass build into the lid so once your child has successfully caught their bug, they can view it up close with this bug viewer. It’s also great for looking at flowers, leaves and other nature items with.

So, there you have it – my top ten travel activities for children aged 3 and 4 years. Of course, every pre-school child is different and this list may not suit your child. If this is the case, take a look at my full range of toys for child aged 3 and 4 here, as I’m confident that I have toys to suit every child.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and if you have older children, keep an eye on my blog page as I plan on selecting 10 toys to bring if you are traveling with 5 and 6 year olds, 7 an 8 year olds and 9 and 10 year olds soon.

xx Suzie

PS. If you found this blog helpful, you might also like my blog posts on 7 Quiet Activities for 3-Year-Olds,or 5 Things to Keep Children Happy on a Long Flight.