Best Travel Toys and Audio Players We Actually Use

Travelling with kids is one of those things that can either feel like an exciting family adventure… or like you’ve accidentally packed your entire house into three carry-on bags. 😂

After travelling with kids at different ages, we’ve definitely learnt that more toys does not mean more entertainment. In fact, we’ve found the opposite.

We’d much rather pack a handful of things that we know our kids will actually use than lug around a suitcase full of activities that get ignored five minutes into the flight.

We also don’t use iPads with our kids, so when we’re travelling, we rely on a mix of audio, simple activities, books and a few little toys. If they want to watch something, they can use the entertainment system on the plane — but for the most part, we find having a few good screen-free options makes travelling so much easier.

Here are the things we actually pack and recommend:

🎧 1. Yoto Mini – our number one travel essential

If you’re travelling with kids and don’t have a Yoto Mini yet, this would honestly be at the top of our list.

The Yoto Mini is a small, screen-free audio player designed for kids. You simply pop a card in and they can listen to stories, music, podcasts and more.

And the biggest reason we love it for travel? It’s tiny.

It takes up hardly any room in a carry-on, and once you’ve downloaded the cards you want, it can be used offline — so you don’t need Wi-Fi on the plane or while you’re travelling. The current Yoto Mini has up to 14 hours of battery life and can store plenty of downloaded audio.

We take ours everywhere.

Our favourite Yoto cards

Our kids especially love the Disney and princess stories, but we’ve found it’s worth having a mix rather than buying a huge collection of cards.

We usually pack:

• Favourite Disney stories
• Julia Donaldson stories
• Classic fairy tales
• Music and sing-alongs
• Longer stories for quiet time
• Something new they haven’t heard before

The beauty of Yoto is that there are cards for different ages, so it’s something they can grow into rather than a toy they’ll quickly outgrow.

And for travelling, headphones are a game changer. The kids can listen to their own stories without everyone else in the plane having to hear Frozen for the 47th time. 😂

The Mini supports both wired and Bluetooth headphones.

💛 Make Your Own cards are SO good

This is probably one of our favourite Yoto features.

You can make your own Yoto cards and add your own audio to them. That means you can record your own stories, messages or bedtime stories — and grandparents can do it too.

Imagine being on the other side of the world and your kids can pop a card in and hear Grandma reading them their favourite bedtime story.

You can also use your own audio, music, podcasts and other recordings.

We love this because it makes the Yoto feel much more personal than just an audio player.

If you’re buying one specifically for travel, we’d go for the Yoto Mini rather than the bigger Yoto Player. It’s made to be portable, fits easily into a backpack and is much easier for little hands to carry around.

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🧲 7. Magnetic games and little activity sets

For slightly older kids, magnetic travel games are another good option because the pieces stay contained and they’re easy to use on a tray table.

Think:

• Magnetic dress-up
• Magnetic puzzles
• Magnetic drawing boards
• Simple travel games

These are particularly good for airports and restaurants because you don’t need much space.

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✈️ What we actually pack for a flight

If we’re trying to keep the carry-on under control, our kids’ entertainment would look something like this:

Florence

🎧 Yoto Mini + headphones
🎨 Water WOW! or activity book
🧩 Sticker book
📚 One book
🧸 One comfort toy

George

🎧 Yoto Mini
🎨 Water WOW!
🧩 Sticker book
🚗 A couple of tiny cars/trucks
📚 One favourite book

And then Harry gets… whatever we can fit around the nappies. 😂

For a baby, honestly, you don’t need a suitcase full of toys. A couple of familiar toys, teething toys, books and things they can safely fiddle with are usually enough — plus all the snacks and milk they inevitably require.

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📱 And what about screens?

We don’t use iPads with our kids, so we don’t pack one specifically for travel.

That doesn’t mean we’re anti-screen or that our kids have never watched anything.

If we’re on a long-haul flight and they want to watch something, they can use the plane’s entertainment system.

But we love having the Yoto as another option because it gives them something to do without automatically reaching for a screen.

Sometimes they’ll listen to a story.

Sometimes they’ll colour.

Sometimes they’ll play with a sticker book.

Sometimes they’ll watch a movie.

And honestly, that’s the balance that works for our family.

We’re not trying to make travelling with kids some kind of perfectly screen-free, Pinterest-worthy experience. 😂

We’re just trying to make a long flight with three kids as enjoyable and manageable as possible.

🎒 Our biggest travel toy tip: pack less

If there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s this:

You don’t need as much as you think you do.

Kids can spend hours with one little activity if they’re genuinely interested in it. And once you’re travelling, there are so many things around them that become entertainment anyway — planes, airports, buses, boats, swimming pools, new places, snacks, hotel rooms and whatever random object they’ve decided is suddenly their favourite thing.

So instead of packing 20 different toys, we’d rather have:

One good audio player.
A couple of activities.
A book.
A comfort toy.
And snacks. Lots of snacks.

Because ultimately, the best travel toys are the ones that are small, reusable, mess-free and actually get used.

And after travelling with kids, those are the only ones making it back into our bags next time. ❤️