For our recent vacation, my husband and I didn’t want even more luggage to worry about losing. So we didn’t pack as many of my daughter’s toys as we did for past trips. Yet, during the trip, my daughter was perfectly happy during downtime in the hotel room. One reason: The free travel toy we easily made for her.
I recently wrote about how junk mail (especially catalogs), shoeboxes and water bottles make great toddler non-toy toys. Well, here’s another item to add to the easy and frugal non-toy list: tourist brochures, like the colorful pamphlets that are ready for the picking in brochure displays at hotels or that concierges pass out. Today’s hint is to turn tourist brochures into vacation and travel toys.
During our recent trip, my husband and I saved the brochures the concierge gave us when we checked into the hotel, thinking that our daughter would enjoy playing with them. And we were right: Our toddler enjoyed flipping through the colorful pictures of swim-with-dolphin and dinner cruise adventures during downtime in our hotel room. In other words, the brochures made great free toys.
Turns out she isn’t the only one who likes playing with such brochures. For instance, another mom wrote online that her 19-month-old daughter’s favorite summer travel toys “were the travel brochures we picked up at a rest stop along the way.”
To be sure, the brochures weren’t great enough toys that we brought them home with us. Still, they did help keep our daughter entertained during our trip and were a good temporary trip toy solution that enabled us to pack a bit lighter.
What are your favorite travel toys?
Hello! Alicia from ChosenCalledChasing here…
You just gave me a wonderful idea. I know that we will be doing some traveling in our very near future and I can’t wait to use this technique. Thanks for this post!
Our older child is now 2.5 so he likes rolling his little back pack (a Skip Hop Zoo Pack) through the airport. We fill it with a variety of small inexpensive toys (that we are willing to lose or part with). Here is an example from our last few trips; small balls (even old tennis balls work), a set of bath animals (they are light weight and can provide hours of entertainment), a small toy car or two, a small set of crayons and a little notebook, a few small books (I usually try to include at least one that is condusive to bedtime), a travel etch a sketch, a set of travel Tegu magnetic blocks, and a set of foam toys (we have the Lauri Toddler Tote set). All of these are light weight and don’t even fill the pack all the way. Also, we usually keep everything except the books in the pack when we get home so that the toys seem new and exciting on the trips. I also love the idea of playing with travel brochures, pen an notepad and other items one can find in a hotel room.
This is a great list Deniz! I love that you keep it all in the pack when you get home – smart! Thanks for sharing:)
My kids (4, 5, and 7 as well as 1) love these as well!
We also love post-it notes for traveling. They are great for mini art galleries and animation practice when kids get older.
I love the post-it note idea:) Thanks for sharing:)
That is such a great and simple idea! I wish I had read this years ago.
We pack an inflatable ball and inflatable pool rings if there will be a pool. They take up so little space and are worth the amount of fun. Also instead of traveling with books, we travel with kids’ magazines. This way if they are broken/lost we don’t worry. Also when we need to bring more things home than we arrived with, we can leave some of the magazines behind and not care.