The Best Gear for Traveling With Kids
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Parenting involves more than a little magical thinking. If I go anywhere that parents gather, sooner or later a desperate mom or dad will ask me for the one thing that will make it easier to travel with a baby or small children. I can't make a 4-year-old avert a meltdown at an airport gate, or change a dirty diaper in a cramped airplane bathroom for you. But I can make a list of travel gear and gadgets I've found to be indispensable for the past four years while taking my kids on planes, trains, and road trips. If you need a tablet, compact stroller, or baby monitor, read on.
Be sure to check out our other guides on the best gift ideas for new parents, best baby monitors, best baby carriers, and our picks for a great travel mug.
Update December 2019: We added a few new picks and new product information.
- Photograph: Amazon
Best In-Car Entertainment
Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids EditionAmazon's Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is the best children's tablet for the money. Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited platform restricts kid content by age, which means that you won't be constantly looking over their shoulders to see if they've found something unsavory on YouTube. FreeTime also includes Audible books, so a kid who has carsickness can listen and look out the window. It's small size makes it great for portability, and the tablet has a 3.5-mm headphone jack.
If your kid wants a bigger screen, the new Amazon Fire HD 10 is a great alternative, with slightly better performance and it's the first Amazon device with a USB-C charging port, making it convenient to juice up if you're already using a USB-C charger for your phone or laptop. Read our best Amazon Fire tablets guide for more options.
- Photograph: JLab Audio
Best Headphones
JLab Audio JBuddies Folding HeadphonesSenior writer Lauren Goode pointed out that if you want to watch movies on a plane, you'll need headphones with a 3.5-mm headphone jack. And with kids, it might always be best to avoid more complicated wireless options. These corded, affordable JBuddies can easily switch between a tablet and a plane's screen. They have a built-in volume limiter and ear cushions to protect little ears and fit both my 2-year-old and 4-year-old.
- Photograph: Wayb
Best Travel Car Seat
Wayb Pico Car SeatThe best piece of kid travel gear I've tested in the past year is Wayb's Pico Car Seat. Children have to be in car seats until they fit a seatbelt properly, at 4 feet 9 inches or 80 pounds, but the manpower required to drag a 25-pound car seat on a trip is exhausting. The Pico weighs a mere 8 pounds and folds into a backpack. It's easy to carry, not only on planes but also while roaming a city and getting into different Lyfts and rental cars.
In November 2019, I did get an update stating customers that purchased Pico car seats with a model number ending in -001 sometimes reported a cracked head tube. It's not a safety issue, but Wayb is currently voluntarily replacing seats with that model number.
- Photograph: Raul Febles/Copilot
Best Car Seat Alert System
Copilot Alert SystemTragically, parents sometimes accidentally leave their very young children buckled in closed, parked cars. It's hard to see a child in a rear-facing car seat, and it's far more likely to happen when you're tired, stressed, or there's a break in the routine, like traveling. Both car and car seat manufacturers are working on making visual and audio alerts standard practice, but in the meantime, this simple Bluetooth-enabled clip is simple, foolproof, and easy to install. Just replace the chest strap on your infant's car seat and attach the fob to your keychain. If you walk more than 10 feet away from a buckled clip, the fob alerts you.
- Photograph: Ergobaby
Best Stroller
Ergobaby Compact Metro StrollerI've tried the Bugaboo Ant and other awesome lightweight folding strollers, but my favorite one is still Ergobaby's Compact Metro. It folds down to a mere 21 inches tall and has a handle to carry it like a suitcase. It has an easy one-handed opening mechanism, a silky, expansive fabric canopy, and it goes into a full recline for toddlers that need to take a relaxing nap while touring a museum. It's also slim enough to walk through the turnstiles at metro stations in cities like Washington, D.C.
- Photograph: Eufy
Best Baby Monitor
Eufy SpaceView Baby MonitorAt the end of a long day of traveling, the last thing you want to do is fiddle with a Wi-Fi-enabled baby monitor and figure out how to prop it up on a bedside table. Eufy's SpaceView monitor is compact and can stand independently. It has a ridiculous 330-degree horizontal and 110-degree vertical rotation, so I can put it almost anywhere in a room. It's not Wi-Fi-enabled, so I don't have to spend endless minutes waiting to connect it. Read our baby monitor guide for more options.
- Photograph: Google
Best Streaming Device for Travel
Google Chromecast UltraChildren must learn to be adaptable and flexible. But not in the 10 minutes before bedtime, when they're tired, cranky, and just want 10 minutes of Paw Patrol to wind down before passing out. Google's Chromecast Ultra lets you "cast" videos from your phone to any TV. It's easy to use, supports 4K resolution, and has an Ethernet port in case the Internet is wonky. It also works with Disney+ (wait, you don't have Disney+ yet? Go get it. We'll wait here).
- Photograph: JioBit
Best Kid Tracking Device
Jiobit Smart TagI have mixed feelings about tracking my kids, but I've never been as terrified as the moment I lost sight of my preschooler at a neighborhood parade. The Jiobit is as small as an Oreo and easy to attach to my kid's clothes with a hair tie. It's rated IPX8 for waterproofing—you can swim with it—and uses a combination of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular data, and GPS satellites to track your kid almost anywhere on earth. Watching my kid run around in its live-tracking mode was like having a real Marauder's Map on my phone.
I've also tried the Monkey Kid sensor and the Relay, but the Jiobit is still my favorite.
- Photograph: Ohill
Best Cheap Toy
Animal ErasersEven if you're fully prepared with familiar toys and snacks, a tiny surprise will often delight and distract smaller children. These adorable, tiny erasers are affordable and are a surprise hit in my house. You can also get food or truck sets. Package them up individually and whip them out when you see that telltale downward mouth turn that signals an impending tantrum.
- Photograph: YETI
Best Travel Bag
Yeti Camino CarryallThe Yeti Camino Carryall won't work as a travel bag on a plane. It won't fit under a seat and the top doesn't zip shut. But if you're taking a road trip for the weekend, it easily transitions from diaper bag to beach bag to grocery bag. If your toddler squishes an entire carton of berries at the bottom, just tip it over, rinse it out with a hose, and dry it with a towel. Once, I lost track of it for a few hours. I complained to a friend that it felt like I'd lost my arm.
- Photograph: Yumbox Lunch
Best Snack Box
Yumbox Bento BoxSmall children are powerless beings, so when they find a way to exert control, they do so with relish. The specific way that my children have chosen to torment me is by eating only very tiny portions of lots of different things. I could buy lots of prepackaged snacks for traveling, but it's easier to reduce waste by filling this durable, leakproof bento with six blueberries, two graham crackers, and so on. It also comes in a mini version.
- Photograph: Hydroflask
Best Water Bottle
Hydro Flask Kids Vacuum Bottle with Straw LidI've tried dozens of BPA-free kid water bottles, with different types of lids and drink tops, and this is the only one that can be tossed in a bag without leaking all over. Both of my kids have had the same bottle since they were old enough to drink from a straw. My two-year-old can easily carry it with the top's loop, and he can fold the straw's lid closed himself to prevent spills. It also has double-walled vacuum insulation to keep milk cold during a four-hour flight, and it's steel, so it doesn't break or dent when dropped (or thrown).
- Photograph: Water Wipes
Best Clean-Up Kit
Water Wipes Sensitive Baby WipesName one parent who doesn't have easy access to five packets of wet wipes at any given second. I'll wait here while you think. My son has eczema, and Water Wipes have been approved by Allergy UK and the French Association for the Prevention of Allergies, as well as the National Eczema Association here in the US. They're moist and durable enough to scrub at car seats and clothes, as well as faces and hands.
- Photograph: Black Diamond
A Useful Tool
Black Diamond CarabinerAs a mom, I find light, sturdy carabiners to be almost as useful as hair ties or wet wipes. You can clip a small pouch to the back of your seat pocket so that you're not constantly reaching under the seat for your bag. You can hang your backpack off the floor in a filthy restroom. If your kid is in a travel harness with a leash, you can clip them to your belt! You can clip a tiny Bluetooth speaker to their car seat to listen to story podcasts or a meditation on Insight Timer to put them to sleep! And because climbers carry dozens of these at a time, each one weighs about an ounce. Carry several.
- Photograph: Patagonia
Best Travel Outfit for Mom
Patagonia Fleetwith RomperMy friends have dubbed this, the "momper." Patagonia's insanely comfortable romper is made from stretchy, light, and durable recycled polyester and Spandex. It has also been treated with durable water repellent (DWR) so goopy messes can be wiped right off, and the crossover straps are easy to peel off to use the bathroom. In addition to two capacious front pockets, it also has a concealed zip pocket for keys or lip balm. I've worn it while hiking, biking, and skateboarding, so sprinting after two toddlers is a breeze.
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