It’s hard to believe our little guy will be four in less than six weeks. As we prepare for his birthday, we recently went through his travel toys and donated the ones he has outgrown. We created this list of the best travel toys for 4-year-olds as we prepare to purchase a few gifts for his birthday.
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We’ve learned our lesson from overpacking; we only purchase a few toys before we head to Costa Rica (a day before his birthday). Since we’ve been a full-time travel family for nearly three years, travel toys are our specialty.
I love looking at toys, so writing these guides is fun.
A few toys on this list are also on our other travel toy guides, but that is because they are great for toddlers in general.
Related Post: 25 Best Travel Toys for 3-Year-Olds
Best Travel Toys for 4-Year-Olds: Puzzles
Our son loves puzzles, which makes me happy because I grew up putting together puzzles. I am hoping it is something we can do together when he gets a little older.
Puzzles are great travel toys for 4-year-olds because they help develop skills; such as fine motor skills, patience, problem-solving, memory skills, and increased attention to detail.
If you have a toddler that likes a challenge, puzzles are one of the best travel toys for 4-year-olds.
Related Post: Our Favorite Travel Snacks for Toddlers
Note: We like to use these reusable bags to store his puzzle pieces and snacks.
Coogam Wooden Pattern Blocks
Coogam Wooden Pattern Blocks are perfect for flying with toddlers. This puzzle has 36 easy-to-grip pieces with a storage box and cards to show your toddler how to make each design.
This puzzle set takes the frustration of building away. It promotes color and shape recognition while encouraging your little one to follow directions.
Each card is double-sided, with the image on one side and the pieces needed on the other. There are over 50 cards included keeping the fun going on and on.
We are purchasing this puzzle set for our long-haul flight to Portugal in a few months. It’s also perfect for creativity-challenged parents like myself.
I can follow directions like a pro. I cannot think of something and make it happen; that’s what my wife does, which is why we’re a great team.
Related Post: 9 Tips for Flying Budget Airlines with Kids
Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards
We included the Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards for toddlers that need more pieces to create their masterpieces.
This puzzle set comes in a wooden box, making it easy for your little one to clean up.
There are 10 design templates to help your little one get started, or they can use their imagination to create something else.
With 120 pieces in six different shapes, there is more than enough for your little one to stay busy while flying.
This puzzle can help your little one’s fine motor skills, focus, patience, spatial awareness, and hand-eye coordination.
If you have a little one that loves puzzles, I highly recommend this puzzle set.
Coogam Wooden Hexagon Puzzle
If your toddler needs a challenge, the Coogam Wooden Hexagon Puzzle is the perfect travel toy for your 4-year-old. It is easy to play while challenging your little one to think.
To start, place a few pieces in the puzzle and leave out a few for your toddler to finish. As your toddler gets older, leave out additional puzzle pieces.
There is an instructional guide on how to place the pieces. This puzzle is a great way to bond with your toddler on a flight or for older siblings to help their younger ones.
We are purchasing this puzzle to challenge our little guy for an upcoming flight to Portugal. He likes to tell me to practice my puzzle skills because he solved a few tangrams before me.
This means war. Yes, the competition is serious in our family.
Melissa & Doug Take-Along Magnetic Jigsaw Puzzles
Melissa & Doug Take-Along Magnetic Jigsaw Puzzles is a 2-in-1 activity puzzle that younger toddlers will love.
The pieces stick to the magnetic surface, which is perfect for traveling. There is a carry handle, which makes it easy for your little one to be independent.
This puzzle includes search-and-find activities as an extra challenge once the puzzles are complete, so more bang for your buck.
If you are looking for an engaging puzzle, this is one of the most popular travel toys for 4-year-olds.
Best Travel Toys for 4-Year-Olds: Art & Activity Books
Activity books are one of the best ways to keep toddlers entertained on airplanes or road trips. Your little one is occupied and learning, so it’s a win/win for everyone.
Here are some of our favorite activity books for 4-year-olds.
Related Post: 50 Road Trip Activities for Toddlers
My First Sock Puppets
My First Sock Puppets is a fun activity for kids and adults to do together on a flight. The kit has everything you need to create a sock puppet.
Make a sock puppet and put on a show with your little ones. Peel and stick the pieces to make a wacky character for a puppet show.
We love using puppets to play with our little ones, so this is a great road trip activity for toddlers since it can get a little loud.
Melissa & Doug PAW Patrol Adventure Bay Sticker Book
If there is one thing that toddlers love and parents hate, it’s stickers. Melissa & Doug PAW Patrol Reusable Sticker Book is perfect for your little one to tell their own story in Adventure Bay.
These stickers are reusable, making them easy to remove and stick on different pages as your toddler pleases. Your little one can help Paw Patrol save the citizens of adventure bay from quirky mishaps.
The spiral-bound notebook is easy for toddlers to carry in their backpacks. There are over 75 stickers to keep your toddler busy.
This sticker book is a 3-pack, so there are different scenes for your toddler to tell their stories.
If you have a toddler that loves Paw Patrol, this is the best travel toy for your 4-year-old.
Crayola Dry Erase Board Travel Pack
Crayola Dry Erase Board Travel Pack is a traveling dry-erase board for little artists. Everything your little one needs to draw on the go.
This traveling art studio includes five dry-erase markers, an E-Z clean eraser cloth, and decorative clings. It’s a great way for your mini Picasso to draw without the mess.
The tri-fold design makes it easy to store everything in one place.
Crayola has been around forever and is our favorite brand for anything coloring related.
We love the Crayola Color Wonder Mess-Free sets too, but we’ve included them on our other travel toy guides, so we went with a different one for 4-year-olds.
Read More: 15 Best Crayons for Toddlers
Crayola Travel Sets
Last update on 2024-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Melissa & Doug On The Go Activity Pad
Melissa & Doug On The Go Activity Pad is a fun combination of activities and games to keep your little one engaged while traveling.
You can leave this activity pad in the car for road trips or quick trips to the grocery store.
The activity pad is dry-erase, making it perfect for your little one to use over and over.
Some games are too advanced for 4-year-olds, which is good for helping your little one develop and learn.
Overall, this is a fun activity pad for quick trips or flights with your toddler.
Related Post: Best Car Seat Travel Trays
Boogie Board Play n’ Trace
Play n’ Trace is a reusable doodling board for kids that helps them learn to draw and write through tracing.
The semi-transparent design allows your child’s creative flow without limitations, while the artist palette grip makes it easy, even if they’re still developing their fine motor skills!
It’s a great way for 3 and 4-year-olds to learn how to write. Your toddler can trace over anything, then quickly erase it with a push of a button.
We recently purchased this travel toy for our soon-to-be four-year-old. I think it will help our toddler with writing letters. Plus, it’s a hassle looking for somewhere to print pages for him to practice in different countries.
This travel toy requires batteries, but it includes two AAA batteries, so your toddler can begin writing out the box.
Play ‘n’ Trace is the best alternative to carrying worksheets and wasting paper.
Brain Quest Preschool Q&A Cards
Brain Quest Preschool Q&A Cards is a fun learning game for 4-year-olds preparing for kindergarten. It’s a great way to interact with toddlers during a road trip or while flying on an airplane.
I like these cards because they promote screen-free learning. It’s an engaging way to encourage vocabulary building, counting, reading, spelling, and counting.
What I love about these cards is their versatility. There are over 300 questions to keep your little one from getting bored.
For families with kids in different age groups, there are questions for toddlers as young as 2 to kids as old as 11.
Related Post: The 15 Best Crayons for Toddlers
Brain Quest Questions for All Ages
Last update on 2024-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Disney Frozen Learning Board
Explore the world of Olaf and his friends with the Disney Frozen Learning Board. This learning book is the perfect toddler road trip activity for your next family vacation.
There are find’ems and picture puzzles galore in this write-and-erase board book. The activities are age-appropriate, making them challenging without your little one getting frustrated.
Your little one can wipe the pages clean and play again with the included dry-erase marker. They can begin working on developing math skills while building their vocabulary.
If your toddler isn’t a fan of Frozen, there are other Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Paw Patrol, Minnie Mouse, and Pixar friends.
Disney Learning Boards
Last update on 2024-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Best Travel Toys for 4-Year-Olds: Games
Games are a fun way to pass the time on a road trip or during a long-haul flight with toddlers. They are also screen-free ways to interact with your kids while traveling.
These games are toddler friendly and can be played by themselves or as a family.
Related Post: 18 Toddler Road Trip Essentials
Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere – Bingo
If you are heading on a road trip with little ones, then Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere – Bingo is the perfect travel game for your toddlers. It’s a great way for everyone to get in on the fun, plus you can have some fun prizes.
There is a spinner, no need to keep track of cards or balls for this game. The game board is magnetic, with playing pieces big enough for little hands.
The cards have pictures, making it easy for your toddler to identify the items on their playing card. It’s a fun way to develop their observation skills, hand-eye coordination, and vocabulary.
This brand has other fun road trip games for toddlers and older kids, including checkers, tic-tac-toe, hangman, chess, and boredom buster.
Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere Games
Last update on 2024-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Spot It! Junior Animals Card Game
Spot It! Junior Animals Card Game is a game just for toddlers, which makes it perfect for traveling. It’s a way for toddlers to learn about over 30 animals and develop their vocabulary.
Spot it! Jr. animals is a simple game for children that requires observation skills and memory function to play. The game is fun for players of all ages, both toddlers and adults.
There is a diverse array of 30 cards which range from cuddly creatures like penguins or panda bears; to wilder ones such as lions.
The goal of the game is to Spot It first. The animals may vary in size and position, but there is always one, and only one, match between any two cards.
As your little ones get older, you can add more cards and see who finds the matches first. At the end of the game, the player with the most cards collected wins.
Related Post: 25 Best Travel Board Games
Last update on 2024-12-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Melissa & Doug Flip to Win Travel Memory Game
Melissa & Doug Memory Game is a fun travel game for road trips. This travel game is great for kids from 2 years old to seven.
Younger toddlers can work on learning animals, colors, fruit, vehicles, and shapes, while older kids can develop their memory. It’s screen-free entertainment that also helps your little ones learn.
The frame is wooden, making it great for rough toddlers. There are seven double-sided, laminated, themed game cards included.
Two kids can play at once, so there is no fighting between kids to play this memory game.
Melissa & Doug is one of my favorite brands for toddlers. Their toys help promote learning and development while having fun.
Magnetic Activity Tin
Magnetic Activity Tins are a fun way to keep your little ones entertained while flying or during long road trips.
The games come in a travel-size tin, so it’s easy to put in your toddler’s travel backpack. There are different games, so your little one can play for hours without getting bored.
These games help promote imagination, strategy, problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity.
I recommend playing the games and working on the activities with your toddler. It will keep them occupied longer, and it’s a great way to bond with your little one.
Magnetic Activities
Last update on 2024-12-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
World of Disney Eye Found It Card Game
World of Disney Eye Found It Card Game is my favorite travel game for preschoolers. It is the perfect game for long-haul flights with toddlers.
The travel-size card game features artwork from all of our favorite characters. In each realm, there are iconic objects that you have to find.
I love the illustration on the cards. It’s like walking through memory lane of some of your favorite childhood Disney movies.
The realms are scenes from The Lion King, Radiator Springs (Cars), Lilo & Stitch, 101 Dalmatians, Sleeping Beauty, Hundred Acre Wood, Moana, Alice in Wonderland, Neverland, and so much more.
You can also give other players clues about what square they may need assistance finding!
This race will leave everyone feeling like a winner because when someone finds an object on their side, they get rewarded with double points.
It is not as complicated as it sounds in writing. Your little ones will enjoy this game of an upcoming road trip or flight.
Related Post: 21 Travel-Themed Board Games
Best Travel Toys for 4-Year-Olds: Fun Toys
There isn’t much difference between the travel toys for 3-year-olds vs. 4-year-olds, so I included a few toys in this section that older toddlers will enjoy.
The travel toys in this section are for toddlers who are over the putting things in their mouth stage of toddlerhood.
Melissa & Doug Wooden Train Cars
I had to include Melissa & Doug Wooden Train Cars on our list of travel toys for 4-year-olds because our son takes them everywhere.
There are wooden construction vehicles and cars if your toddler isn’t fond of trains.
We love the quality of Melissa & Doug’s wooden toys for our little one because he is rough on toys. We’ve had this train set for nearly seven months, and they still look new.
The train set has magnets for your little one to connect. If you have other Melissa & Doug train track play sets, these fit perfectly, so add to your little one’s collection.
Related Post: Best Travel Toys for 1-Year-Olds
Crayola Model Magic
Crayola Model Magic is my favorite play-doh alternative for toddlers. We started using this after our time at Crayola Experience in Orlando.
The box contains 14 individual bags of clay in 10 different colors. There are project cards to help your little one brainstorm unique creations.
Some reviews do not like the size of the bags, but 0.5 oz of modeling clay is enough for a toddler.
The clay is reusable as long as it is in an air-tight container between uses. If you want to keep their creation, let it air-dry.
When the design is dry, let your little one color it with Crayola markers.
If you have a little artist, this is one of the best travel activities for toddlers.
Related Post: 10 Play-Doh Alternatives for Toddlers
Melissa & Doug Disney Ariel Magnetic Dress-Up Wooden Doll
If your little one likes to play dress-up, then the Melissa & Doug Magnetic Dress-Up Wooden Doll is the perfect travel toy for your 4-year-old.
Your toddler can mix and match outfits to transform Ariel from sea to land. There are over 30 magnetic pieces to create their own story.
If your little one isn’t a fan of Ariel, there are other princesses or characters to choose from, such as Minnie Mouse, Daisy, Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty.
The play set includes a doll stand, making it easier for your toddler to dress the wooden doll without getting frustrated.
There are no strings to keep track of since the pieces are magnetic; just put them on without the hassle.
Although younger toddlers may enjoy this dress-up set, some small pieces are a choking hazard. I recommend this fun travel toy for toddlers at least three years old and up.
LEGO DUPLO Building Set
I couldn’t write a list of the best travel toys for 4-year-olds without including our favorite blocks, LEGO DUPLO Building Sets. Our son loves these building blocks.
We’ve been traveling with LEGO DUPLO blocks for nearly three years. We’ve even added a few along the way, which fit in his backpack, so it doesn’t take up additional space in our luggage.
I love these sets because they help your little one’s fine motor skills and fuel their imagination. Our 3-year-old put this set together by himself in a few minutes.
These LEGOS are large enough to fit in your little one’s hands and are easy to find. Plus, the sets encourage their imagination and come with enough pieces for you to play along.
The box says these sets are for toddlers two and older, but they are great for kids up to five. Many other LEGO sets have small pieces that are easy to lose.
We are speaking from experience. We returned from Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party last month, and he’s already lost 50% of the pieces to the Two Buzz Lightyear set we bought.
Related Post: 20 LEGO Alternatives for Toddlers, Teens, & Adults
Check out our other travel toy and activity guides:
- The 25 Best Travel Toys for Babies
- 20 Toys to Keep Toddlers Busy on an Airplane
- 25 Beach Toys for Toddlers
- Our Favorite Travel Toys for 3-Year-Olds
- 15 Travel Games for Toddlers
- 20 Fun Travel Toys for 4-Year-Olds
- Our Favorite Headphones for Toddlers
- 20 Screen-Free Road Trip Toys for Toddlers
- 10 Mess-Free Travel Activities for 2-Year-Olds
- 50 Road Trip Activities for Toddlers
- LeapFrog Tablets for Toddlers to Promote Learning
- 20 Educational Travel Toys for 5-Year-Olds
- 15 Fun Airplane Activities for Toddlers
- The Best Learning Tablets for Toddlers
- 20 Snow Toys for Toddlers and Big Kids
