Traveling or Backpacking with a Baby or an Infant: Packing: Why You Don’t Need to Pack Toys

In yesterday’s post I explained how to decide why toy (or toys) to pack.  But what happens if they get lost? Do you even need to bring toys with you in the first place?

The truth is that you don’t really need to bring toys for your baby with you when you travel.

Babies will play with almost anything and find it fun. These guys playing music shared a maraca with Akiva. Akiva, however, was just as happy playing with the empty guitar case on the floor!

The whole world is new and exciting for babies, so almost anything can be a fascinating and fun toy.  Older babies, toddlers, and children are already developing healthy imaginations, so they can turn anything they find into something else.  I remember picking leaves off of holly bushes as a young child and imagining they were flying foxes.  I could pick a couple of choice leaves and play with them for hours, anywhere.

When you pack your own stuff, stop and take a moment to evaluate what could be good and safe toys for your baby.  Our baby, for instance, loves playing with the case for my husband’s toothbrush.  It’s long and hollow, with rounded ends, and he enjoys banging it on anything.  There’s no need to bring a plush ball or stuffed animal if you have a pair of socks you can ball up or stuff full. (If you don’t mind, you can even paint faces on the front of your socks and use them as impromptu sock puppets!)  I’m sure that as you go through the things you’re packing anyway, you’ll find quite a few objects that can serve as safe and entertaining toys.

Remember, if you’re traveling and you feel like your child needs a toy to play with, for whatever reason, toys are available universally.  People all over the world have babies and buy them toys, although they might be different to what you find at home! In Thailand and Burma I found plenty of play mats for sale – exactly the same ones I could get back home in Australia or America.  In India I found that most little shops sold mini toy auto-rickshaws for kids, rather than cars, but your kids will enjoy them just the same.

Often, Akiva was more excited to play with a balloon given to him by a vendor in a market than with any actual "toy."

Not only that, but almost anything you encounter in your travels can become a toy for your baby.  I found that disposable plastic cups were a favourite of our baby.  He liked to crinkle them up and listen to the sounds, or to chew on them, or to pretend to drink from them.  He spent far more hours playing with plastic disposable cups during our travels than he did playing with Sophie, the toy giraffe we had brought for him. (Of course, Sophie did serve a purpose – when our Akiva was feeling overwhelmed by all the activity going on around him, he could always pick her up and focus on her… but this purpose could be served by just about anything.)

Also, many times people will give your baby toys as you travel.  Once, walking through a market with a fussy baby, a vendor I was buying some fruit from spontaneously blew up a small balloon for him. He was so happy with the bright red balloon that he stopped crying. Other times, we’d stay in a guesthouse that would find toys for us to use while we were there.

So there is really no need to bring toys with you as you travel or backpack around.  For babies and small children, anything can become a toy!

Happy travels!