Toddler Car Essentials
Nothing ends an adventure faster than a crabby toddler. Here’s my list of car essentials to ensure our day to day adventures don’t get cut short.
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Toddler Car Essentials
Keep Em Fed
1 Snacks
All we can say is that when kids are hungry, they’re not happy. We keep the following stocked in “The Snack Bucket” in the back of the car at all times:
Think snacks that won’t melt, won’t make too much mess when consumed unsupervised, and won’t freeze in the winter (I keep the applesauce in my diaper bag in the winter).
2 Snack Bags
So many reasons. 1) You can buy the family size bag of veggie straws and just clamp the big bag with a chip clip. 2) You can share your drive through fries in a cinch!
3 Pouch Toppers
No more applesauce and yogurt mess! These work great on both the store bought applesauce pouches as well as our reusable ones (try oatmeal in them for breakfast on the go!)
4 Hint Water Boxes
If you’re like us, you forget to pack the water bottles…often. And giving your kids a full bottle of Dasani to spill all over isn’t ideal. Enter, the water box. If you’ve never tried Hint water, it’s like a La Croix without the bubbles. Our kids call these juice boxes. The beauty is, it’s not sticky when they spill!
5 Juice Box Holder
And for those kiddos who still can’t hang with a juice box, this bad boy has been a lifesaver. It fits pouches too. I can attest that it’s challenging enough to get open that you can hand that juice box back to the backseat with peace of mind knowing you won’t be doing a full outfit change when you get to your destination.
Keep Em Entertained
6 Yoto Mini
One word. Audiobooks. You can give your toddler a set of headphones, they can be the DJ for the whole car, or you can even Bluetooth the stories, podcasts, and music straight to your car from your phone! There’s stories for everyone, but our kids really enjoy listening to Nana and Papa read the best!
7 Books
Like, those specific books. Both of my kids were fascinated by the pictures in these books ever since they were old enough to hold them on their own. Now, at 4.5 years old, my daughter is still fighting over them with my 2 year old in the back seat.
8 Cars
Fun to play with in the car, at the park, in a restaurant, at grandma’s house. And it doesn’t have to be cars. If your kid has a favorite type of small toy, do that!
Keep Em Ouch Free
9 First Aid Kit
Ever had your kid trip in the parking lot at Target? Unicorn bandaid to the rescue! Fun fact, I had some of these extra long bandages in my car first aid kit and we used them on MY dad over the weekend when he got a blister on his big toe!
Keep Em Organized
10 Zipper Pouches
We use these to toss an extra change of clothes in, or create an activity kit for the car with stickers, crayons, and cheap coloring books. They’re a great way for us to have options without having a huge mess…who are we kidding, our car is still a huge mess!
