“Are we there yet?” We’ve all heard it. That familiar question from kids on their way to a fun family vacation or cottage weekend. They’re dreaming of swimming, playing, and sunshine, but first comes the long car ride or flight.

Travel with kids is exciting, but also comes with long stretches of waiting, unpredictable noises, and unfamiliar environments.

Active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones can help make those stretches of travel a little easier, giving kids a way to stay entertained, reduce distracting background noise, and maintain some of their familiar routines while away from home.

On a recent family cottage weekend, I discovered just how useful noise cancelling headphones could be. Not just for keeping the kids entertained in the car, but also for helping them settle down at bedtime.

Road Trips: Making the journey part of the fun

If your kids are anything like mine, they love their Tonie and Yoto players to listen to their favourite characters, stories and songs. We often put them on at bedtime to help the kids relax with some screen-free stories before they fall asleep.

This summer, we were heading to a small cottage and this would be my kids’ first experience sharing bunk beds. I anticipated bedtime might be a challenge. They could easily distract each other in their room, while the movement and noise of other people inside and outside the cottage could make it harder for them to settle.

At home, listening to their favourite stories is part of their bedtime routine, so I wanted to bring that familiar experience with us. That’s when I had the idea to pack their iClever BTH20 active noise cancelling headphones. The headphones support Bluetooth listening and also include a wired connection, which makes them compatible with many popular kids’ story players.

For the long car ride to the cottage, the ANC headphones helped keep the kids entertained while reducing the distraction of changing road noise. Highway driving can be loud, and the sound inside the car changes as you accelerate, change road surfaces, or encounter different traffic conditions. With ANC reducing some of that ambient noise, the kids could hear their stories more consistently without repeatedly asking to adjust the volume. Instead of hearing “I can’t hear!” from their back seat every time we accelerated on the highway, they could settle into their stories.

This also meant fewer interruptions for the driver. Young children don’t always have the patience or reach to manage their own headphones and devices, so anything that let them keep their listening level constant can be a welcome addition on a long car ride.

With this independent setup the kids are able to:

• Choose their own stories or music
• Start and stop playback themselves
• Spend more time entertained without needing help from the driver

Air Travel: Preparing kids for a noisier environment

Packing active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones is at the top of my packing list for our next family vacation.

My family has an upcoming trip that will be my toddler’s first flight. After experiencing how useful headphones were on our summer cottage trip, I’m looking forward to seeing how they help on an airplane ride.

Flying can be overwhelming for children because of:

• Engine noise
• Cabin/fan noise
• Announcements
• Conversations & general activity around them

On a long flight, active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones can provide both entertainment and a comfortable listening environment.

With the flexibility of iClever’s BTH20 wired and wireless listening, kids are able to connect the headphones to the airplane’s in-flight entertainment system or their personal listening device. This gives kids the option to listen to their favourite stories or movies, giving them something familiar to focus on in an unfamiliar environment.

ANC can help reduce some engine and cabin noise, creating a more comfortable listening experience, particularly for children who are sensitive to unfamiliar sounds. With less background noise, children may be able to hear their entertainment without feeling the need to turn it up. Combined with a built-in volume limit, where available, this can help keep listening levels in check, although parents should still monitor volume and listening time.

Familiar stories, music, or movies can also make an unfamiliar flight feel more predictable and reassuring. And if you’re lucky, the combination of relaxing entertainment and reduced background noise may even help your child settle down for a nap.

Helping Kids Sleep Somewhere New

Travel isn’t just about getting there. Once you’re at the destination, this may be a new environment for your little ones to adapt to and sleep in. It can be very helpful to find ways to keep familiar routines, particularly around sleep.

Families often vacation in close quarters, whether they’re staying in a cottage, cabin, tent, trailer, RV, hotel room, or shared rental. These settings can make bedtime particularly challenging. Younger children go to bed earlier, but these environments don’t always have the same separation and quiet that the kids are accustomed to at home.

They could easily be distracted by

• Someone talking outside the tent
• Campfire conversations
• Someone getting up in a shared room
• Siblings listening to different devices or a TV
• Parents staying up later than kids

Active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones can give children a personal listening space, even when the physical space is shared.

At home, my kids listen to stories or audiobooks as part of their bedtime routine. Bringing their preferred listening devices to the cottage helped maintain that sense of familiarity in a new environment. With different interests and a shared bedroom, though, they’d each want to listen to their own stories, and the competing audio could easily become a distraction.

With their iClever BTH20 headphones, the kids could share a bunk room while listening to their own bedtime stories without disturbing each other. Having this familiar part of their bedtime routine also helped them settle down instead of getting caught up in the excitement of sharing a room for the first time.

Listening to their favourite stories brought a little piece of home to our unfamiliar surroundings after a fun day in the sun. The headphones’ ANC and passive noise isolation also helped reduce distractions from people moving around the cottage or chatting outside by the campfire, making it easier for the kids to wind down.

With an easier bedtime experience, even the parents could get some quiet and relaxation on vacation!

A quick bedtime safety note: Avoid letting young children sleep while wearing wired headphones, as cords can pose a strangulation risk. If your child gets sleepy while listening, remove the headphones and cables before they fall asleep, and follow the manufacturer’s age and safety guidance.

Travel Checklist & Tips for Travelling with Kids Headphones

A little preparation can help make headphones easier to use on the go. Checking compatibility, packing the right cables and letting children get comfortable with their headphones before travel day can help avoid last-minute frustrations. Keep these simple tips in mind when preparing for your next family trip:

• Charge the headphones: Make sure wireless headphones are fully charged before leaving home.
• Pack the right cables: Bring any wired connections or adapters your child may need for their listening device or in-flight entertainment system.
• Check compatibility: Confirm that the headphones work with your child’s story player, tablet, or the airplane’s entertainment system.
• Try them at home first: Let younger children practice putting on their headphones, adjusting the fit, and using the controls before travel day.
• Set listening limits: Check the volume settings and use the built-in volume limiter where available.
• Take listening breaks: Check in with your child regularly, make sure the headphones remain comfortable, and follow the manufacturer’s listening guidance.
• Keep your child aware of their surroundings: Remember that noise cancelling reduces some background sounds, so children may need to remove their headphones to hear important instructions.

One small travel essential

Active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones are an easy and versatile tool to pack in your luggage and enhance your travel experience with kids.

Whether you’re travelling by car, train, boat or plane, ANC headphones can help kids listen more comfortably by reducing competing background noise. With less ambient noise to contend with, they may be less tempted to turn up their audio to hear their stories or music clearly. ANC can also make listening more consistent as noise levels change, reducing the need for parents to reach into the back seat to adjust settings and giving kids more independence.

Built-in volume limiting, where available, can help keep audio below a preset maximum. However, this doesn’t guarantee safe listening, so it’s still important for parents to monitor volume and listening time and follow manufacturer guidance.

While active noise cancelling headphones won’t solve every challenge of travelling with kids, they can make the journey a little more comfortable for the whole family. Whether children are listening to a favourite story in the back seat, settling into a shared cottage bedroom, or preparing for their first flight, familiar entertainment can help make an unfamiliar experience feel more manageable.

By bringing their favourite stories, characters and music along, kids can maintain a comforting routine and take a little piece of home with them, wherever the adventure leads.