airplane activities for a 19month old

[emmababy]

We have coloring and books. Any other suggestions for things to keep her busy that won't annoy other people!

 

[monorailsilver]

Gummy fruit!

And yes I am serious. When we flew last time my ds was 22 months old. He couldn't be bothered with things since that is the age where they like to throw things on the floor (not easy to pick up on a plane).

So for the flight I fed him lolipops & gummy fruit (the Welches kind & it was a big bag!). I would break them in small pieces so they lasted longer.

For 2 hours he was quiet as a mouse with candy. And I was happy I didn't have a screaming child while my dh had our then quiet 4 yo watching movies in front of me.

 

[taitai]

So many things....

Portable dvd player with headphones (if she hasn't used headphones before, practice a lot before the trip)
playdough
pipe cleaners
sticker books
small toys (weebles, cars, animals, whatever she likes)
Leap pad
books
snacks
Block puzzles
those felt scenes where the pieces can be manipulated
magnetic scenes


Have a great trip

 

[jenseib]

Portable DVD palyer with headphones.
My DD loves the travel size aqua doodles. Just fill the pen with water after security.
We also brought pipe cleaners and I would makes shapes with them and she thought that was really neat.

Snacks were a plus too. Also be sure to bring a cup with a straw in it . Buy a beverage before getting on plane (after security) and fill the cup. The sucking really helps with the pressure in the ears. You want to be ready for when needed ,and not waiting for the beverage cart to come around. It really helped my DD.
Also bring a small blanket and stuffed animal or baby.

 

[NotUrsula]

Post-its. Really. (But do clean it all up before you get off the plane. The multipacks of small ones in colors are great.)

Oh, and about the books. I used to make home-made talking books for travel, by reading DS' favorites and cutting my own tape of them. Now I'm going to do it for DD with an MP3 player. This way the passengers around us didn't have to listen to the 10th repetition of Hop on Pop. The best thing you can do for a traveling kid is to introduce headphones early and make it clear that they are non-negotiable with any electronic gadget.

 

[Minniemouse07]

We only have a 3+hr trip to WDW so we don't drag the DVD player w/ us at all.

I've flown w/ dd at 17mo and 28mo and ds at 24mo...this is what we generally pack:

Travel Size Magnadoodle (they call them Doodle Pros now) - this takes the place of crayons, markers, crayola wonder markers and aquadoodles. All of the latter have pieces that you WILL be diving for on the floor (and the refilling of the aquadoodle). The Magnadoodle is all kinds of compact and the "pen" is attached on the string. Dd started playing w/ hers at 14mo!

Character Sets from TDS - The hits w/ ds were the Mickey Mouse Club set and Cars (either of the 2 available sets). You can pick them up 2/$20 on sale generally.... PRICELESS!

Board Books - Pack two. Ds had us read them over and over!

Sticker Books - Something small, and I found a few good Disney themed ones at the Dollar Store and independent toy stores.

Colorforms - They are great to stick to the airplane window!

Most of the above was "new" and saved for the trip. We also packed some standbys, including ds' favorite Thomas the Tank Engine trains...he is obsessed w/ them!

I picked up a small backpack at Target (Thomas themed...go figure!) that held all of ds' toys (when dd was younger we used the bonus backpack we got from the Dr. Suess book club). This way all the airplane amusements are totally separate from the diaper bag and mom's/dad's stuff.

When we traveled in December w/ ds (2yo) and dd(6yo) it worked out well. Dd carried her own backpack of stuff, dh had his, I had the diaper bag backpack and ds' backpack went under the stroller. Dh pulled the collapsible travel cart w/ ds' car seat on it. On the plane, everything goes in the overhead bins except the kids' two backpacks!

HTH!

 

[jenseib]

LOL! ONLY 3+ hours..... Thats long in my book. We defiantely bring the DVD palyer for shorter flights than that.
We did bring our travel magnadoodle too. My DD doesn't throw stuff on the floor, so I never had to worry about that. I'm the one who usually drops stuff. LOL!

 

[ZeroMyHero]

Not a toy, but I'd invest in a set of Earplanes. We used them for my DD3 last year and they worked really well - she never complained about her ears during a total of 9 hours of air travel. I worried that she would try to pull them out, but she never did.

 

[Minniemouse07]

LOL! ONLY 3+ hours..... Thats long in my book. We defiantely bring the DVD palyer for shorter flights than that.
We did bring our travel magnadoodle too. My DD doesn't throw stuff on the floor, so I never had to worry about that. I'm the one who usually drops stuff. LOL!

LOL... FWIW, I just didn't feel it was worth dragging with us just for the plane ride. If worst came to worst and we were D E S P E R A T E... we could have pulled out dh's laptop and played something on that (which we did use in our room so ds could watch some beloved Thomas...we couldn't find any PBS stations on our tv!). The laptop battery wouldn't last forever playing a DVD though, so it wasn't our first line of defense!

 

[n3rf]

really appreciate all the input on this... taking our trip in late april with our DD 2 1/2 by then, and we where wondering what to bring along for her for the 5+ plus flight...looks like most have 3hr or less.... great info on what to bring guess ill be hitting walmart/target for the recommendations.

 

[Matt'nMeg'sMom]

How long are your flights? With my own babies - it was mandatory that they sleep. It's only 3.5 hours from Denver to Orlando - so they could get a really GOOD nap on that flight.

Now that they're older (8 & 5), my kids watch movies on the IPod --but they're so conditioned, they fall asleep anyway.

 

[Honeymooner04]

I also rely on food to keep my little one entertained that is when she's not watching a DVD. My dd loves raisins and dried fruit so we fed her a lot of those. Little board books are also good.

Good luck on your trip!

 

[jenseib]

I was hoping DD would fall asleep o nthe plane when we went last year, since we had a 2 PM flight, but NO! She was too hyper and excited. We were upt till 2AM that night then too. I was going to let her sleep in as long as she wanted the next day, but she woke at 8 AM screaming "I want to see Mickey" over and over, so we quickly got dressed and found mickey at Epcot. After that she did much better.

 

[DIZBOUND]

I am not sure playdough would be allowed on the plane. I would love to take it for it would definately keep my two 1 and 5 quiet the whole ride. Actually, for my 2 I bring snacks, doodle books, and just a few small toys. They usually end up falling asleep about 1/2 hour into the ride.

 

[tjmw2727]

I am not sure playdough would be allowed on the plane. I would love to take it for it would definately keep my two 1 and 5 quiet the whole ride. Actually, for my 2 I bring snacks, doodle books, and just a few small toys. They usually end up falling asleep about 1/2 hour into the ride.

Please don't bring playdough as a courtesy to those on your flight and especially to those occupying the seats after your children are done playing with it. It smells and its messy (not saying your kids are messy). Playdough is very difficult to clean under the best of circumstances and leaves a greasy stain.

There are lots of other great ideas on this thread -my dd once played with a roll of tape for an entire 3 hour plane ride. Other fav's of ours were pipe cleaners and colorforms (do they still make those?).

TJ

 

[jenseib]

Yes, I second the playdough. Last year someone mentioned they brought it and alot of people on here flamed her. Playdough has a bad smell to it. Most do not like the smell. and we are in closed quarters on a plane.

 

[juliana_sd]

Best for us were DVD player (sometimes with a "new" dvd), stickers, and "special" snacks - ones that he isn't normally allowed to have at home. (If your kid is picky or has a sensitive stomach then obviously you should stick to old favorites.) I love flying Frontier because they have tv's at each seat, handy when the battery runs out or you are stuck on the runway for an hour before you take off.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I would say playdough probably won't be allowed on the plane anyway by the TSA. I think it could probably be mistaken as some sort of plastique explosive and not allowed. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't try. When my DD was 3, we found a little cassette recorder (yeah, it's been 9 years!) and reading books so she could listen to the story and follow along in her book. Also, if you're lucky, you might have a nice person or persons near you, who would love to play peek-a-boo or "chat" with your little one. I'm such a mush when it comes to kids and so is my DD.

 

[HeatherSue]

We flew in December with my DD4 and DS who was 18 months. I brought lots of snacks (lollipops, crackers, cereal, fruit snacks, etc...), color wonder markers and books, washable markers and coloring books, little animals, little people, the laptop with DVDs, pipe cleaners, stickers, lots of books, etc, etc...

Guess what my son did the entire 2.5 hour flight? SCREAMED!!!! Sometimes there is just NOTHING you can do!! We flew with my daughter several times at this age and she was just as happy as could be. But, you just never know how your kid is going to react!!

I'm a lot of help, aren't I?

 

[emmababy]

Thanks for all the tips!! I think I will hit up the dollar store prior to leaving. I don't want to lug our laptop, plus she isn't really into tv enough to watch dvd. But thanks for all the tips! It's a little over 2 hours, she has flown 10 times but this will be the first flight where she is walking!!