Busy Activities for plane ride?

[heath dog]

Does anyone have any great ideas for keeping little ones busy on the plane ride? I will have paper, crayons, snax, open the flap books, sticker books.
My boys are almost 4 and 2 years.

TIA

 

[lisadisney2003]

For road trips, I have been buying my DD these crayola coloring books with magic markers. The markers don't mark anything but the special paper in the coloring books. It is a lot less messy and the books are big enough to last for hours.

 

[DisneyArk]

We flew to WDW when my sons were that age. Fun, fun, fun! I bought them several new small toys that they played with. My sons loved action figures and could pretend with them for hours. Some examples that they loved were Buzz Lightyear, Transformers and Power Rangers.

I also bought a few junky toys from the dollar store that I didn't mind losing or leaving behind. Right now the Dollar Tree has little sets of pirates that are cute.

I also printed out Disney coloring pages and mazes for them to color.
There is a "sticky" thread at the top of the Family board that has some great ideas. They also have some mazes that are easy enough for a 4 year old. And post #6 has links to coloring pages.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=226819

If you have a Leapster they might enjoy that. But we have found that the plane is very loud and the kids can't hear anything without earphones.

Have a great trip!

 

[wrighter]

My advice depends upon how long your flight is. If you're dealing with anything longer than a couple of hours, I honestly can't emphasize enough how awesome a portable DVD player is. You can get them quite inexpensively these days, and they almost all have dual headphone jacks. We finally caved last year, have used it multiple times (only when flying, though - it's the "special treat) and I have to admit it is worth its weight it gold. I've had to fly with my DS3 and DD1 cross country twice with no accompanying adult, and my DS was so enthralled I barely noticed him sometimes!

That said, my other suggestions for shorter flights are: Playdough. I was amazed at how long my DS would play with playdough. Bring some shape cutters and you're good to go. And the other big one that really surprised me: If you're in a jam, let them rip little pieces of paper and stuff it into an empty water bottle. Maybe it's because my kids aren't allowed to rip paper at home, but my DS will spend an enormous amount of time doing this. Weird, I know, but it's been a lifesaver on a couple of occasions. If you have the foresight to bring a variety of colored paper, even better. They love looking at the designs of all the colors inside that bottle.

Good luck!

 

[FourBoysMom]

I found smaller versions of tha magna-doodle for travel (about 8"x10")... my 18 month old will play with that for hours....so I've hidden his old one....so when we leave on Nov 1st he'll be happy to see it again.

I did invest in a laptop so the older boys can watch a movie....we'll see how that goes....

Trixie

 

[TheGoofster]

I would definately have to second the portable DVD player. Just make sure you bring a tried and true movie that you know will keep their attention the whole time.
Another possibility would be a portable CD player with some of your favorite kids' stories on audiobooks. This is a little more risky, because there is less to grab the kids attention, but if it is a story that you know your kid likes, it could easily keep their attention.
Another possibility would be to drug them, so that they sleep

 

[Fintastic]

Try Post-It notes. Kids can have amazing fun with those.

Also, get a few small toys and wrap them up in several layers of wrapping paper. Unwrapping all the layers keeps kids busy for a few minutes, and the toy is that much more exciting when they finally get to it!

 

[XYSRUS]

I've had good luck with those velvety color in magic marker posters. They come in like a 5x7 size. Also the magic pen coloring booklets. The little one can do the coloring one and the older can do puzzles etc. Mad Libs for the older crowd-even adults love those! And, good old fashioned books-new ones that you know they want to read.

 

[alloyd1170]

Another vote for a dvd player. Also, the Leapster games, and a mp3 player. Also keep in mind the current restrictions on what you cant bring on board.

I dont know how long your flight is, but we always made our son walk through the airport (and used the stroller as a luggage cart for our carry-on) unless we had a tight connection. It wore him out and he ended up napping on the plane. While waiting to board the plane, we walked him around some more, and he loved watching all the activity of prepping the planes for flight.

alison

 

[JMCDisneyBound]

I got a magnetic book for our last trip that was Wonderful. It had different magnet shapes that you matched up with the shapes in the book. I found it at Dollar tree but I have seen them at Wal mart and Target before!! Have Fun!!

 

[daddys_disney_girl]

When i was little all i wanted to do is talk. If your kid(s) are like that play the disney character game. A- Aurora, B-Belle, C-Cheshire Cat, D-Dumbo and so on. Who ever names one first get the point. Who ever gets more points wins. Or you could have alot of fun if you played disney hangman with disney words and you use a disney character to hang instead of a stick person. Make sure you cut out the diney character before hand, or you could draw it. These games along with coloring kept me busy on all our trips.

 

[Cruz91]

...

That said, my other suggestions for shorter flights are: Playdough. I was amazed at how long my DS would play with playdough. Bring some shape cutters and you're good to go.

I doubt very seriously if you'll be allowed Playdough on flights now. I wouldn't take any unless you're willing to toss it in the trash if the inspectors reject it.