Entertaining enroute

[usagibuffy]

My big kids will be 5.5 and almost 3 when we leave in 6 weeks. We haven't flown with them or even done much in the way of long car trips. I'll need to entertain them in the shuttle to the airport for an hour and a half, at the airport for a couple hours, on the plane for 5 hours, then on the bus to our resort. Repeat in reverse on the way home. I'm hoping they'll sleep on the plane since it's a red eye. Ugh. What do your kids keep busy with? We'll have their iPods, but those really only keep their attention an hour or so, especially the toddler.

 

[Scootypuffjr]

My big kids will be 5.5 and almost 3 when we leave in 6 weeks. We haven't flown with them or even done much in the way of long car trips. I'll need to entertain them in the shuttle to the airport for an hour and a half, at the airport for a couple hours, on the plane for 5 hours, then on the bus to our resort. Repeat in reverse on the way home. I'm hoping they'll sleep on the plane since it's a red eye. Ugh. What do your kids keep busy with? We'll have their iPods, but those really only keep their attention an hour or so, especially the toddler.

Hit the one spot at Target! My son especially likes the coloring book packs and the magic marker books, but they have all kinds of fun stuff on the cheap!

 

[bostonminnie]

We just got back from WDW with our 2 year old. I went to the dollar store, Target, and Walmart, and filled his carry-on with crayons, stickers, tattoos, books, and other random things from the dollar bins. My husband downloaded a bunch of apps on his phone. Between the apps and the new toys in the carry-on, my son was happy for our 3 hour flight. I also packed lots of fun snacks for him. I saved some of the new toys for the plane ride home. Good luck and have a great trip

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

My big kids will be 5.5 and almost 3 when we leave in 6 weeks. We haven't flown with them or even done much in the way of long car trips. I'll need to entertain them in the shuttle to the airport for an hour and a half, at the airport for a couple hours, on the plane for 5 hours, then on the bus to our resort. Repeat in reverse on the way home. I'm hoping they'll sleep on the plane since it's a red eye. Ugh. What do your kids keep busy with? We'll have their iPods, but those really only keep their attention an hour or so, especially the toddler.

Why are you spending "a couple hours" at the airport? You could cut your wait time by quite a bit by not wasting so much time at the airport.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

Why are you spending "a couple hours" at the airport? You could cut your wait time by quite a bit by not wasting so much time at the airport.

With young children I can imagine it being quite a hassle to manager everything at the airport, and since airports can be so stressful, I would assume the reasoning is just to be there and not have to worry about missing any flights. My family always gets to the airport 2+ hours ahead of time and we always take the earliest flight possible, and our airport isn't even that large.

Have you considered pipe cleaners? I have no idea if they're allowed on planes or not but they can be quite entertaining. I'd look into them. Coloring books are always good options as well.

 

[hcox31]

We will have some new books, colouring books, card games in my sons carry on. Every once in a while he can open something new. Also we will download some new apps on the iPad as well as a couple of shows and movies he likes.

Also never underestimate the power of snacks and special treats

 

[MommyMK]

DVD player, stickers, post its, wiki sticks, color wonder coloring books, dry erase, books, apps on a tablet, lots of snacks that can be eaten slowly. In the airport walk them around while one of you sits with your stuff.

 

[luvmy2babies]

You’ve gotten great advice. The airport itself can be really entertaining especially for children who have not flown. My son has flown at 10 months, 21 months, 2.5 and 4.5. Once he hit that 21 month mark and understood what an airplane was, he really enjoyed just looking out the big window at our gate with his sister watching the airplanes. He especially liked watching them prepare the plane we were going to be on for our trip.

Funny thing though on the flight at age 2.5. I don’t know what all I brought along for him. Probably most of what has been named here. He spent over half the flight playing with the orange that came with my breakfast.

 

[Bluegrrl]

I cannot say enough good things about the Nabi or Nabi jr! It's like a little iPhone/tablet that is completely baby-proof! It's got lots of learning apps on it, plus you can skype and take pics with it! It also has a daddy/mommy mode which restricts baby from downloading weird things.

It kept our babe busy for hours. M&Ms also were a big hit. I imagine that special "travel only" toys would be good as well. Like others have said, hit up the Target $1 area. Crayola makes special markers that only color the page, not anything else, that might be good. Good luck and have fun!