How do you entertain a 2 yo on the plane ?

[TraceyL]

DD2 will be 6 weeks shy of her 3rd birthday when we travel (doesn't time fly ?)

What can I take to keep her occupied on the flight ? I remember when we went with DD1 at this age she didn't sleep the whole way across

DD1 (almost 7) will not be such a problem - she has her Disney readalongs, books and will happily watch a film

Help ??????????????

 

[DisneyBB]

So far we have traveled with both our daughters at all ages. Last year our youngest DD was 2 and she was fine. I expected her to be horrible and wanting to run around everywhere, but she was quite happy with the things I brought for her. By the way she is not the kind of child to sit still for to long, so I was amazed. I bought lots of new things, not expensive, and I gave her one every hour. These consisted of sticker books, magic drawing pad, books , colouring etc. The sticker books were great that would last for about an hour for each book. They were only the cheap kind (49p) that I didn't mind her destorying! The Drawing board went down well, it was a little pocket one and again a cheap version. I also took little snacky things that she would enjoy eating. This year she will be 3 and I am hoping that on top of the new toys she will watch some cartoons.

It never has been as bad as I expect it to be. I don't expect to be able to watch a film my self or really enjoy the flight, but just get through it.

 

[matty624]

Agree totally with the above. We've flown each year since dd was 13 months old and dd son was 1 month old (at the same time). They are now almost 5 and almost 4. the first 2 trips were a bit of a nightmare, neither slept etc etc. However last year (ds was same age as your dd) they were completely entertained by colouring etc and the seat back tv. I'm sure you'll be fine. If we can live through it with two of the little dears, it'll be a piece of cake for you!
Ian

 

[BevS97]

we also take one treat for each hour, and I showed my dd that she had to wait for the big hand to reach the 12 on my watch, and she was able to understand that at 3 1/2.

We had seat back tvs on one flight, and none on the other, and I was very worried about the flight without tvs, but it was fine. Big hits with her, were a tape player (with headphones) and some song and story tapes - I found some tweenies tapes, and some playhouse disney ones, and she listened to them over and over. Also sticker books are brilliant, as is plasticine (I took the really cheap flat kind cause it was easier to pack), and bizarrely someone suggested coloured pipecleaners and yes, she played with them for ages too - the tape player was the best thing though, by miles.

I find the night flight on the return to be much worse, as dd finds it very hard to fall asleep on the plane, and it overtired and quite grumpy, she usually falls asleep about an hour before we land and then gets woken up as we try and leave the plane. I am thinking of asking for some sort of sleeping tablet for our next trip to help her get more sleep.

Bev

 

[0kitsme]

Hi all

I agree with the previous answers re. Giving gifts each hour. It worked well for us in the past, what we used to do was wrap them like birthday presents; it was like Christmas day all over again!!

How about one "good" present wrapped "pass the parcel" style so that one layer could be unwrapped each half hour or so?

 

[BevS97]

i wrapped all the presents the first year we went, but since 9/11 I don't think security like them to be wrapped (saying that they go through an x-ray machine which can see straight through wrapping paper, so I don't know what difference it makes), anyway, I didn't wrap them last time, and dd didn't seem to mind.

Bev