Ideas for 1 Year Old on the Plane??

[HeatherAnne]

Hi All,

I am sure this has been posted many times before....sorry! We are going down to WDW on Thanksgiving Day and I am in desperate need of some ideas to keep my 1 year old occupied on the plane. We have the portable DVD player but he is not really interested in watching TV or movies! He is super active so I am totally stressing out! Any helpful ideas would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks so much!!!

HeatherAnne

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

our kids were 10, 5 (and has dyspraxia & is on the autistic spectrum) 4 and 19 months when we travelled

I know 19 months is slightly older however we travelled from England to Washington then washington to Orlando!

I took...

stickers, plain paper, colouring crayons, magnetic books (make a scene little einstein one) story books, colouring books, small box of legos and mini-figs, small starwars action figures, teeniest petshop hamster house, foam animal shapes that stuck to things and an MP3 loaded with kiddy songs

I also picked him up lots of snacks at the airport once we were through security- raisins, chips, a yoghurt, crackers.

He really did surprise us, he wanted to feed alot (still breastfed) he wanted to sleep, stand on my lap and people watch, he loves putting stickers on the paper, drawing and eating... he watched a bit of kung fu panda with no noise and looked out with window with his oldest sister alot too. We did play pass the baby alot as he was a lap child and for us that was probably easier than him having his own seat, he's a large little fellow and the seats don't lay back enough for him to have slept comfortably in them.

 

[Minniemouse07]

If he is that active I would buy him a seat and use his car seat.

My ds (2yo when we flew) is the same way and even though his older sister fell asleep every plane flight in her car seat... ds was awake the ENTIRE trip.

He wasn't thrilled about staying in his seat, but dh and I worked hard at keeping him amused and we all did okay.

Things that helped:

Rear facing car seat - This way he was facing us and could interact easier.
Travel Size Magnadoodle
Small Characters - Either Disney Character sets from the Disney Store or Little People... they are a big hit
Thomas Trains - Ds is addicted to these so it was a no brainer to bring them
Board Books - Just one or two
Sippy Cup - Easier than dealing w/ an open cup on the plane

We had dh's laptop and a few DVDs in case we REALLY needed them...but we never did! We fly down from Philly and w/ our under 3hr flights I didn't want ds to freak out when we HAD to turn it off so we tried to not break it out in the first place!

HTH!

 

[PrincessPoohsMom]

DD has logged many airline miles, and I've found the secret is lots of NEW. New snacks, new toys, new books, etc. I always hit the $1 store before a trip...don't need to spend a lot, anything a child's never seen before is a hit!

Some things that have gone over great:
*coloring/activity books (Color Wonder by Crayola is great, no mess)
*stickers
*window clings (if you've got a window seat)
*post-it notes (DD had a blast sticking them all over the seat, tray, window)
*magnet sets
*photo albums with pictures of Mommy, Daddy, grandparents, etc.

I basically take enough to have one new thing to pull out every 20 minutes or so. It sounds like a lot, I know, but my sanity is worth it. Also lots of snacks, as wide a variety as you can. Have a pacifier or sippy/straw cup with water/juice/milk ready during take off & landing to help with his ears.

My other tip: Run him around the gate area as much as possible before you board. He might just surprise you and sleep a good portion of the flight.

Good luck to you, and just remember, the plane will eventually land, and you'll never see your fellow passengers again. Don't let grumblings and dirty looks get you even more stressed if your little one decides he's having none of this flying thing. Focus on keeping him as comfortable as you can, and ignore everyone else.

Have a great trip!

 

[cshelzy]

we just returned with my 15month old we took dry cherrios, puffs, and freeze dried friut along with his sippy cup that we filled with water after security.
as for toys we took a travel magnadoodle, a small sketch pad with crayons, some books and a few small cars.
but he fell asleep both flights as the plane started to taxi and slept almost the entire flight(he was in his scerena car seat) when he did wake up on the flight to Florida the only thing he played with was the dollar store foam blade fan his 10 year old sister had around her neck.

just a little tip about taking the carseat we flipped it upside down and clipped it to the back of our umbrella stroller with the belt from our shopping cart cover it worked great and was easy to get around the airports.

 

[HeatherAnne]

Thanks so much for all the great ideas! Anyone out there have anymore helpful hints for me?

HeatherAnne

P.S. He will have his own seat! That is a MUST!!

 

[nettii]

I love giving my kids new thing on a trip it does help keep them occupied longer.
I would get him one of those travel bead/train toys on the hard wire. I dont know what they are called and I hope I described it well enough.
also I have taken a small Pepsi or coke bottle filled it with rice and put small objects in it to find, another thing I used to always take on trips when my kids were little was the view master with some new slides.
and I like to wrap up the toys in small gift bags the size of a lunch bag- I use stickers and ribbon and make it very colorfull and fun. Some times they get a new toy some times they get a yummy snack. good luck and have fun!Nettii

 

[nettii]

Oh yeah we were there at the same time last year and the weather was awsome, warm and sunny and the crowds were low! Have a great trip!