Ideas for toys on the airplane? 5 hour flight..

[disneyrn]

I read somewhere else that pipe cleaners were very entertaining for little ones. Well we are going to give it a try. I figure this isn't something that they play with at home therefore they may like it for 10-15 min. Can't wait 13 days till take off.

 

[all4fun]

Just bought a big bag of these at the Dollar Tree. Thought I would mention it.

 

[tjmw2727]

We leave in about 2 weeks and we have gotten DS some color wonder stuff, view master with toy story, franklin, and some marine life disc. We are debating etchasketch. We are also thinking some little tonka cars and maybe playdoh if we can carry it on. I am planning to wrap some of the stuff up like presents and let DS open one every hour or so of the flight. I am also putting some in our checked bag so he will have a few new things to play with on the way home. At target they have a kids version of uno with curious george and some disney characters on the cards, we are thinking about getting this also so we all have something to do together.

Unfortunately, you are going to have to ditch the playdough and unwrapp the presents Personally I would not bring the etchasketch - its heavy and dosen't keep the kids interest for long. Wow that sounded negative, sorry.

I will try and happy up now... A travel magnadoodle however does work for my kids. We have had the best luck with paper and colored pencils, stickers and colorforms. Leap pad or leapster but please, please bring the headphones!! My dd once played with a roll of scotch tape for an entire 2 1/2 hour trip. Also agree that pipe cleaners can be lots of fun - we make lots of characters and then do "puppet shows". Color wonder is great for the preschool set and those similar type books with the clear marker are fun for older kids.

I also offer fun snacks my kids don't have at home. I can't remember the ages of the OP's kids so apologies if these are not age appropriate. Starburst on the plane are a family tradition, helps lots with the ears and the sugar can help with airsickness. I never allow lunchables at home but they get them on the plane, luckily they do have them without a drink.

TJ

 

[supersuperwendy]

Ha Ha Ha...I brought all kinds of stuff like crayons and colored pencils and my daughter wound up playing with her shoe laces instead!!!!!!!

What time of day is your fligt? your little one may just sleep for ya!!!!!

 

[all4fun]

Ha Ha Ha...I brought all kinds of stuff like crayons and colored pencils and my daughter wound up playing with her shoe laces instead!!!!!!!

What time of day is your fligt? your little one may just sleep for ya!!!!!

That is funny...

As far as sleeping goes...we have the same problem as the OP (5hr+ flight). Our ds usually sleeps at least an hour on the plane, but that's about it. Our flights are usually during the day going and sometimes in the eves coming back. He's having a harder time sleeping on the plane now that he's older, unfortunately... He used to sleep a lot during the flight, which was nice.

 

[justwinnie]

I love printing things from the Magic Artist website at disney.com:
http://disney.go.com/magicartist/index.html

They have all these wonderful things you can print out:
-calendar pages that you can use as a countdown calendar-- mark the days you'll be in Disney with a little Mickey head!
- paper dolls that you can cut out ahead of time and use on the plane
- personalized story books-- you enter child's name and some info and you can print out a book!
- coloring pages
- activity books
- games such as checkers

This site is so awesome. So many different characters area available! I love having the option to print things out as B&W or color to save on ink! Whatever you print out in B&W then also becomes a coloring activity!


I also second the scotch tape! I got this set from Disney that had different patterened rolls of tape and one dispenser. My DD loved using it and would just play for a long time. You have to be careful in case the cutting edge is metal. At the Dollar Store or craft store, you can find patterned tape in scrapbooking and craft sections.

Other things I've used with my DD3-- who has flown 6+ times since she was 18 months old:
- lollypops-- usally banned from home, can help with ears popping
- new book (lift the flap type or pop-up for extra interest!)
- my little pony (I bring along a bunch of butterfly hair clips and barrettes-- DD's old ones-- to use on the pony hair. She LOVES it)
- colored pens and paper
- fruit by the foot- it takes her a while to eat a whole roll-- chewy and helps with ears popping
- DVD player
- lacing cards
- construction paper (I found half-sheet sized pads at Dollar tree)
- stickers-- DD loves the foam ones, but be careful b/c they're usually super sticky! Plus you'll have a lot of backing papers to clean up.
- individual boxes of cereal-- DD loves to snack on cereal and by bringing the little boxes, I get a variety and don't have to worry about crushing it too much. Again, it takes a while to eat.
- iPod with her favorite songs-- behind the ear headphones worked best on DD. We couldn't use in-ear ones and found that the old-style ones that go above your head didn't adjust small enough to fit her.

All those things were sucessful in keeping DD busy. However we would do a different thing each time just to make sure she would be occupied. As she got older, she got much more restless and didn't nap as long.

We also always used her carseat and plan on doing so for our upcoming trip. We found it easier to keep her in her seat. The one time I flew w/out the carseat, I was flying alone so I thought it'd be easier not to use it and checked it instead. BAD idea! It was so simple for her to undo the airplane lap belt so she constantly wanted to get up and move around.

However, to carseat or not is a whole other thread.. sorry for digressing...

Have a great trip!

p.s- our flight time is normally 3 hours, but I have the unfortunate knack for picking flights that get delayed for hours at the airport. So these tatics work equally well at the airport.

 

[fenfur]

We have a VideoNow player that is basicaly a little personnal DVD player that plays special disks. All sorts of toddler disks are available, Thomas, Clifford, Sesame Street, Dora. Target has one version on sale this week, but I don't know if they have disks available. But the best part is that they run on AAs so they are easy to swap out numerous times, but the batteries last a long time anyways.