OT - Activities for 3 yr old on a plane?

[geogirl0626]

We're flying to Las Vegas from Jacksonville, FL this Saturday. It's a 5 hour direct flight. I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old. We have a portable DVD player, but the battery only lasts for about 2 hours. What else can I have on hand to entertain the 3 year old? She has flown a lot, but never more than 2-3 hours at at time, so I'm a little worried about being on the plane for so long.

I am planning to pack a little carry-on bag for her with some stuff for her to do. I was thinking coloring books or something like that. Any words of wisdom?

The 10 month old is another issue entirely. I'm just crossing my fingers that she'll actually stay in her car seat and not want to be held the whole time!

 

[LastminuteLouLou]

I'll definitely be watching this thread. We're flying with out 3 year old and 19 month old next month. I'm not too worried because the trips will only be 2-3 hours, but any little tip to make it go easier is good!

geogirl - we've been getting our DD sticker books. DK Publishing (I think) has really nice ones where the stickers can be repositioned multiple times. We've gotten her Disney themed ones - princesses, animals, etc. She seems to enjoy them.

Good luck!

 

[islangrl]

I'm sure you'll get alot of responses, but here is what I found most important... food! Even if they serve a meal on board, if your DD doesn't like it then you'll need something substantial for a 5 hour flight. A personal pizza from pizza hut in the airport was perfect my my kids. Snack foods too, but not too salty or sugary. Good luck!

 

[Disney Brat]

We flew with DD for the first time when she was 3. She brought colouring things, the colour wonder finger paints. She also liked the beading kits. We bought the really thick plastic beading string and big beads with big holes. She made everyone necklaces and bracelets. We brought lots of snacks as well. Oh also some of those Foamies craft kits. They have ones that are simple to finish and are all pre glued. I bought her little figurines as well. She was very occupied and it was a great flight. HTH!

 

[princess&her4princes]

I'm not sure if you've given your child candy yet or not, but we introduced lolly pops for the first time and they were a hit with ours last year....kept him quiet for a looong time and when it was done, we gave him a new one!! Not the huge kind but it was enough to entertain us all! And it was a HUGE treat to him. We also went to the dollar store and bought lots of Disney activity things...stickers, coloring books....he was great, but it was only a 3 hour flight for us. Good luck!!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I second (third? fourth?...) the snacks!!

As for activities, a great thing if you can find them is Wikisticks (not sure I spelled that correctly) - they are like waxed string, and you can make all kinds of models and pictures with them.

Last time, I also printed some Disney coloring pages on line. There were lots out there!

 

[KnightFarms]

We've flown a lot with dd2 and dd4.

Good to hear that your dc10m has their own seat, always a plus.

Bring empty sippy cups for the stewards to fill with juice,water, whatever... It saves lots of clean up. Don't forget to have them fill up your bottle for decent, if your little one still takes a bottle.

The first 45 minutes to and hour is just fun and I've found the kids are usually pretty good.

Then the boredom sets in... bring out something fun that they haven't seen before or not in a while. This time we had little magna doodles for each girl. Those killed another 30 minutes.

Drink cart is coming!!!! Another 15 minutes down.

Don't bring out the movie until the kids get really squirmy. And don't forget head phones that fit their heads/ears because planes are loud and the flight attendants don't love when you turn your movie WAY up.

Mine don't really last the whole movie, but if yours do, GREAT!

You'll probably need a potty break at some point during a 5 hour flight, just make sure you have antibacterial gel to avoid trying to help them wash their hands in such a small space and flush after your kid leaves the little potty area cause it's SCARY!

Someone else mentioned lollipops for the way down, and I totally agree. Get the GIANT round ones that they couldn't possibly bite and they'll work on them for at least 45 minutes of the flight.

I will also be 100% honest, there have been flights that were close to nap time and I have no problem giving my kids some benedryl or a 1/4 of a dramamine to encourage them to take a nap. You could even do it in flight, but it takes about 30 minutes to kick in.

Good luck and have fun. Even if it's terrible, it's only a few hours in the long run. We've had some yucky flights, too, but that was before I got some tips and trick.

 

[geogirl0626]

Thanks for all the advice! I will definitely be bringing snacks for both kids. My little one loves those little gerber puffs and cheerios. She is still breastfed, so I don't have to worry about bottles which is nice. I think waiting to turn on the DVD player until my DD gets squirmy is a great idea! We can probably make it the first couple of hours without it, and then when she gets bored turn it on. She is very excited about having her own little backpack that I'll fill with stuff for her to do. Last time we flew when DD was 2, I took her potty on the plane and she thought it was the coolest thing. Hopefully she won't ask to go potty 100 times! Changing a diaper on the plane is another story entirely. It's so hard to do on those little tables in the lavatory.

I'm going to run to Target tomorrow to pick up some fun things for DD and lots of snacks. Oh, and lollipops too! I'm really excited about this trip and even if the flight isn't that great, we'll survive .

 

[MJAJmom]

Snacks, snacks and more snacks. Lolipops are good for takeoff and landing for ears. With the DVD, bring a new movie so they'll be really into watching it the whole time. My 3yo brings a backpack, filled with a few action figures. That's good for 20 minutes. I bring a pen and small 3x5 notepad. A few crayons and 1 colorbook. Taking a few pipecleaners this time and a magnadoodle.

We have a 3hour flight next week with my 2 boys....

 

[magchavez]

Play-Doh and Uncrustables are my 2 favorites! I buy the little containers of play-doh. I also pull uncrustables out of the freezer before we leave. We eat those as the drink cart comes around. They're good for 8 hours after you take them out of the freezer!