Thinking of something to keep a 4yo occupied on the plane?

[Winston112]

I was thinking of buying him a gameboy but concerned that he may be too young for one. Does anyone have any opinions or experience with gameboys for this age group? If so, what games would be best?

 

[curlyjbs]

There are some cute games for the younger kids but is your son into video games? (nintendo, playstation etc) If not, gameboy probably wont hold his attention. There is a lot of other stuff you can bring to keep him busy on the plane though. My all time favorite is:

crayola model magic Its like playdough but BETTER it doesnt crumble and make a mess, it comes in different colors...(I always get white so it doesnt end up on the shelf with all the "gray" playdough we have.) and you can use it anywhere. Sometimes I grab a handfull throw it in plastic bag and bring it out in the supermarket when the kids get antzy. They just walk around molding it into things. Great stuff! you can get it at any walgreens, walmart, toys r us, kb toys etc.

Hope this helps....Have a great trip!

curly

 

[BetsyAnn]

The above post is a great suggestion. i think there is a new Mickey race game out of the Game boy - I am a little unsure if your 4 year old would like it or not. We are making travel bags for the two day drive to DL. Books, crayons, coloring books, a stuffed animal or two, Disney CD, small ziplocs with legos, and matchbox cars. Also will put some new things in at each stop or so and new things to come back. There are also some travel size games which may be fun!

 

[Beverly Lynn]

any hand held electronic game is good as long as he can work it. he can play with the game boys at toys r us and this way you can see if he can work it ok.
if not they have puzzle books for different age groups and crayola has this mini desk filled with things he can take on the plane with him and I saw a whole display of little travel related games and such at our toys r us this has a lot of thing she might like as well.

 

[Coll0610]

We bought a Magna-Doodle for my son and he loved it. We gave it to him on the plane so that it was brand new and he played with it quite a bit. He was really into mazes at the time, so DH drew some for him.

We didn't get him the gameboy until he was 5. That worked great on the plane, but he liked his new game so much that it was all he wanted to do on the whole trip!

If your son has any cassette tapes he likes to listen to, you could bring those with a walkman. Snacks also work great to pass the time. We give DS fruit snacks on take off and landing to keep him swallowing and help avoid ear problems. DH will also play have DS close his eyes while DH puts a fruit snack or Skittle in DS's mouth, and then DS has to guess what flavor it was.

 

[Claudia1]

At that age, I often did a custom-made activity book. I used puzzlemaker.com to make mazes. I would print a maze and then glue a picture of my son and a pic of something a WDW at the "end". You can generate several very quickly.

You could also have a grandmother, favorite person, or yourself tape their favorite books on cassetes. They really get a kick out of listening to someone they know reading to them with their headphones. This especially helps if you have more than one young traveler. I would suggest that you use some new books to hold their attention, as well as old favorites.

Are you creative? Then write your own story and make a picture book for them to follow. For example, use a favorite toy and make up a story about their trip to WDW. Paste or draw pictures to go with the story. The story could be something like, "Annie's favorite teddy bear gets on a plane and buckles her seat belt. Do you have a seat belt? (pic of plane) ....... The bear loves to eat hot dogs at Mickey Mouse's Maagic Kingdom (pic of a hotdog) ....... The bear is riding Small World (pic of a boat & Small World)" You can be very creative or very simple.

Basically, I tried to have activities that went with our vacation plans.

 

[Too Charming]

We took the new crayola marker that only write on certain kind of paper or the special coloring book. That when when she got sleepy bored she couldn't doodle on the chair or tray tables. They worked really well for my 2 y/o too, as on the colorbook you can only color the picture, you can't go outside of the lines.

We also took hit clips....she had her own music and enjoyed that too.

Most of all she just liked looking out the window at the clouds.

 

[sgtdisney]

My 4 1/2 year old son has had a Game Boy since March of last year. He got it as a present for being the ring bearer in a family member's wedding in Miami. He really enjoys playing the game and goes everwhere with it. The trip back from the wedding, with Game Boy, was a lot more peaceful than the trip down... He is better at most of the games than I am... I suppose it depends on your child. My son also has a Playstation which he is quite good at and uses our home PC frequently with educational games, which he often teaches my wife how to use The only problem with them, at least for us, is he sometimes get's so involved we have to make sure he gets a break from them to he can do more educational things.

 

[Pembo]

I have two inexpensive suggestions that I used for my 5 yo last month.

1. Pipe cleaners! I bought a big bag for a couple dollars. He loved these things. I showed him how to twist them and bend them. Kept him occupied for awhile.

2. Magic Pen books. I found these at Walmart & Kmart. You color with the pen and pictures appear.

We flew from Ohio, 2 1/2 hours. He actually did better on the plane than I did. We took snacks and drinks for him as well.

Good luck

 

[mansheffer]

My 6 year old got Gameboy for Xmas when he was 4 and it was fine. It has kept him busy on a plane to WDW and to Las Vegas. Stick with games like "Tom & Jerry" or "Mario" that don't require reading. It's great not only for the plane but also for waiting in restaurants, or by the pool when I need a break!! As excited as he was about his first plane trip and going to Disney, he actually fell asleep not long afer takeoff and woke up right before landing! Good luck.

 

[magicbound]

Have him try the games by renting or borrowing first. My DS has had a hard time with a few of the games we thought were age appropriate (legos comes to mind, and I'm told by DD that most pokemon-yuk-require reading skills)

That said, last March I went to several Mart stores and stocked up on "backpack clip on travel games"--very inexpensive. Simon was a big hit with all 3 generations as we waited in line. Also, pick up a WDW for kids by kids..guaranteed peace & quiet for hours Before he even asks you to read it! And the little boxes of Legos kept DS amused in restaurants..we came home with tractors, dozers, etc. And sticker books of his favorite things(dinosaurs here) We bought one at AK & it amused him the entire 2hr flight home. Disney charade or trivia booster cards are great if he knows enough of the characters.

 

[skeezixspud]

Definitely the Viewmaster; we got the new Discovery Channel version that doubles as working binoculars; he really felt cool on the AK Safari with his own set of binocs! I paid $14 at TRUS for this one. It came with a set of dinosaur slides, and we got two more on sea animals and jungle animals that first time. Each new trip we get him two new sets of slides; also, DH had some from when he was a kid, and he likes some of those. Keeps him occupied on all sorts of trips. Slide packs run about $3 each. You can also get a little clip-on case for the slides to keep them organized and clipped to his travel pack.

I also have a Visor PDA, and I've put some simple games on it that he can play. It keeps him busy in restaurant lines, etc., but it's not nearly as compelling or addictive as a GameBoy would be.

 

[ToyStory]

I just went to the Dollar store and bought some sticker activity books, Disney books and a coloring book. I also got a pencil bag to put some crayons in and won't have to worry about putting them neatly back in the box.

I also went to Kmart and saw these little puzzles. There are 25 pieces and they are about 5x7 or 4X6 in size once put together. They were two for a dollar.

I will also pack some match box cars and some plain paper and a pen to draw with too. I might get the magic clay too. That was a great idea.

The last time we flew it was on a 10 hour flight overseas and my son only slept for a half hour. He was 19 months old at the time. It was such a long flight, but thankfully we got bumped up to first class so it made it toleable. The floor space was great!! Now that he will be four and the flight is only 2 hours and I am hoping it will be better.

 

[gm]

They are great. They come with a little box,hundreds of stickers and a sticker book to stick them in. They come in all different designs like barbie,toy story etc. They are around $4.99 for the set at TJ MAXX,Ross. They kept my kids busy for hours. try that they will love it.

 

[buzz5985]

I bought a little crayola briefcase at walmart. Comes with dry eraser magic markers and the dry erase board. I put crayons and coloring book in, his favorite book. Bought him some Games to use on my Gameboy LOL (I don't like to share!!) The game was a Rescue Heroes game. I found it on Amazon - they have good reviews on all the games for the young kids. He doesn't really like the gameboy, he would rather watch me play. I carried all this stuff on and what did he do? He slept on the way down and on the way back!!!

Janis

 

[BigDaddy1]

Hey-
What we do is bring a laptop with a DVD drive. We bring a couple of Disney DVD's and our 4 yr. old watches them on the way down and also prior to taking a nap.
I know some peopl don't have this option, but it certainly does work!!!!