Toddler Airplane Travel Toys

[cp5]

We are taking an int'l trip with my 16 1/2 month old son and he'll be 18 months by the time we get back. I bought him his own seat! I was wondering if anyone has ideas for some cool toys that I can take along with me to occupy him during the flight.

Thanks in advance,

CP

[squimp]

We travel with DD a lot, and usually hit the dollar store before we go....We're heading to Montreal for a week on Sunday, and so I picked up a new coloring books and some stickers. A foam airplane for pretending like she's flying the plane. A toy baby, 'cause DD is SO into babies right now. We'll bring our Doodle pro, and a box of crayons. And lots of snacks help. I try not to bring too many toys, for a while there, just cups and barf bags were entertainment enough!

And I'm bringing a DVD player, but we only break that out during the really long flights. You can rent DVD players at certain airports - we used InMotion. It's $12 a day, which was perfect for us to see it if was useful. It is for us.

Have a fun trip!

[Lucia]

Here's what works for us (we have been living overseas with our son since he was six months old and we have done a lot of LONG flights!!!)

-dental floss (when my son was 18 months old I flew from Japan to Louisiana with him by myself and this was a lifesaver!!)...he loved pulling it out of the container. I would just roll it back on and hand it back to him!

-magnets and magnet board (or any metal sheet/cookie sheet/smaller)...he especially loved magnets made with family photos!

-finger puppets

-stickers/band aids

-portable dvd player

-cheap childrens' paperback books (lighter to carry than board books) or clothe activity books

-lots of interesting snacks

-small cars, animals

-crayola color magic markers and paper

-lots of patience and a sense of humor!

Good luck and have a great trip!

[hjdong]

A travel magnadoodle and wrap everything like it's a present. Oh, and the barf bag makes a great emergency puppet if you have a sharpy.

[neeter]

These are great ideas, since we are going on a long flight soon! Thanks for asking and posting! :)

[crl]

Baby Einstein travel flashcards were our biggest hit. Snacks were good too!

[whittyanne]

We fly often! Here's a sampling of stuff I bring along for airplane entertainment:

-mini magnadoodle (a must-have!)
-thomas trains
-figurines of some sort (we have some sesame street ones)
-books
-DVDs and a laptop!

Good luck on your flight!

[californiagirl]

Mini magnadoodle
Stickers
Spiral bound index cards (color on and stick stickers to)
Roseart crayons, 8 big ones in a plastic box
One of those pill holders with 4 slots per day, filled with snacks
More snacks
Jellybeans for descent (she always chews them)
Books
Flash cards, hole punched and held together
Parent's magazine cell phone
Mini see and say
Music wand: http://store.yahoo.com/kidsurplus/ecpmuswand.html

[cp5]

I've noticed a lot of you mentioned the mini magnadoodle but when I looked at it the age seemed a little too advanced for him. It says 3-5 years old.

I did pick up a parent's magazine one that is meant for 18 month olds but its not mini by any means! :)

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas! I think the challenge will be on the trip there since he is going to be at an in between age but on the way back he'll be 18 months so we'll have more options to keep him entertained. For me the challenge has been to try and find toys that aren't noise makers! He loves those because he dances with the tunes but I could only imagine how annoying that would be to some people! :)

CP

[californiagirl]

A lot of things we give her on planes say 3+. On an airplane, where I'm sitting next to her riveted to her every move, I'm sure she's not going to choke on anything, and I'm not as worried as I might be elsewhere. If he can use the full-sized one, then the mini one should be fine, as long as you're there to keep him from choking himself with the cord or ripping the pen off and eating it (neither of which my child has ever shown any tendency to do, by the way).

Also, we used to worry about noisemaking toys. Then we decided that no noisemaking toy is as loud or as annoying as a screaming baby (well, maybe not quite, but close). We don't use them when people are (normally) sleeping. The Parent's magazine cellphone is a baby favorite and a passenger least-favorite, due to its tendency to ring, and I admit the guy behind us one flight fell asleep (mid afternoon, before dinner was served, with all the cabin lights on) and then told the flight attendant "I could have sworn I was woken by a ringing phone". Oops. Obviously we try to keep it sane, but a few noisemaking toys chosen to maximize interest and minimize annoyance are not a bad thing.

[cp5]

Thanks for that post I had to laugh at the ringing waking the guy up! :) My son has that phone also and he loves it and he also loves the keys from parents! I was thinking of taking those along! :) I am planning on taking the small world laptop he has which is definitely noise making but I will only let him use it during the waking hours!

I guess your right though whats worse a baby screaming or noisy toys!???? :)

Thanks a bunch! I know traveling will get easier as he is older because then you can get all the activity books, etc to keep them busy!