Airplane Appropriate Toddler Toys

[kep]

I thought it might be helpful to start a list of 'mama-approved' activities for airplane travel. In other words, toys that don't make tons of noise, don't bounce, don't have a million small pieces, aren't heavy (like a backpack full of wooden toys might be...), etc.

I'll start:

Matchbox Cars & Airplanes
DVD player & movies
Small plastic egg timer
Silly Putty
Crayola Color Wonder Markers & Color Book
Leap Pad

Add on anything you can think of! :)

Kelli
Mama to Luke
4.2003

[vwh99]

Magnadoodle is always a good one.

Val
dd 10/25/03

[o_mom]

Books!

[jd11365]

Fisher Price Little People Lift-The-Flap books. Keeps Kayla busy for at least 30 minutes!
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/littlepeople/products/default.asp?section=lic&id=32135

[cara1]

Stickers

[wdland45]

These worked well for my 2 and 4 year olds...


Colorform Fun Pockets - Bob the Builder, Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, Clifford, Wiggles and many more. Bought these at Buy Buy Baby.
http://chriscornerstore.com/wifunpotrco.html


Imaginetics - Similar to Colorforms, but use magnetics. Every character you can imagine - Thomas, Clifford, Little Pony, etc. Bought these at Toys R Us.
http://www.cambitoys.com/imaginetics.html



Water Wow - Use a water pen to color in pictures. Comes in SpongeBob, Dora, My Little Pony, etc. Bought these at the Rag Shop and A.C. Moore (using their weekly 40% off coupon)
http://www.bizrate.com/buy/noncat_prod_details__oid--384295706.html


Aqua Doodle Coloring Mat - Use a water pen to color in Pictures. Comes in Winnie the Pooh, Thomas, etc. Got these at Toys R Us.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/toys/B0007WHCO8//002-5622485-6473655


All were great because they were FLAT! Fit well into my carry on. If you go with the Water Wow or the Aqua Doodle Color Mats, remember to sit near a rest room or ask the flight attendant for a glass of water because you will be refilling the pens often!

Happy Trails!

Danielle, Mom to Alex, 12.03.01 and Brian, 7.27.03

[Bearhut]

Foamies

[Piglet]

I just got DS1 a Pixter 1.0 on clearance and it has a volume switch that is hard to find, in the menus, so I set it to mute before I gave it to him. I take it with me on every plane ride, grocery trip, etc. He loves it!

[hez]

I'll second (third?) the books! That, and his favorite stuffed animal to use as a pillow for when he (inevitably, thank heavens) falls asleep. I know, we've got it easy that books are all it (usually) takes.

[Jen841]

Baby Einstein Flash Cards have saved us! Just putting them in and out of the box is fun.... to a little one!

A deck of cards can give hours of fun. Don't fret if you lose a few, lost cards are entertainment costs.

Pens.... rarely allowed to use, so fun when allowed.

Cheerio Books- priceless!

Bathtub books- easily cleaned after travels

[kellyotn]

I've only flown with a 14 month old, but at that age, it was all about the snacks. :) Anything can be a toy at that age, but having loads of snacks saved us. She didn't care a bit about any of the toys we brought for her. She did read the in-flight magazine though. ;)

If I flew now, oldest would be 3, so we'd take books and her My First Leap Pad. For the youngest, Matchbox cars. They both really get a kick out of using grown-up pens, and that's easy.

[fauve01]

my parents live a 5 hour plane ride away, so we are well-versed with airplane trips and airport fun. DD does not sleep at all on travel days, so we always have:

playdough
empty spiral pad of notebook paper
stickers (a giant book of 300 i get at target)
crayons, pens
matchbox cars
favorite and new snacks, including lollipops and smarties (she only gets those on the plane)
new thin paperback books, cost about $3-4 (lately dora)
"I Spy" book (also paperback)
playing cards
necklaces from the party favor section of target
dvd/player

i also go to the dollar store and see if they have anything fun and different.

on the plane, DD has been known to play for ages with a cup of ice and two cups (make sure you have a change of clothes after this! the ice melts and DD is soaked--quiet but soaked). coffee cups are good for stacking and filling fun too.

i also make sure to have some motrin in my bag for both of us (lately the chewable kind for DD).

HTH!

Anne + DD 10-03

[kozachka]

Books for us too. Last time we flew the movie about penguins held DS attention for a little while, otherwise he is not interested in TV/DVDs. We always get DS couple new toys for the flight, for the last hour of the trip or so.

[janeybwild]

Anything that can be lost on the floor :) I went to the dollar store and the biggest hits were a hand held fan with soft blades that she could turn on and off and play with, books, sticker books, and snacks, snacks, snacks (an 8 hours flight!).

[Twin Mom]

We bring a lot of what others have said, but one other thing we do is buy a bunch of little things at the dollar store and then wrap them up as presents. When someone gets crabby or bored we give each twin a "present". They get sooo excited b/c they LOVE presents. Who doesn't, right? I used to wrap up stuff that wasn't even new that we already had in the house, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with that much longer.

One note about the aquadoodle and other toys with water pens - My DS figured out how to open the pens and now likes to dump the water out (and sometimes drink it, yuck) so just be sure your DC hasn't figured it out or you will not be a happy mommy. Fortunately this was done in my house and not on a plane.

[kep]

All of these ideas have been great, but I had never even heard of some of Danielle's before. Thanks! :)

Kelli
Mama to Luke
4.2003

[muskiesusan]

My sister made DS1 an I Spy Bag for Christmas. It is kind of heavy, but with about 50 things to look for in the bag, it takes a ton of time to look for everything. Here's an example:

http://www.austinmama.com/myspybag.htm

We also take a bunch of travel games I picked up at Cracker Barrel like handheld pinball, a game where you flip peanuts into a bucket, the magnetic face/hair boards w/small pen to drag the pieces around, etc. These games are all flat, and even if the kids can't do them right, they still hold entertainment value.

Sometimes the best toy is just a puppet made from the barf bag!


Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01
& Alex 04/04

[C99]

Thanks for the great ideas -- so timely! I am flying next week with my 3-y/o and 10-m/o (by myself!) so I need all the help I can get!

[TraciG]

great ideas we just flew with Sydney for the first time, the BEST thing we had was a DVD player, it was also good for the hotel room.

[kransden]

I discovered this by accident. Make your child their own "travelog".

I was afraid when I went to WDW on vacation dd might be interested in autographs, so I made her an "autograph" book. I stole some images off the internet and dropped them in MS Word. On the front I had a nice picture, her name and the date. I used the landscape print function. I put it all together like a booklet and stapled it.
On the plane, the papers were together and she colored like crazy. I asked her to draw pictures of what we did at WDW. Afterward I wrote what she said it was on the picture. It has turned out to be a neat keepsake of the trip, and it kept her busy!

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[denna]

I have no suggestions, I just really wanted to say Thank you Kelli for bringing this topic up. I mean I probably would have brought it up as a question eventually. My DS is due in April so I have a lil time before I need the toddler toys but I wanted to have the toys in mind, we currently live in Italy and fly to Chicago, and LA for family. These tips definitely will help. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

-Denna

Oh, if anyone has any advice of long flights for an infant it would be well appreciated.

Thanks