How do you keep a 19-month-old occupied on a plane?

[sweet_pea]

We're planning to fly cross-country in the near future and I'm starting to get really worried about how I'm going to keep DD occupied. This will be our first plane trip, and DD is very active. Does anyone have any recommendations for specific toys to have on hand? Any other strategies that worked for you and your DC? I would really appreciate hearing how others have done it! Thanks!

[JBaxter]

Keeping them strapped in the car seat as much as possible is a biggie for us. Lots of snacks. Raisins , grapes, casadian farms fruit O's, etc. Magna doodle, baby signing time videos.

[willow33]

We just flew home at Christmas with our 20 month old DD. We had tons of snacks, her favorite videos, books, mini doodle thing, lovey and her favorite blanket.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

portable DVD player with headphones and some favorite movies and one or two new ones.

snacks that take a long time to eat like a bag of cheerios

[LMPC]

We typically do a couple of favorite things (e.g., her favorite doll) but then load up on crap I would not buy at any other time in her life except when we were going to be trapped for 3+ hours! Annie's bunny gummies, enough stickers to cover the entire flight crew, new crayons....and enough food (my kid has an appetite like you wouldn't believe) for 3x the amount of time we are to be in the air. TSA has never given me any grief on the copious amounts of food I bring ;)

[crl]

Snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. Individually packaged.

Catherine

[3blackcats]

We do:
-snacks
-books
-ColorWonder was a huge hit


We keep DD in her car seat as much as we can. Just take her out to change her. She likes to people watch too which helps.

[larig]

Snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. Individually packaged.

Catherine

exactly. those little snack ziplocs with different things--cheerios, other little stuff. Someone once told me one cheerio for every minute of your flight.

[catsnkid]

No clue but new, interesting toys would probable help! In about a year and half we may be doing an extremely long trip to Asia.

[LKMang]

one thing ds loved was window clings!! he had a great time putting them on the window and taking them off. stickers, crayons, a mini magnadoodle. the portable dvd player helped the most.

[Seitvonzu]

again-- SNACKS

i picked up this great tip here and it has worked since DD was 14 months (and it occupied her 4 year old cousin too when we were visiting)-- pick up one of those larger sized day of the week pill boxes. i got mine at target --the first was less than 2 dollars, then they switched brands and it was nearer to 5-- still WORTH EVERY PENNY. fill with small things (cereal, sunflower seeds, granola, small crackers). i bought the kind for people with arthritis-- push the top, they pop up. my child could do this independently and LOVES IT. plus, the snacks didn't spill everywhere (it's very easy to operate)

this snack trick combined with snacks given by the airline (they love cute kids!), a pad of paper/crayons and books occupied my child for 4 hours. i had all sorts of prepared activities, and....no-- snacks, books, mommy drawing. this is what we did :) from maryland to texas. :)

now that she's closer to three she likes to do more things. and we DO rely more on media than we used to.... she likes movies, cds, books on cd, etc. i always bring some new stuff when traveling, and TONS of stickers. i've also read that post it notes/playing cards are good... we've done window clings in the car, but you need to be sure they can reach the window and won't get frustrated dropping stuff.

good luck-- you can do it! once you are on the plane...that's the easy part, imho. it's the carting/security/etc that i find cumbersome! have fun on your trip!

[tropicalmom]

Snacks and carseat.

[MamaMolly]

Scotch tape. Make up games with it as you go along. Lots of packets of snacks. I toss all nutrition rules out the window when we fly.

[wencit]

Haven't seen anyone mention this, but since it's your first flight with DD, I would also HIGHLY recommend having your daughter eat/drink during takeoff and landing so that the pressure does not build up in her ears, causing her to scream for the majority of descent (ask me how I know that!). I don't feed my kids much before getting on the plane, so that I know they'll be hungry enough to want to eat during takeoff. Remember to buy a drink after going through security because the flight attendants won't come around with drinks until after you've reached cruising altitude.

Agree with the suggestions of snacks, especially stuff that I wouldn't dream of giving at home. My 17 month old DS also found a cup of ice fascinating for quite a while. Little gifts that were wrapped (took forever to take the wrapping paper off, thus killing some time). My DS also loves dental floss, so I let him play with that. A small keychain flashlight provided some entertainment, too.

Good luck! It's difficult, but just remember that the flight will eventually end at some point! :)

[theriviera]

For us, keeping her strapped in her carseat for most of the flight was a disaster. She was pissed that she couldn't move around and there was way too much stimulation for her to sleep. We no longer bring the carseat on the plane.

What has helped?


Suckers. A friend gave us this tip after our first rough flight with her. i brought the dum dums. She doesn't get them at any other time and while they are kind of a mess, they kept her entertained and were great to help with the pressure during takeoff/landing
IPhone loaded up with videos and a pair of kid size headphones (bought some on amazon). She was only mildly entertained by this but it helped
Stickers
Crayons/Paper to draw
Snacks and tons of them!


DD has traveled a lot in her short life but things got much more difficult for us once she hit 18 months. Our most successful flight was one where we had about a 2 hour layover (after the 1st 4 hour flight). She was able to sleep in the stroller during that time. She is a great sleeper at home but not so much on the go. I think the lights and all the noise and people make it too hard for her to go to sleep. Ideally, we would not fly during her nap time (as she won't nap and then is just super cranky on top of cabin fever) but we haven't been able to make that work given our destinations.

Good luck!

[sweet_pea]

Wow, thanks so much for all your helpful replies! I just bought a magnadoodle – I completely forgot about this toy but remember it being lots of fun when I was a kid. And thanks for reminding me about stickers. I'll be sure to stock up on LOTS of snacks, too. Using a pillbox for the snacks sounds like a good idea. Once again, I really appreciate the many useful tips!

:signthankspin:

[Dr C]

Go to the dollar store and stock up on stickers. Let her use them to cover the in flight magazines. It's more entertaining than it sounds!

[ehf]

A collection of toiletries bags filled with the different toys and snacks was a huge hit. She just figured out zippers (16 months) and liked opening the different bags to find out what was in them.

Stickers in one, mini color wonder pad/pens in one, mini crackers in one, etc.

Extra packages of travel wipes--she loved cleaning the seat off. I don't know why. Weird but both useful and time-consuming.

Stringing beads from Alex worked.

She loved these little, round baby flashcards. Not so much to use as flashcards, but she's big into sorting. She also liked taking those out and putting them into the toiletry bag they were in.

Target usually has a whole collection of small, cheap bags.

[sweet_pea]

I have more and more good ideas thanks to you ladies. Thanks so much!

[hillview]

This is a tough age -- not to upset you but more to say it is tough. They are often too young to enjoy DVD time / understand why they have to stay still :)

Car seat for this age (at least with my DSs) was not optional -- HAVE to have it
Snacks
Wrap snacks or small toys in wrapping paper (this adds time to the process)
The vitamin box works well
Finger puppets
Stickers that can be taken off easily -- stick on window and tray table and your nose and cheek etc
Post its work well too
New lift the flap books (never seen before)
Get some cups from the flight attendant and get an ice cube or cheerios and practice pouring -- a little messy but keeps attention

I try not to let kids get up at all -- once kids think they can get up, getting into the car seat is painful.

PP said you have to drink something on take off/landing. This is KEY KEY KEY. Bring a sippy cup and have water or juice or something for drinking.

Bring spare clothes for DC (my kids drink more on planes and pee more -- we often have pee leaks which we never usually got). Bring yourself a spare shirt.

Have DC wear comfy clothes, bring a sweatshirt for DC, take DC's shoes off to minimize kicking the seat issues.
ENJOY!
/hillary

[sweet_pea]

Thanks for the great tips, Hillary!