Airplane with a 22 month old

[cinmell]

Can anyone tell me how they have occupied an active toddler during the plane ride? We plan on taking crayons/coloringbook and a laptop so she can watch the wiggles and Bear, but that only holds her attention for a short time.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

My DD enjoys stickers and playdough. (Just the tiny party size playdough, not enough in there to make a mess.) We try to fly at nap time too. I always get her a window seat. And I take food, all kinds of snacks. I like the laptop idea, we'll try that next time!

 

[waltandjulie]

We took our 21-month-old daughter from Portland Oregon to London, England, and kept her occupied most of the way with stickers, books, coloring and the in-flight movies. We also gave her plenty of snacks (she loved veggie sticks at the time), and had some cards and miniature games (the type they sell as keychains).

I must say, it actually wasn't bad at all. I would not hesitate to do it again. In fact, we are planning to do it again with my daughter and son (who will be about 20 months old at the time of the trip next year)

Good Luck

 

[jldriscoll]

books, books, books..... my girls (flew with them at 9mon, 2 1/2 yrs, 4yrs. were most content when we gave them our undivided attention. Color with them, stickers with them, books with them..... We did have something cool for our last night trip. A battery operated lite brite. We also fly early in the morning and late at night, lots of the trip is taken up with eating breakfast (I pack) or dinner (again packed) plus we let them go in their jammies (5am is too early to get dressed anyway!) and change on the plane. Fill that time, fill that time....

 

[disneymom3]

I find it helps a lot if my kids are in their carseats. They are used to sitting in them anyway. We sing lots of songs and play "Where'd it go?"
With any little thing you can switch from hand to hand.

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Try colorforms on the windows! Lots of fun and they can be moved all around. Also take snacks that have good play value. Fun shaped cookies and crackers that come in all sorts of characters are great as are the fruit snacks. Try the crayola modeling clay.Less messy than playdough and has a real relaxing feel to it. Plain paper and a set of markers for you to draw with her will keep her happy a long time. She will love you drawing her and daddy etc.Anything disney (tape, book etc is a great addition.


Jordan's mom

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

Along the lines of the recommendation to fly at nap time, we usually arrive at the airport early and let our DD run around as much as possible so that she tires herself out. On one of our flights to WDW, she slept most of the flight.

Another flight she screamed and cried almost the entire trip.

 

[waltandjulie]

Another thing we have done is to give my daughter beads and string to make a necklace. Good luck.

 

[jldriscoll]

Originally posted by waltandjulie
Another thing we have done is to give my daughter beads and string to make a necklace. Good luck.

oooh.... I like that idea! Are there disney beads to be had at TDS? Then they would have their "first souvenier!!

 

[RUDisney]

If my memory serves me correct... I was in TDS just about 2 hours ago... they have princess beads on sale for 50% off. I'm not sure that they're recommended for anyone under 3+ years, though. I didn't buy them because I don't think my 6yo DD is ready for anything that small yet. She still is very oral and sticks everything in her mouth. Yuck!

 

[jldriscoll]

Thanks! I'm on my way, dd 7 will love it. Have to figure out a good substitute for dd 4.

 

[kaseyC]

I always like to put together a goody bag with a variety of suprises. It is made up of mostly things I pick up at the Dollar store and I try to make sure its related to our destination. For our last flight to Disney, It had some disney story books, stickers, 8 pack of crayons, play dough and a little coloring book. She had such a great time discovering and playing with the items, the two hour flight just "flew by". Party stores are a great place to get little miniture games and notebooks, they usually sell them individually as party favors.

 

[trayletha]

Lots of great ideas - also wrap everything !!! They love getting gifts and everytime her attention wanders pull out the next one. On a three hour flight, my dd went through four "gifts".

 

[Bella2000]

Been there done that in Feb with a then 23 month old (by myself on the way down). Issue for that age is so many entertainment items are not age appropriate ( 3 and older etc)

Some items that worked for us:

Bubbles - there is a brand "Little Kids" and they have something called a bubble tumbler. There is a large one - you don't want that - you want the little mini versions. They come in individual or pairs. Go with pair to have extra. Anyway, they have this unique top that when turned upside down they don't spill and the wand is great - larger at top for little hands, smaller circle to blow.
Lifesaver in the security check in line and at the gate (I didn't anticipate this portion of the trip her being bored at the line)
Also in any lines in WDW. We had an extra which we gave to another little friend DD met in the airport.

Window Clings - similar to colorforms but for the window. I was concerned using colorforms since they are small and say age 3 but the clings are larger. I got alphabet ones etc.

Reusable sticker/book - Books where the stickers can be reused - sort of a colorform concept but with stickers.

Favorite Disney Character Beanie In this case it was Tigger. When I wanted DD to "do" something I had Tigger do it first. She still says "Tigger is thirsty, he needs water to make his ears feel much better" (Those Playtex Cups where the straw pops up were great).

Car Seat Ditto Much easier having her in Car Seat - she fell asleep and played in it just as she does in the car.

Those are a few off the top of my head. Good Luck! We now will see how it is with a 30 month old in Sept...yikes

 

[carriep1657]

If you are taking a video camera with a screen, you can show your kids old videos of themselves. This is about their favorite thing in the world to watch. They are 4 yo and 16 months. We also transfer a couple of episodes of their favorite shows to tape. They can't hear the audio but they watch anyway.

I should add that this works much better with my DD. My DS can't resist pushing the buttons. We hold the camera for them but sometimes my DS wants to hold it himself. Since he's 16 months, he's just too rough with the camera.

 

[Schmeck]

"Magic Pen" books have always been a favorite of my family. They only work in the special coloring books and Yes/No books. We've even found Disney ones (at a gas station in Georgia, of all places).

My sister in law keeps her toddler happy by using gel pens to draw 'tattoos' on her arms and legs They wash right off, but she looks kind of awful with all the scribbles. It does keep her very occupied though!

Schmeck

 

[SueM in MN]

I just wanted tom mention that if you wrap little gifts, security might make you unwrap them all. If you want to do things up as gifts, you might want to just use gift bags with a small amount of tissue paper. That also provides another activity since she could spend quite a bit of time "repacking" everything into the different bags.

 

[sevenreeses]

If my memory serves me correct... I was in TDS just about 2 hours ago... they have princess beads on sale for 50% off. I'm not sure that they're recommended for anyone under 3+ years, though.

Somewhere, it may have been an earlier posting on this site, someone suggested bringing food with holes - gummy lifesavers, fruit loops, etc., for necklaces. The kids can make a bunch of them on the plane, then wear them to the parks to nibble on. I've been collecting treats since then and have put together a bag of mixed "hole food" for our trip.

 

[Mjasp]

I ditto the magic coloring books. They only write on special paper so if your child color out of the coloring book the marker won't get all over anything.

 

[tlens]

Our DD was 22 months the first trip down to Florida. I was terrified that the plane trip would be a disaster but nothing could have been farther from the truth. We took wrapped little gifts for her to open but needed very few. We bought her a seat and she knew she had to stay in her carseat (just like in the car). One thing that worked for us, although all the books and internet advise says differently, is having a brief layover on the way. It gave her a chance to get up and run around the terminal. She basically just amused herself.

We happened to be in Florida the week of September 11 and were to fly home on the 15th. The airline could get us from Orlando to Charlotte but then there'd be a long layover. 18 hours total that day in airports but she held up like a trooper and was the highlight of alot of people's return home after a long day. She was just so happy and friendly to everyone that got on the plane and people seemed to appreciate a little cheer in an otherwise terrible week.

All the suggestions above are good but you may wish to stay away from bubbles. The other passengers may not appreciate them and if they spill you've got one heck of a mess.

Have fun and don't fret it!