» Toddler Travels
- filed under Baby, Learning Life Lessons, Travel
- 11 comments
Halp!
In just a few weeks we are boarding a plane and traveling to visit Jim’s lovely grandmother outside of Chicago. With Eriana. Who has never been on a plane.
Sidebar: We “won” a plane ride from a silent auction at our church that we are hoping to fill in the weeks before our trip, but our friends’ plane on which the ride will take place is a little plane, not a big one, so while the plane ride with our friend will get E in the air for the first time, it probably won’t be indicative of how she’ll behave on flights to Denver and then Chicago (and then back). End sidebar.
So we did NOT buy Eriana her own seat, and we plan to bring lots of stuff to hold her attention (plus some goody bags to give to the flight attendants and surrounding passengers). But WHAT do we bring to hold a 21-month old’s attention for several hours on a plane?
-Kindle with shows downloaded (probably will invest in more Amazon videos than we already have) and a coloring app
-DVD player and DVDs (what kind of headphones for a toddler!?)
-Magnet or felt board?
-Legos for building?
-Books?
-Color wonder pack with markers and coloring book?
-Snacks!
-Baby doll with clothes to take off and put on (why is this fun, Eriana?)
Also, unrelated to entertaining a toddler on a plane: We will have a stroller and carseat to gate check, and plan to put Eriana in disposables for the week we’re gone (and buy a pack when we get to IL, only taking enough for a few days initially). And! We plan to carry-on her monkey harness/leash to let her expend energy in Denver during our layover. Any other tips?
You guys. Help me, please!?
Unrelated to all of the above, just because I am trying to bribe you into helping me, here’s a cute picture of my kid. Okay, thanks!
Bethany
September 7, 2012 4:45 pm
Traveling with a toddler is…not fun. We bring LOTS of snacks and a few books. Toys with small pieces are not great because she’s more likely to drop them and good luck picking them up with a kid in your lap! My best advice on what to bring? Tons of patience. And hope your neighbors brought the same.
Then again, E might be a much better and calmer traveler than Chi! Best of luck!
Julie
September 7, 2012 4:49 pm
It sounds like you’ve got all the bases covered. I was trying to think of other tips, but ‘m drawing a blank right now. You’re good to go! And Eriana will be just fine. Safe travels!
Shelly
September 7, 2012 5:11 pm
You have great ideas, you know what you’re doing. I know some people use the lure of a new toy as a reward for good behavior to be awarded at the end of the flight. Something that worked great for us was playdoh, which my girl LOVED. I got the small sample size ones (like people give out for Halloween) and would do a couple at a time. At the end of the flight, I just threw them away b/c EUW airplane cooties. But for the duration, playdoh entertainment was pretty endless, portable, quiet and cheap.
You’re all going to do great!!
Anne
September 7, 2012 5:43 pm
Ada is 28 months and we traveled from Montana to Boston and Montana to LA with her (we also brought her back from both places
), a 2 year old and a 4 month old. The biggest hit: pipe cleaners! Plus when we got rerouted and stuck in Idaho unexpectedly even the adults played with the pipe cleaners. For Boston I bought some beads that wouldn’t fit in her nose and she would string the beads onto the pipe cleaners. It was AWESOME. I will admit she had her own seat, but I would have brought the same thing if we had shared a seat. And this was what was in our bag: pipe cleaners, foam shapes, beads, a few crayons and coloring book, three books board books she liked and that I didn’t mind reading over and over and over again, 3 paperbacks that she hadn’t ever read, extra set of clothes, a sippy cup, fruit snacks and suckers, an ipad and some BIG headphones…you know the old school looking ones…kind of like dr. dre beats, but much cheaper (I had her wear them around the house and listen to my ipod before so she was used to them. I also let her eat whatever she wanted in the airport and found a corner to let her and the other girls to run around. All the kids did well.
Sorry about the novel–we just finished a summer with LOTS of traveling with LOTS of kids
Julie
September 7, 2012 8:52 pm
I am going to second what Bethany said about toys with small pieces. Those could be difficult to deal with since she will be splitting her time between you and Jim’s laps. Also, you don’t want to overload yourself with too many things that you are going to have to tote around in the airport. When I flew with Jackson, I got some recommendations from my pediatrician before hand (she has 2 little boys including one who is a couple of months old than J). Her suggestion was to get a few new toys to introduce on the plane so that might be an option to consider. I will say just make sure you try to put everything you might need as handy as possible before you get settled in the seat. I had a hard time trying to reach for things with J in my lap.
Stephanie M
September 7, 2012 9:10 pm
I see Anne already touched on this above…but whatever headphones you’re going to have her wear, make sure she’ll wear them ahead of time, let her get used to them.
Laura
September 8, 2012 2:54 pm
Okay, Audrey has done 22 flights so far and although that doesn’t make me an expert-here’s my advice. Take less toys than you think you will need! It’s tempting to take TONS to keep them entertained, but it’s just more to carry and becomes annoying. I pack one small bag of stuff just for A on the plane (diapers, toys, snacks etc). I would suggest either buying a few cheap, new toys (think dollar section at Target), or , since I didn’t want to waste money on crap toys, I borrowed/traded some toys with a friend for the trip, so that they would be new to Audrey, but free to me!
If E likes water, we took A into the plane bathroom and let her splash in the sink for at least 10-15 mins for a change of scenery.
Stickers were a big hit for us on the plane. She stuck them on the window, tray table etc. Small to carry too.
Find fun with stuff that’s already there-let her shred the SkyMall magazine, get an extra drink cup to play with etc.
I have never bought a seat for A. I would strongly recommend checking your stroller with your luggage and just gate checking the car seat. You should definitely buy some Gogo wheels, then you can use the car seat as a stroller in the airport, and you’ll still have it with you at the gate, in case there’s an extra seat on board for her. That’s what we always do and it works well. They are usually $80 but I found ONE on sale here for $39.99! I’d highly recommend it! http://www.nobetterdeal.com/shop/en/nbd/go-go-babyz-kidz-travelmate
Just don’t worry about other people. I’d forget the goody bags. They won’t care and if she screams the whole time, it won’t make them less annoyed anyway! An apology works wonders.
You’ll hopefully be surprised at how helpful and forgiving people will be.
Good luck! We are making a trip to Hawaii next month (without a seat for her), so I feel your pain.
Erica
September 8, 2012 5:59 pm
Yeah, don’t worry about other people. Planes are public transportation. Whatever. She may actually like the novelty of flying … Kids like seeing lots of people and new places, it might go better than you think.
Becky
September 12, 2012 4:19 pm
As you may be aware, I took two four-hour plane rides with my 18 month old daughter in the last week. The things that best kept her entertained were stickers. I brought 150 stickers (3 packs of 50), and it was not enough. I wished I’d had more.
Elsha
September 12, 2012 10:41 pm
I know I’m like a million years late to answer this, but I just wanted to throw in that last time I flew with my kids I skipped the headphones altogether (they wouldn’t leave them on) and just let them watch a movie on my ipod with the sound all the way down. They didn’t seem to care that there was no sound.
April
September 13, 2012 9:26 pm
Henry watch despicable me with headphones one way to ny and with no sound on the way home. Skip the little pieces, if she has anything she especially likes to sleep with, bring one stuffed animal or whatever with you. Not too many toys and just ply with food, drink and tv. The short flights are harder than the long because there’s not enough time for movies etc. she’ll be fine, and she’ll probably be very interested in looking out the window on takeoff and landing.