eg

We're going to be on some long flights with our almost-5-year-old in this summer and we're wondering how to keep her entertained. My experience with the in-flight entertainment is that either she won't be able to see it from her seat or else it won't be suitable. The things we've thought of doing:

• A portable DVD player (but she gets cranky after watching too much TV)
• Audio books
• A GameBoy

Any advice would be appreciated. We've tried music on a walkman before but that didn't last too long. We also had her play games on a laptop before, but there will be no computer on this set of flights. The longest flight we'll be on is 9h40m in duration, ick...

Eric

lsgitg

We have travel w/my now 3 & 6 yr olds on flights & some long ones since they were born. The last flight was 3 weeks ago for a total of 12 hours. A couple of suggestions--- 1) if possible upgrade to 1st the more room the better 2) redeyes work well, make sure you have lots of activity during the day and no naps, they sleep on the plane all night 3) Get a bunch of activity books w/stickers that u're child has interests in(barbie, dora the explorer, etc.) and surprise her w/them on the flight, spend a lot of time doing them slow and reading and it turns into real learning as well as quality time 4) Let them talk to the flight attendants and make friends 5) a small favorite toy that has gotten misplaced into your carry on, for the 2 weeks prior to the trip and then suddenly appears w/some new accessory is always good for another 10 minutes or so.

Enjoy best of luck

jnahand

Here are our strategies for our 5 yo and 3 yo travelling transatlantic.

1. Try to get the bulkhead seat....lots more room and they can play at your feet when the seatbelt signs are off. This is not always possible, as sometimes there is a bassinet there and they will only assign it to passengers travelling with infants

2. Stock up on a bunch of cheap, small toys. Unpack from their boxes and repack in ziploc baggies. You will be surprised how little space they will take up once they're out of the packaging. Hide them from the kids and produce one every hour or so. I find little figurine sets like playmobil, or disney character playsets great. Lego also make some small sets (Harry Potter etc). The downside is that these sets usually consist of a ton of little small pieces so you'll be spending some time crouched down picking up the bits from under the seat in front

3. Playdoh have some great little small tubs with tools on the end. Buy one or two of these, spread a newspaper under the seat and let her enjoy. Downside is that you may end up with playdoh on your clothes

4. Print a bunch of coloring pages off your kid's favourite sites. A google search usually yields a ton of stuff and unlike coloring books, you can bin them with trash before you get off the plane. Sticker and decal books pack light and will also burn up 20 mins or so. Try to find some novelty crayons (we bought a great pack of crayons shaped as Disney characters last year) to interest her.

5. Buy a small notebook of colored paper, a glue stick, some glitter pens, some confetti or paper shapes and some fluffy stuff (check out any craft shop). OK, she'll make a bit of a mess, but she'll be happy (the FA's are really going to love you). This stuff will all pack up pretty small in some baggies and can also be left in the trash. I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't love sticking stuff onto paper.

5. I am not averse to giving a dose of phenergan once on board. I'm not an advocate of drugging your kid, but having spent a short (3.5 hrs but it didn't feel short, I can tell you) flight listening to my 2yo wailing for her stroller interspersed with a 20 min nap, I think a dispensation is in order (for your and your fellow passengers sanity ) If you are going to take this tack, make sure and try a test dose sometime before you go, as some kids will have a paradoxical reaction.

6. Avoid candy, soda and chocolate the day before and the day of travelling. I don't know about your kid, but chocolate is like cocaine or speed to my kids

7. Pack plenty of kid friendly snacks like goldfish crackers, teddy grahams, raisins, cereal bars and take some milk if your kid is a milk drinker (all I have ever gotten on flights is the little UHT cartons). A hungry kid is usually a cranky kid and the inflight peanuts or pretzels may not be to her tastes.

The downside to this is that you are basically filling one carry-on with stuff for her, but it is sooo worth it. My son has a little Winnie the Pooh suitcase that he can wheel along behind him. I usually pack some of the 'surprise' stuff underneath his change of clothes, then let him choose a few toys of his own to take on the flight which I pack on top. The rest I stash in my carry-on. He's so used to getting all his little surprises that he looks forward to all our flights now, and never seems to get bored.

Hope this helps...enjoy your vacation.

DH

I would add stickers and sticker books. My daughters love to play with them...

Good luck!

BearX220

We started hauling our kid across the Atlantic when he was five. The above suggestions are great. Quick addenda:

Go out and buy nine small toys, one for each hour of the flight. Wrap them up in tissue so it's like Christmas morning and dispense them at one-hour intervals.

Choose toys with no small parts or you will be down on your hands and knees all the time. A compact Etch-a-Sketch is a great inflight toy. A handful of little Legos (worse, a Lego kit that will be rendered incomplete if you lose ONE TINY PIECE ) is not so good.

Game Boys just charged our kid up... not so good for a small space.

Avoid sugar, etc. beforehand and cast a critical eye on the kid's airline meal. On a morning United flight once they gave our kid sugared cereal, sugary donut holes and sugar cookies. Since he's got to sit still for five more hours, that's insane.

Pack only dry foods (Cheerios, etc.). Not yogurt, 'cos someone will be wearing it.

Pack sippy cups to transfer beverages from the galley into.

Pack clean shirt in case kid is sick on self.

Pack clean shirt for you in case kid is sick on you.

Kudos to you for trying to strategize this trip instead of turning a deaf ear to a meltdown. Most kids who melt down in flight are suffering from lack of attention, I find.

kef0913

Not to be harsh, but you'll have better luck if you find activities where you interact with your daughter also. All the things you listed are essentially things to do by herself. Any kid will get bored (and be more likely to whine/cry/scream/pester) if they must play by theirself for the entire trip, no matter what items you pick. Most of the above suggestions are good, but I would also include some favorite books that you can read to them or a simple travel game that you can do together. Of course you will want some down time, but expecting her to entertain herself for 9 or 10 hours isn't very realistic.

GarudaBaby

Great suggestions! Saving some of these in a word doc to send to friends...

I do agree on the teamwork part of kid's activities.
An overseas trip proved much more peaceful when we played go fish, made origami and drew artistic renditions of passengers together ~ plus, we then ended up napping together.
Leaving him with his 5 yr old imagination just tortured the flight staff, and he had no interest in DVD's/videos as we are a non-TV household.

Good luck!

Alexa

macska

Please please please do not pack confetti, glue, fluffy stuff, legoes, etc. It's not fair to the other passengers, who will be picking confetti off their clothes all day and lifting their feet so you can retrieve small pieces) and not fair to the FAs and cleaning crew. However, I'm sure the passengers & crew would appreciate artistic renditions of themselves as a departing gift after a long flight.

jnahand

Fair point macksa, but we generally use glitter pens and glue sticks that don't make much mess. We also clean up after ourselves. Confetti was the wrong choice of words...we use the gummed paper shapes that come in packs... the aren't as light as confetti and are easily picked up.


Apologies for those suggestions.

eg

Thanks for the tips, everyone! We don't plan on not interacting with her, but we figured that we needed some activities for her to do quietly. Anyhow, DVD player is out, as is the video game... we'll stick to the usual stuff and maybe explore audio books as a different kind of thing.

Eric

globaltrekker

Here is a little suggestion to help delay the boredom and "antsy-ness" that many children feel during long flights: if possible, do not board the flight until near the end. I realize this is not a practical tip for those flying with infants, but it is a good idea for those flying with young children. As some airlines allow parents with children to pre-board, many parents try to be first on board so that they can get their children settled. Most children are excited to fly, but boredom quickly sets in as they wait the half hour or more it takes to fully board a large plane. Instead of being the first one on the plane and having your child have to sit and wait for a long period, try to board near the end (of course, check in and be in the gate area). Have a little picnic in a corner of the gate area, look at the planes landing at the airport, etc.

gregseattle

My twin 3 1/2 year olds have done some trips... I'll add / reinforce

Late boarding is key. But let the Gate Agent know that is your plan and you'd appreciate their support. It works easier that way.

A roll of scotch tape is wonderful. So are stickers as previously mentioned.

"surprise" toys in ziplock bags work well.

Video player / rental is good idea too, though I agree after a while it is ineffective.

Good thoughts everyone!

G-SEA

opusx100

I just wanted to thank everyone for their great inputs/experiences.

We have 2 1/2 year old that will be doing ord-sfo-koa here in about a month and I was going to ask you folks for your help.

Thank you eg for starting this thread and thanks once again to everyone ^

princessmom

I just flew up to Canada and back with my 5 year old last week. I found some new crayons called "Twistables". They are crayons that twist out (like some eyeliners do). She loved those and we colored for hours.

They also make Twistables that are erasable. I just purchased the regular type and they were very neat and tidy, came in their own case and were the length of a pen.

Good luck.

RegansMomma

I am in need of ideas for an 18 month old. This will be my first time flying with her. She is pretty active! I have hidden a couple of her toys that she likes to take out during the flight. I feel so limited with buying new and exciting "small" toys being that she doesn't read or draw or do stickers or any of that. Any ideas would be great.

Just to give you an idea, we have a 1 hour to Houston then a 4 hour to Portland. Both ways of course!

Thanks!

Heather