Ten Tips for Keeping a Toddler Busy on a Plane

This time of year, every parent gets anxious about their travel plans and keeping their young kids occupied on long plane flights. Besides packing a few great travel toys you'll want to have some airplane activities that won't break or get lost. Here are our top ten airplane activities for toddlers and preschoolers that won't increase the size of your luggage!

  1. Go on a scavenger hunt through the airplane magazine. On each page, pick one item that your child has to locate. For older children, hand them the magazine and say "can you find a picture of an airplane?"
  2. Put some fun pictures onto your digital camera (you're carrying it anyway). Good candidates are pictures of the people and places you are going to visit or pictures of a recent adventure (like the zoo). During the flight, you can relive the fun and tell stories about where/who you're visiting.
  3. When the flight attendant delivers drinks, ask for a cup, a couple ice cubes, and a straw. There are endless games with this combination. Ice is fascinating to toddlers in and of itself, and you can teach them to swirl it on the bottom of the cup, or catch it on the straw (airplane ice usually has a hole in the middle). Watch that the ice doesn't end up in their mouth though (choking hazard).
  4. Teach yourself some new finger rhymes (e.g. "where is thumbkin") before you go.
  5. Get your children playing with the neighbors in front of and behind you before the plane takes off. (Peek-a-boo and kiss-blowing are hard for even the most stoic travelers to resist). Your seat-mates will be a lot more understanding if your children have a difficult time later once they've seen them at their cutest, and you never know what fun entertainment they'll come up with.
  6. Extend snack time by challenging your child. "What is the is the smallest bite you can take" or "see if you can eat just one at a time (tricky for little fingers). Pack your snacks in Tupperware & the packaging becomes a toy when the snack is done.
  7. For young toddlers, screwing and unscrewing the top on a plastic water bottle is great fun (watch carefully as small tops are a choke hazard). Ask the flight attendant to bring you an empty bottle if you're not carrying one.
  8. Learning how to fasten and unfasten an "old fashioned" seatbelt, jacket zipper, and snaps or buttons on their clothing (or a carryon bag) can keep them occupied for a long time
  9. Have your toddler help you make up fanciful stories about what you will do on your trip. For young toddlers, they might choose between two options, while older kids will be able to fill in parts of the stories.
  10. Three words: Barf bag puppets


You've already killed quite a bit of time without breaking into your secret stash of travel toys and books. Our next post will cover our favorite airplane toys for toddlers

Related Links:
Our Favorite Travel Toys
Flying with Babies, Toddlers and Kids
Ten Great Travel Toys you Already Have at Home


Filed Under: family-travel-gear popular travel-tips travel-toys

Save to del.icio.us | Posted on November 16, 2007 | 20 comments

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Comments

  1. Kmonberg

    November 30, 2007 at 4:41 a.m.

    I know it sounds strange... but my toddler is obsessed with chapstick. It was a lifesaver when we were traveling alone on a long flight. She put it on herself... put it on me... smacked her lips... over and over and over again. She was quiet for 45 glorious minutes!

  2. Debbie

    November 30, 2007 at 6:46 p.m.

    It's funny what will keep them entertained. Half of the battle is being willing to look around you for things instead of just relying on purchased toys. I flew out of Heathrow a few days after the liquid bomb scare last year with my son. We were limited to just one small carryon, so I had to be pretty resourceful. His favorite toy on that trip was a tooth floss container with the floss and cutting edge removed.

  3. Stephanie

    December 12, 2007 at 12:14 a.m.

    This is a very helpful article! I linked to you on my blog: http://metropolitanmama.blogspot.com.

  4. Brynn

    January 18, 2008 at 11:13 p.m.

    A box of bandaids (especially band aids with fun designs) can be really entertaining. There's the box, the wrappers, and then the bandaids themselves to play with!

  5. Shannon

    June 29, 2008 at 10:09 a.m.

    Home Depot carries a line of Disney paint, and the paint chip samples are shaped like a silhouette of Mickey Mouse. If you grab a few of those in the colors of the rainbow, you have instant color flash cards.

  6. Christy Williams

    August 20, 2008 at 8:36 a.m.

    I read all of these comments before packing for our short flight (1 hr & 15 min). My daughter (15 months) didn't care for the hand puppet, books, her Little People, and the crayons I bought ended up being a bad idea as they ended up on the tray and my husband's shirt.
    So-what did work for us...
    She is just learning how to use silverware and she loved the little cup (from our drinks) and a plastic sppon. She played "eating" for most of the trip.

  7. Debbie

    August 20, 2008 at 10:27 a.m.

    Thanks so much for your comment on deliciousbaby. I'm bummed that the suggestions ultimately didn't help you, but I'm really glad you followed up... every child is so different, and you never know for sure what will entertain them. Sometimes something that works well on one trip is completely ignored 6 months later. It helps to briefly try a few of the toys before you go.

    I love that you figured out how to keep her entertained anyway. Lately we've been traveling with fewer and fewer toys too. We're finding that the combination of a new environment, some creativity & our attention is enough to keep the kids entertained for most of the flight anyway... so why drag along a bunch of "stuff"

  8. Tamara

    October 16, 2008 at 5:34 a.m.

    I'm about to undertake an 8 hour trip with a 17 month old - this post has inspired me!

  9. anne

    October 23, 2008 at 12:20 p.m.

    STICKERS. They love them plus they can't get over how the stick!

  10. Jaclyn

    October 27, 2008 at 6:36 a.m.

    Great tips everybody
    I am getting a bit nervous. Beginning of December my partner, my sister, and my 19 month twin boys are heading from Perth, Western Australia to New York, US - a whopping 23 hour trip (thereabouts).
    I am remaining positive. Thanks again for the tips, and great website.
    :-)

  11. Andy J

    November 23, 2008 at 3:28 p.m.

    Nice Ideas All,
    We are going to be flying uk to aus in the new year with a 20 month old. Just started the tantrum phase.... :0 and i think that they need new things to keep them amused. Parents attention and looking around for things to utilise as fun games is the best bet especially with the current flight situation.

    Chins high, it always ends up going ok if you keep trying. (or should that be praying) ;)

    thanks for tips and website.
    aj

  12. GP

    February 23, 2009 at 1:14 p.m.

    great tips everyone. I am flying solo with my 21 month old and I think the band aids idea is a great one--she is already somewhat fascinated by them!

  13. Ryan

    April 4, 2009 at 11:59 a.m.

    We regularly travel between the east and west coasts of the US with our very active 2-year old. Stickers work great to keep him busy during flights. We also take some of his smaller toys and wrap them individually in newspaper like gifts. Whenever he gets really antsy we break out a new "present", which he has a ball unwrapping and then since it's "new" he will play with it for a good long while.
    I love the barf bag puppet and in-camera scrapbook ideas - will have to try those out on our next flight!

  14. Debbie Levine

    April 9, 2009 at 12:39 p.m.

    We used the blue painters tape last year going from Milw to France. It was the best distraction on the ups and downs. I put little pieces all over the wall, seat and window, he couldnt stand them all over and was busy taking them all down. Am kind of hoping this would work this time too. :) Shaped sticky notes are a great way for little ones to 'write' a note on and give them to other passengers, he liked standing up in his seat and giving them all to the man behind us :) (Thankfully they were very tolerant!)

  15. samantha hement

    April 28, 2009 at 8:57 p.m.

    Great tips..

    My kids was knock out few minutes when board on plane or even inside the car. I have saved a lot of hassle traveling with them. :)

    If your child have sleep problem. Take a look on my blog at:
    http://www.childsleepsolution.com/blog

  16. Heidi

    June 24, 2009 at 2:45 p.m.

    Barf bag puppets! Made me laugh so hard! My daughter and I have travelled extensively (all over Europe and the States). We're getting ready for our first trip now that she's a TODDLER.

    I have a tendency to overpack toys, even though I know "real things" are much more interesting to little ones. Thanks for the great ideas to keep my busy body entertained. No more worries! (only for the person in front of us...)

  17. Catherine C. Schwartz

    http://cupcakesandcoffee.blogspot.com/
    July 27, 2009 at 2:55 p.m.

    Go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of smaller toys. Wrap them all in tissue paper and decorate. Pull them out as needed...I try to drag out the time between "surprises" as long as I can.

  18. aleca

    July 29, 2009 at 10:34 a.m.

    thanks for all of these tips. am flying with my 21-month-old from la to copenhagen this weekend, and although he's already done lots of traveling & is usually pretty good, every age brings new challenges. all of these ideas are really helpful - as is your blog, which my husband just discovered when looking for info about a parent traveling alone with a child

  19. Kevin

    http://kevinvisser.com/
    August 20, 2009 at 6:15 a.m.

    These are great! Thanks for the article... I wrote one with 5 tips for travelling with kids recently if you are interested:

    http://kevinvisser.com/1400/5-tips-fo...

  20. genevieve

    October 11, 2009 at 10:33 p.m.

    my son is 3 yrs old and loves the brainquest cards_those are fun and educational_ also loves to listen to ipod w his favorite disney songs_ coloring books and activity books-portable dvd player w entertaining sing along movies (and headphones)>this will keep toddlers busy for at least 5 hours

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