Ideas to keep a 20 month old busy on an airplane

[Meriweather]

Taking DGS to WDW in Oct.
4 1/2 hour flight plus airport before.
He does not have his own seat, but we are in bulkhead seat.
Need ideas to keep him busy.

So far the only things he likes to do are noisy or throwing things

Help!!

 

[RangerPooh]

We flew at lot when the kids were that age, from Seattle or Spokane to WDW, so long flights. At that age we would hope that they would take a nap, weren't always lucky. Call us bad parents, but there were times that we handed the kids our ipods and let them watch Disney Jr or Nick Jr cartoons that we had downloaded before we left. We would also bring small toys that could entertain them. Cars, dolls, Duplo blocks, coloring books, and books that could be read to them. We'd also monitor our kids so that nothing was thrown or destroyed. When in doubt there were also snacks like Goldfish and Cheerios. We'd also stretch the activities/snacks out so that they didn't have them all at once, but had to wait. That way each thing was still novel 4 hours in.

I've seen online where parents have purchased window clings for their child to put on their window and reapply throughout the flight. Pinterest has loads of great ideas that might be worth looking into. This is just one of the pins that I found http://ournextadventure.co/50-ways-occupy-toddler-on-airplane/

 

[neverlandsky]

We did favorite snacks, m&ms, books, and coloring. We also let the kids walk well run a lot before getting onto the flight. Basically from check-in to security check to gate. This was before smart phones and iPads.

 

[Minniemouse07]

I would first explore getting him a seat and using a car seat on the plan, a squirmy 20mo on your lap for 4+ hours won't be fun for anyone.

For both of my kids, they traveled w/ their own kid-sized backpacked filled with a combination of well loved favorites and new things to explore. At 20mo, I would bring a few board books, some Fisher Price Little People and/or Thomas Trains, a small MagnaDoodle (the pen is attached and better than crayons or markers that will roll away on the floor), an empty sippy cup, some small snacks, a well loved plush friend.

Note that if they carry a favorite toy or stuffed animal w/ them, it has to go through the xray at security separately. We found it best to talk about how the friend needs to stay in the backpack until we were at the gate.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

At that age, one of those light-up spinning wands with different light patterns always worked well for us, especially during the takeoff/landing. Make sure it doesn't come with accompanying noises though!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I flew often with my kids as toddlers and preschoolers. This was in ancient times before tablets, etc for entertainment. A few suggestions.

Do NOT take advantage of early boarding. Board in the last group so your grandson can be freely moving for as long as possible. Keep him somewhat active in the wait before boarding (not riled up, but walking around to look at things near the gate, etc--let him get wiggles out before boarding---I see SO many toddlers told to sit at the gate---it is much better to save the sitting for on the plane.

As a PP suggested, have him carry his own small backpack with a combination of new thing and old favourites.

We had the rule that the kids could not look in the backpacks until take off---that way it was exciting and the stuff inside had not already lost it's novelty before we needed it to work.

A roll of masking tape is surprisingly engaging for most toddlers in flight, makes no mess, and is cheap. Another "office supply" that my kids got a lot of mileage out of was brightly colored post it notes---they could draw on them and then "decorate! the bulkhead wall, window, etc.

Snacks which also double as activities are a good use of space. a little tupperware bowl with licorice strings and an fruit loops to string before eating,

 

[soccerdad72]

Benedryl (kidding)

 

[Meriweather]

We flew at lot when the kids were that age, from Seattle or Spokane to WDW, so long flights. At that age we would hope that they would take a nap, weren't always lucky. Call us bad parents, but there were times that we handed the kids our ipods and let them watch Disney Jr or Nick Jr cartoons that we had downloaded before we left. We would also bring small toys that could entertain them. Cars, dolls, Duplo blocks, coloring books, and books that could be read to them. We'd also monitor our kids so that nothing was thrown or destroyed. When in doubt there were also snacks like Goldfish and Cheerios. We'd also stretch the activities/snacks out so that they didn't have them all at once, but had to wait. That way each thing was still novel 4 hours in.

I've seen online where parents have purchased window clings for their child to put on their window and reapply throughout the flight. Pinterest has loads of great ideas that might be worth looking into. This is just one of the pins that I found http://ournextadventure.co/50-ways-occupy-toddler-on-airplane/

So far he doesn't like to watch TV
He does like to eat, but not much at a time and not often, unless it is messy things, like cupcakes.
We will bring books and hopefully find something else he will play with without throwing....he loves to throw!!
DGD at 17 months, only took a 45 minute nap.....hope he does better.

 

[Meriweather]

I would first explore getting him a seat and using a car seat on the plan, a squirmy 20mo on your lap for 4+ hours won't be fun for anyone.

For both of my kids, they traveled w/ their own kid-sized backpacked filled with a combination of well loved favorites and new things to explore. At 20mo, I would bring a few board books, some Fisher Price Little People and/or Thomas Trains, a small MagnaDoodle (the pen is attached and better than crayons or markers that will roll away on the floor), an empty sippy cup, some small snacks, a well loved plush friend.

Note that if they carry a favorite toy or stuffed animal w/ them, it has to go through the xray at security separately. We found it best to talk about how the friend needs to stay in the backpack until we were at the gate.

We did a car seat with DGD at 17 months and it was a disaster. She kept kicking the seat in front.
No seats were available. We got 6 seats. So he does have 4-5 laps to sit on

We do have a small Magna Doodle and a LOT of little people. Thanks.

 

[Meriweather]

Benedryl (kidding)

LOL...maybe not

 

[Meriweather]

I flew often with my kids as toddlers and preschoolers. This was in ancient times before tablets, etc for entertainment. A few suggestions.

Do NOT take advantage of early boarding. Board in the last group so your grandson can be freely moving for as long as possible. Keep him somewhat active in the wait before boarding (not riled up, but walking around to look at things near the gate, etc--let him get wiggles out before boarding---I see SO many toddlers told to sit at the gate---it is much better to save the sitting for on the plane.

As a PP suggested, have him carry his own small backpack with a combination of new thing and old favourites.

We had the rule that the kids could not look in the backpacks until take off---that way it was exciting and the stuff inside had not already lost it's novelty before we needed it to work.

A roll of masking tape is surprisingly engaging for most toddlers in flight, makes no mess, and is cheap. Another "office supply" that my kids got a lot of mileage out of was brightly colored post it notes---they could draw on them and then "decorate! the bulkhead wall, window, etc.

Snacks which also double as activities are a good use of space. a little tupperware bowl with licorice strings and an fruit loops to string before eating,

I will pack masking take and some decorative tape too.
So far he doesn't like to color or draw. He would rather eat the crayons.
Hoping a couple more months will change that.
Thank you for the suggestions

 

[Minniemouse07]

We did a car seat with DGD at 17 months and it was a disaster. She kept kicking the seat in front.
No seats were available. We got 6 seats. So he does have 4-5 laps to sit on

We do have a small Magna Doodle and a LOT of little people. Thanks.

We still had the kids rear facing then so there were no seat kicking worries.

The Magna Doodles were like gold at that age. Dd used to color in the entire screen over and over again insisting that she was drawing a beach!

A good idea w/ the Little People is to play peek a boo w/ them in a cup. Would fascinate ds for a long time!

 

[OhMari]

My grandson is 21 months and we have traveled with him 2 times in the last 2 months.
I know you are not suppose to put them in front of a iPad screen, but sometimes you just need to wind them down.
Hopefully you can time it, so he takes a good nap.
We watch Incredibles and download Blippi-for some reason the guy will catch their attention.
Good luck, my dd sat in NYC LaGuardia from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., her flight kept getting delayed.
She did not know what was worse, the delays or the flight home, but it all worked out, he was surprisingly good.

 

[Meriweather]

We still had the kids rear facing then so there were no seat kicking worries.

The Magna Doodles were like gold at that age. Dd used to color in the entire screen over and over again insisting that she was drawing a beach!

A good idea w/ the Little People is to play peek a boo w/ them in a cup. Would fascinate ds for a long time!

Thank you for that idea.....he does like stacking things too
My grandkids are large for their age. He has been forward facing for a couple of months.....and he doesn't have a seat. I just checked and nothing available.

 

[Meriweather]

My grandson is 21 months and we have traveled with him 2 times in the last 2 months.
I know you are not suppose to put them in front of a iPad screen, but sometimes you just need to wind them down.
Hopefully you can time it, so he takes a good nap.
We watch Incredibles and download Blippi-for some reason the guy will catch their attention.
Good luck, my dd sat in NYC LaGuardia from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., her flight kept getting delayed.
She did not know what was worse, the delays or the flight home, but it all worked out, he was surprisingly good.

I don't mind tablets....if he will watch something.
Nap will be hard.....he sleeps from 1-3 usually.
Our flight is 9am and arrived in Orlando at 4:30, which is 1:30 here, but we will try to tire him out.

 

[RangerPooh]

I forgot about Magna Doodles, our kids loved those and one practically lived in the diaper bag.

I agree about burning off energy pre-flight. If your airport has a kids zone or a terminal seating area that's empty then let them run. I usually don't like airport or restaurant play areas because of germs, but they kids needed to run.

 

[fab1976]

Ask for a couple of empty cups and ice cubes. Sounds silly but moving it from one cup to another and back again, or trying to grab it when it starts to melt and get slippery, can be amusing at that age! Best thing if it falls on the ground it’s just water . You could also pick up some small fluffy crafting balls and have him put them from one cups into another cup, try and pile them, sort them are some of the things with that. And I totally gave my kids Benadryl at that age. Had one lady in the Magical Express lane comment on how sleepy my daughter looked as we were waiting to go to our resort, she looked at me knowingly and said amazing how Benadryl can help on a flight .

 

[Minniemouse07]

Ask for a couple of empty cups and ice cubes. Sounds silly but moving it from one cup to another and back again, or trying to grab it when it starts to melt and get slippery, can be amusing at that age! Best thing if it falls on the ground it’s just water . You could also pick up some small fluffy crafting balls and have him put them from one cups into another cup, try and pile them, sort them are some of the things with that. And I totally gave my kids Benadryl at that age. Had one lady in the Magical Express lane comment on how sleepy my daughter looked as we were waiting to go to our resort, she looked at me knowingly and said amazing how Benadryl can help on a flight .

Note that Benadryl backfired on a friend of mine. Apparently her dd was one of the few that it made hyper instead of sleepy. She had a hyper 2yo on a cross country flight and it wasn't pretty!

 

[Meriweather]

Ask for a couple of empty cups and ice cubes. Sounds silly but moving it from one cup to another and back again, or trying to grab it when it starts to melt and get slippery, can be amusing at that age! Best thing if it falls on the ground it’s just water . You could also pick up some small fluffy crafting balls and have him put them from one cups into another cup, try and pile them, sort them are some of the things with that. And I totally gave my kids Benadryl at that age. Had one lady in the Magical Express lane comment on how sleepy my daughter looked as we were waiting to go to our resort, she looked at me knowingly and said amazing how Benadryl can help on a flight .

I have loads or puff balls and colored craft sticks...the soft bendy kind. I will be sure to pack some

 

[Meriweather]

Note that Benadryl backfired on a friend of mine. Apparently her dd was one of the few that it made hyper instead of sleepy. She had a hyper 2yo on a cross country flight and it wasn't pretty!

I have heard that it does make some kids hyper.....it needs to be tested before the trip