For me, the key is keeping a bag of lots of little toys within arms reach so that I can keep feeding them out and putting them back in. In. Then out. Repeat for 101 hours or until plane lands.
Here are samples of “kits” I’ve put together in the past.
Another winner for us are band-aids. The band-aids with the characters on them. Even when there are no injuries. My children wear band-aids like badges of honour and it can make a grumpy-bum suddenly feel extra special.
I’ve had success with circle sticker artwork.
…and pre-made entertainment like this:
My kiddies love cut and paste activities anytime but I try to save cut-outs from magazines or toy packaging when I can and bring it out for plane trips and really, really rainy days at home. I put a handful of clippings with a glue stick in a ziplock bag. I couldn’t care-less if most of them fall on the floor and go into garbage bags later.
*Mummy confession? I sometimes recycle my children’s masterpieces by later peeling off the cut-outs and putting them back in the box. Oops .*
Have you considered cut and paste using the complimentary duty-free magazines and your cut outs from home?
Playdoh is amazing and is always popular with my 4 year old.
It can also help to get creative with magazine images and playdoh.
Or using the cups provided for a bit of a decorative challenge?
The Crayola & Melissa & Doug ‘Colour with Water’ books are perfect for flying because the pens can’t decorate body parts or airplane furniture.
Although my hubby is often designated by my daughter as primary builder (and wants to kill me while he assembles it) cardboard doll houses keep my little girl busy for hours- especially if she has a few figurines and some playdoh on hand.
I bought this one from Daiso (a brand of 100 yen shop) in Tokyo but I have also found them at Flying Tiger ( this store is also called Tiger in Europe. ) Then we throw them away after the holiday.
If you’re really crafty you could be amazing and make one of these Quiet Books but I completely cheated and bought mine from a bookshop in Australia. My kids loved these until they reached about 20 months.
Another Mum from school shared this brilliant idea with me recently too.
You know those glow sticks that you snap to light up? The skinny ones? They are great if your child wakes up and needs to try and be quiet while other passengers sleep.
These apps work for us. This first one is good for little babies as they just tap the screen, break the egg and a different critter bounces out. It continues on until they have had enough. It’s a free one! I just put it on my phone.
And now my youngest is 2, both my kiddies are crazy for the My PlayHome (and the other versions, My PlayStore, My PlaySchool etc.) It’s not free (there is a sample app that is) but there aren’t other in-app purchases like most kid’s games.
I sometimes write a list of ideas of things to do in case I get sleepy and draw a complete blank.
This really helps me if I have a toddler feeling unwell or we are delayed.
This is where I need to really get desperately creative.
And, once again, getting creative on the cheap really helps us.
For example, I bought a phone case recently. Inside the box was a phone shaped piece of cardboard.
I put stickers on it.
We pretended it was a phone.
My kids loved it so much that they fought over it.
( Note to self -don’t buy toys again!)
My big now also now likes these kinds of cheap ready-made craft kids from Kmart ( just check that they don’t need scissors or glue.)
So… once you’ve collected your junk/treasures, don’t forget to hide a few in the suitcase for the trip home too! ( I keep mine in the suitcase in a non-transparent plastic bag marked “for the way home” and sometimes I’ll have some snacks like lollipops etc in there too.
