Flying for the First Time with a 3-Year-old and 18-Month-old

Hi K.!
I just took my kids on their second airplane trip. They are 2 and 5 now, but I also took them to Mexico last year (by myself!). What I found they really loved were the color wonder markers that only color on color wonder paper. Last year my son was 18 months old--he just ran up and down the aisle and made a lot of friends. Most people enjoy that.

For my daughter, I found magnet boards on amazon.com. They only cost $10, and they are interactive. In fact, she still plays with them.

Both of my kids love sticker books--Target has the DK brand that we love!

Good luck!

It sounds like you're on the right track but remember to have enough 'new' toys to entertain on the way home too. Also, when we flew with my 5 yr old and 5 month old we brought a bag of ear plugs - when the baby started crying and wouldn't stop we offered them to the other passengers around us. Nobody accepted but it really broke the ice and let other people know that we weren't oblivious to the annoyance. Good Luck.

It's been awhile, but I traveled with my kids at that age. Books are good, anything with little parts just seem to fall under the seats and get lost. Be sure to bring little snack items. Suckers or gum for the air pressure on their ears is good. And I brought cups with lids so they could have juice without spilling. Look for games by THINKFUN (available at Target in the educational toy area).
I'd bring paper for doodling or playing tic-tac-toe. Or you can draw things and have them guess what it is.
For car rides, I think they make bingo cards for little kids - car bingo, so they can mark off things like a cow, a stop sign, a fence, etc. I'd bring along a CD or cassette with their favorite song and sing along. Maybe a story on tape? Etch-a-sketch is good for a little while, they make them in a small travel size.
And a ball for running around at stop points is always good.
Have a great trip!

Hello,
I only have one child but she was about 18 months when we flew out to San francisco. I think that doodle pros are great because they can keep drawing and erasing. One of the things my friend says that she does is something like you had said...getting some little inexpensive new things. She said that the trick is giving them to the kids at different times thoughout the trip not all at once. New stuff always keeps the occupied at least for a little while. We also just had lots of snacks. On the plane, people just have to realize that they are kids and it may not be the perfect ride. I just kept telling myself that my daughter did very well for her age. People will have to understand. Good luck!

we recently went on a flight for the first time with our two boys also, ages 3 and 1...

our kids were on better behavior than we were...

we did bring a portable dvd player with and truthfully even though you say you don't want to buy one..it saved our sanity. it is such a small space and we went through both of our bags of activities too quick to keep them entertained...the movie is what they were most content with.

Crayola makes the color wonder products. They are great...paint and markers. They can color on anything by mistake and it won't show, only on thier paper. It is great stuff. I would suggest bringing a cup or some kind of holder for the small stuff so they don't run all over the plane. We didn't and I wish we had. I recommend books, maybe the magna doodle (they make small travel ones). That is a really long flight, I would find out if the air line provides DVD players or something. Honestly, it is probably the best choice for a nice long trip. Maybe you can borrow one from a friend if the airline doesn't provide them or rent them out. It all depends on what your children are interested in. Get a few lacing boards, those are always fun. Nothing that they can lose too easily in the seats. There isn't much room. Bring snacks too!

Hi K.,
We just back from a trip to Boston and I also have an 18 month old and a 3 year old!! My 3 year old son did great! We do have a DVD player and that entertained him for a good chunk of the time - he also read books, looked out the window, snacked, and colored. My 18 month old daughter, however, was a handful!! She did not want to sit still. We brought my son's carseat and ended up strapping her in it. This helped a lot! We sang songs, read books, played with toys, and she snacked A LOT - I even let her have a dum-dum sucker for the first time - I was nervous, but it kept her entertained and helped her ears during the landing.
Let me know if you need any other tips as I just went through it :) Good luck and have a great trip!
H.

Be sure to take snacks. You may want to try the Crayola markers and paper that work together, I can't remember the name right now. No mess.

I was incredibly nervous flying for the first time with 2 kids. Our seats were near an older couple who looked less than thrilled to be sitting by us...things were a little chaotic as we were getting settled and I thought I might have a nervous breakdown! We brought our carseats on the flight and used them...we only bought a ticket for our older child because our son wasn't 2 yet. Anyway, both kids were able to ride in their carseats which saved us. I had the portable dvd player just in case and it did come in handy (we have headphones for it) while the little one was asleep but we mainly stayed busy looking through the skymall magazine (and others) pointing out what we saw. I also stashed a few treats that we don't usually have at home. The flights there and back were fine (3.5 hours). Good luck to you! Have fun!

Hi K.,

I flew to Seattle (alone) with my son over Easter. He was 16 months at the time. He was totally engaged with the lights overhead. I only took some books because he was really into the throwing stage and was afraid he'd launch everything else. The people next to me really didn't mind him playing with the lights either. I think they were just glad that he wasn't a screamer -- which I was too since it was his first time flying. I didn't buy him a ticket; I had a carrier and so he napped on me also. That helped pass the time. But back to toys -- I thought because he was so into the light switches that maybe a little pen light or something that he could turn off and on. The books were also engaging books, touchy/feely books, so he played with those as well. Good luck. I only had one and he was a wonderful traveller (this time). People were very nice to us and they talked to us and helped keep him entertained as well. I sat next to an older couple who compared my son to their grandkids. They really like talking to him and playing little games with him.

hi K.- just read your request and wanted to respond. my husband and i just traveled with our 18 month old and i was very nervous about the flight. i actually was walking through walgreens and saw a magnadoodle.(good idea) it was a way for him to draw and have the drawing utensil attached, so no having to bend over looking for dropped crayons or markers. i didnt give it to him until we were up in the air and he loved it. i am not going to lie, we did take our port dvd player which prob was our true life saver, but i know you said that wasn't an option, so just wanted to give you at least one idea. we also took lots of pop up books. safe journey

I flew across the country with my then 23 month old and 7 year old by myself last year. The seven year old was great by himself - the two year old a terrible squirmer and not happy to be on my lap. A friend had suggested taking masking tape in various colors (school supply/art supply store) - I only had time for regular, tan, masking tape - great fun and easy clean up. You can make sculptures, designs on the backs of seats...tape them to the seats (just kidding). And it doesn't take up that much room.
Happy trails!

Pack a carry on with snacks, drinks, extra clothing for each child, small toys, small books, and oh yeah, more snacks! LOL!

My boys are frequent flyers.... both have flown across the country since infancy, and the both love that goofy magazine, Sky Mall, that is in the back of the seat. I can guarantee a good 1/2 hour out of both of them with that magazine. THey are 5 and 20 months now.

But small toys, snacks, drinks, etc are all good entertainment. My boys usually knock right out when the plane takes off anyway. The seatbelt is good entertainment too, as is the food tray on the back of the seat.

It'll be fine, just don't stress about it, bring your stroller right to the gate to be checked so you don't have to drag kids through the airport.

I traveled to Seattle 2 years ago with mine, and it was wonderful. Luckily, it's a shorter flight, and seattle is beautiful to look at. I know that you can rent DVD players at some establishments, and most come with headphones so that they won't bother other people, but...that still won't help with the entire time. I think you did the right thing...a goodie bag for each. But, I'd take out the goodies when you want, not when they want...or else they will treat it like christmas and tear through all of the stuff so fast and you'll be out of games. I'd pull one at a time out and have them share when possible. Playdough is a good one, cause it's quiet and doesn't really make a huge mess. (you can get the tiny travel sized ones. I brought a few easy and cheep puzzles. I brought a few favorite books, and disposable camera for her to play with on the plane. We took lots of pictures and even out the window. We talked alot about what we were going to do and what we would see when we got there. Just conversation alone took up alot of time. We got up to go to the bathroom a few times and took our time. We had snacks and that takes time. Add everything up and the time goes pretty fast. If you can, get a seat for each of them, you'll be happy to have that little extra space to move around in. When mine was 2.5, she stood most of the time on the plane in her own little space and she colored used my table for her activities. Good luck. Have fun. :) (ps, stay away from the normal toys, like crayons. Mine color at home all the time so doing in on a plane wasn't any more fun than normal so it didn't keep her interest as well as some of the fun, cheeper and new toys I got her specifically for the trip. She had never seen any of the toys I brought along...each one was a cool, new surprize and it kept her interest a long time.)

Pack new activities they haven't seen before - new books, coloring/sticker books, and new snacks. Just remember about the drinks that you will either have to buy them after you go through security or bring powdered drinks (Tang, Kool Aid) that you can add water to after you pass thorugh security. I would also recommend checking out some books at the library about airports, planes, suitcases, etc, to familiarize your kids with the process. Richard Scarry has some good ones.

I think a few other moms mentioned this, but it's worth emphasizing: give the kids only one thing at a time. This works at home too - my kids play far longer with a single toy than if they have five or six toys out at once. The same works for travel.

When my dad took us on long trips, he would mark a map with points at which he would get out a new item. We loved watching the mile markers and counting down until the next thing. For a plane ride, you might try a timer - one toy every 45 minutes or something. You could use a stopwatch to count up instead of a timer, so there's no noise to bother other passengers (there are also flashing and vibrating timers, but that's more expense).

You might also want to bring along a small book of kids photos - my kids love looking at pictures of themselves, and will look at them over and over.

You could also try an airplane game - either a bingo-type game (window, seat, tray, cup, person wearing red, etc.) or a "drinking game" type (without the drinking!) where you get a point for each time the captain comes over the loudspeaker, each time the flight attendant walks down the aisle, etc. Have the kids suggest other ways to get points.

And one more tip - bring minimal stuff for you to do yourself. I always have a worse time with my kids if I bring a book of my own - I'm always trying to get them to sit still so I can read "just one page" and it makes me frustrated and snippy with them. If I didn't have the lure of my adult activity, I wouldn't be as impatient.