Need Ideas for Entertaining a 20 Month Old on an Airplane!

I haven't read the other posts, but things that keep my 23 month old still are:

Color Wonder coloring books (you don't have to worry about a mess to the plane's upholstery or any clothes)

A Kai-Lan magnetic activity board

My ipod touch loaded with her favorite disney shows

To keep her ears from popping, does she like suckers? Can you use Dum-Dums on the plane? My little girl loves them! :)

Another idea with the magnets is get a metal cake pan with a lid and glue paper dolls to magnets and then she can dress and undress the paper dolls on the cake pan without losing pieces - this is actually something I am going to make my daughter for her birthday. :)

If you don't have an iphone, which has apps and movies for toddlers, buy a portable DVD player or borrow one. You'll thank me! We fly with my 2.5 year old and it's the only thing that works. DVD players are about 90 bucks now and worth more to parents!

Also a pacifier helped us when our kid was younger during take off or a bottle or sippy. Anything she will drink more than just a few sips of. regular swallowing is the key!

Good luck!

There are several things that have worked for our daughter...
- paper and crayons
- little plastic animals... I saved a french's fried onion container and cut an x in the top and she loves to put the plastic animals in the container and then dump them out again.
- any set of word cards... she loves to pull them out and put them back in.
- looking at the magazines on the plane was entertaining too.

Do you have a laptop that you can let her watch movies on? That is something that seemed to occupy the toddlers pretty well on a recent overseas flight that I was on. I would also pack a back pack full of the things that she loves to play with....and bring them out one at a time, rotate them, so everything is new and interesting for her. As for something for her to suck on at take off and landing...I think anything that you give her to eat would help..it is the swallowing that helps pop the ears. Have a small bag of cheerios or some other finger food that she likes...and offer it to her at take off and landing.
Of course if you are REALLY lucky the flight is scheduled while she is wanting to sleep...and you can just relax and enjoy the flight yourself!!! lol
Good luck and have a wonderful trip!!

Hope it helps.
Crayons and coloring books
iPhone or iPod - digitial movies or rentals
laptop - movies
cards - matching for games
her favorite books
her favorite snacks
take gum or one of those ring pop (candy from a dollar general or target isle) for the ear popping
my oldest daughter likes to talk and take pictures so we took along her camera so she could snap pics and prayed that if we sat by anyone they'd be friendly enough to respond to her many questions. :) but our flight was not 4 hours. lol
good luck

Bring, Lots of different fun snacks. Separately wrapped.

I also went to a toy store and bought about 30 little toys, from crayons and color books to wind up toys, to slinkys.

Have them gift wrap them all separately or you do the gift wrapping. First she got a wrapped case with her name on it and in the wrapped case were lots of the little gifts she got to open one every time she got tired of the current toy. It worked, on a 5 hour flight and we were in first class so I was esp worried about bugging everyone....

Also a laptop with movies is good too.

For the ears you can also use two paper cups with a wet paper towel in them place them over each ear. This works great as well.

Updated

Bring, Lots of different fun snacks. Separately wrapped.

I also went to a toy store and bought about 30 little toys, from crayons and color books to wind up toys, to slinkys.

Have them gift wrap them all separately or you do the gift wrapping. First she got a wrapped case with her name on it and in the wrapped case were lots of the little gifts she got to open one every time she got tired of the current toy. It worked, on a 5 hour flight and we were in first class so I was esp worried about bugging everyone....

Also a laptop with movies is good too.

For the ears you can also use two paper cups with a wet paper towel in them place them over each ear. This works great as well.

For entertaining: books, cars, stuffed animals, dolls, coloring books.

For the ear popping: sippy cup, gummies,

bring a juice box (they will let you bring 1 or 2 juice boxes through security when traveling with a baby/toddler) to drink during take off. We bring a portable dvd player, a few books and a few favorite quiet toys (dolls, magnadoodle, crayons, cars). We also try to schedule when they should be sleeping. my kids absolute favorite plane activity is to look for dogs and kittens in the in flight magazine (the one where you can buy all sorts of crazy things) not the airline magazine. good luck!

We recently went on a 4 hour car trip with our 17 month old. She really enjoyed coloring a lot more then I though, so I'd bring extra paper to draw on. You can go onto crayola's and PBS' websites and print pages to color on. I had a bag of small toys that she hadn't played with for a while and took them out one at a time as she needed more things to do. I also got a toy from the good will that I thought she'd like and saved that until the end of the trip for her. We had a DVD as well, but didn't have to use it. I also bought her some snack bars she doesn't normally get to have but I knew she'd like. Hope the flight goes smooth!

Hi M. - we're doing our first plane trip with a two-year-old this summer. After doing some research, we've decided to bring his carseat on the plane in the hopes that a familiar seat will help him stay put and understand he can't get up and walk around.

My SIL suggested just having a drink or a snack during take-off and landing. Some things we're thinking about - bringing a spoon to transfer cheerios from one container to another (he loves transferring stuff, go figure), an eyedropper to move water from one cup to another, a laptop with DVD player (we are planning on getting him used to headphones ahead of time), new puzzles and books, a small blanket from home - hopefully he will sleep some - crayons and new stickers, some new small toys.

We're planning on stashing the new things until we go home or saving some new things for the return flight so that they'll still be interesting! I'm going to be checking your post for more ideas.

Def a DVD player!!!

When traveling with my son we bring a travel magna doodle, sticker books, crayons, and load up my iphone with toddler games

lollipops are a good thing for the airplane, it even helped me keep the child in front of us quiet one trip!!!

Whenever we took our babies/toddlers on plane rides, we bought new toys and would sometimes wrap them, like they are opening gifts on a birthday. Once she gets bored with one, present another one. Make sure you save some for the trip home. Take crayons/color wonder markers, books, favorite toys, too. I would also take playdough and put a playdough line around the traytable. Anything you put on that thing will roll off...it's inevitable. This way the crayons, snack cup, etc. won't immediately fall to the floor. Then, there's also playdough for the child to play with too. I agree that the laptop is a great idea, it worked well for us, too. Maybe a leapfrog if you have it.
Also, make sure you pack at least one extra outfit in your carry-on for you and your daughter. We have horror stories of things that can explode from a toddler on airplanes! LOL! Usually, it doesn't just end up on the child. I, of course, had sippy cups and little treats. I hate to admit it, but last time we flew with my 1 year old, I gave her a stick or red licorice. My older kids had them and she saw and wanted it (of course). I wouldn't usually give her something like that, but hey, you do what you have to, right? So, if you are not opposed to it, give her a ring pop, licorice, etc to suck on while taking off and/or landing.
Most of all, relax. Let your daughter run around as much as possible in the terminal. Know that the more relaxed you are, the less she'll sense tension. I've never had anyone on a plane get nasty. Most the time, they are helpful and understanding. I know that's not always the case, but kids are on airplanes. People have to know that you don't want to cause a scene anymore than they want to hear it.
Good luck and have fun!

I can't be of too much help. My daughter is 22 months (also very active) and has been on about 10 flights since she was born. I've flown alone with her each time...she has slept through nearly all of them! I always scheduled flights around her nap time or changed her schedule a little so that she would sleep.

She loves books and pictures. So that saved us the times that she was awake. She loves looking at the emergency landing pamphlet in the seat back so that helped us a lot. I have noticed thought that the last couple of flights were harder...once they can walk it's hard to keep them still. Don't feel bad about letting her walk up and down the aisle with you a few times. I've also been blessed with great passengers who have held her at times or sat with her so I could go to the bathroom.

I would suggest buying a water bottle once you get to the gate or bring an empty one for you. When they serve drinks I wouldn't recommend getting one as it will just end up getting spilled.

If you are lucky enough that she'll go to sleep, but she needs to be rocked. I found it easier to go back to the back of the plane where the flight attendants hang out...as long as they aren't busy back there they should be ok with you standing and rocking her until she sleeps. I wouldn't try to walk the aisles with her to sleep...it's just too awkward with a toddler and her legs will likely end up kicking someone.

Sorry that's not much advice on keeping her entertained...just my thoughts from my flights...just relax...if she simply won't sit still then get up and let her walk a little...you'll find other passengers that will love to interact and talk to her, so don't feel bad about that.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

DVD player! Sippy cups and lollipops, too.
Have fun!

Here are ideas for things to keep her entertained.
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