limiting...

[TheCalicoCat]

How do you limit the amount of stuff that you bring or that your child wants to bring on a flight/cruise?

 

We have a 5 hour flight (non-stop thankfully) so I want to be prepared to entertain my son, but...

 

(We don't have ipods, tablets, or the like so I can't download anything for him to play with. No noisy toys that need a power source.)

 

So far, I have toddler magazines (light & no biggie if torn or lost), a book with many stories, 2 board books, crayons & paper, sticker book, small cars, a drawing tablet - similar to etch-a-sketch, his lovie & a blanket.

 

I hope to pack some of them in his backpack, but some will be in my bag - with Mommy entertainment...

 

I want to involve him in the packing/choosing process, but...

[MamaParrotHead]

One of my biggest tips would be to include some NEW items...cruise the clearance aisle at your big box store. Matchbox cars, little toddler action figure or animals, I've also heard of bringing along a small metal tin (like the kind you give Christmas cookies in) and magnets/letter magnets. My OTHER tip would be to bring plenty of snacks and a good variety.

 

I've travelled with my kids since they were toddlers and have always just gotten them a kiddo sized backpack and limited their goodies to that (minus the snacks, which are in the diaper bag, if you still use one). Although if you plan on travelling with your toddler much as s/he gets older, an iPod of some sort may be a good investment. Even for car trips and such, it's a good thing both for the music AND the video capabilities.

[TheCalicoCat]

One of my biggest tips would be to include some NEW items...cruise the clearance aisle at your big box store. Matchbox cars, little toddler action figure or animals, I've also heard of bringing along a small metal tin (like the kind you give Christmas cookies in) and magnets/letter magnets. My OTHER tip would be to bring plenty of snacks and a good variety.

 

I've travelled with my kids since they were toddlers and have always just gotten them a kiddo sized backpack and limited their goodies to that (minus the snacks, which are in the diaper bag, if you still use one). Although if you plan on travelling with your toddler much as s/he gets older, an iPod of some sort may be a good investment. Even for car trips and such, it's a good thing both for the music AND the video capabilities.

 

Thanks for the tin idea. I do have foam puzzles. (I was worried about the noise & the number of pieces.) Some stuff has been set aside - so it will be "like new." When I was starting to get stuff set aside, he saw it with a glimmer in his eye... Oh & I have one of those letter tracing pads - new skill for him!

[scubagirrl]

One of my biggest tips would be to include some NEW items...cruise the clearance aisle at your big box store. Matchbox cars, little toddler action figure or animals, I've also heard of bringing along a small metal tin (like the kind you give Christmas cookies in) and magnets/letter magnets. My OTHER tip would be to bring plenty of snacks and a good variety.

 

I've travelled with my kids since they were toddlers and have always just gotten them a kiddo sized backpack and limited their goodies to that (minus the snacks, which are in the diaper bag, if you still use one). Although if you plan on travelling with your toddler much as s/he gets older, an iPod of some sort may be a good investment. Even for car trips and such, it's a good thing both for the music AND the video capabilities.

 

 

I'd nix the matchbox cars or any other hard projectile. They hurt when your child tosses them at the head in the seat in front of him. Believe me.

Anything that can be tossed or thrown by a small child is a no-no.

Oh.. and markers can be a big mess. Last week I traveled with a child in front of me that wrote all over the tray table and back of the seat. (by accident of course.. says mom).

[chipmaster]

How old? When our's were as young as three we'd invlove them, have them carry a little backpack and fill it up with stuff they wanted. We'd assemble the "choices" from his favorites. No matter what you bring its a confined space and unless you smartly schedule during nap time it will always be challenging. For our middle one it was lego and matchboxes. My older one was impossible and it was only video/video games, my youngest could be entertained for hours with polypockets...

 

You should think about a DVD player and a few movies, they are pretty cheap these days, moves can easily entertain most kids a few hours

 

How do you limit the amount of stuff that you bring or that your child wants to bring on a flight/cruise?

 

We have a 5 hour flight (non-stop thankfully) so I want to be prepared to entertain my son, but...

 

(We don't have ipods, tablets, or the like so I can't download anything for him to play with. No noisy toys that need a power source.)

 

So far, I have toddler magazines (light & no biggie if torn or lost), a book with many stories, 2 board books, crayons & paper, sticker book, small cars, a drawing tablet - similar to etch-a-sketch, his lovie & a blanket.

 

I hope to pack some of them in his backpack, but some will be in my bag - with Mommy entertainment...

 

I want to involve him in the packing/choosing process, but...

[Maticus22]

I'd nix the matchbox cars or any other hard projectile. They hurt when your child tosses them at the head in the seat in front of him. Believe me.

Anything that can be tossed or thrown by a small child is a no-no.

Oh.. and markers can be a big mess. Last week I traveled with a child in front of me that wrote all over the tray table and back of the seat. (by accident of course.. says mom).

 

Crayola now has Wonder Markers, the markers will only show up on Wonder paper :) Greatest thing every invented. We setup a table at our wedding reception with this for all the kids to play at. At first the venue was skeptic of this in fear of the kids writing on the wall with the markers, but once we told them about the markers they were okay with it.

[mcfam5]

We were SO HAPPY when Crayola came out with those Color Wonder products! I am militant about keeping my van clean, so prior to Color Wonder the only permitted coloring item when we traveled were colored pencils. No pens, no markers, no crayons! I am a fun mom, aren't I?? LOL :p

[ginger123snaps]

Mine are 4, 4, 2. I have never flown with the boys. I do use a dvd player/ipad for distraction. It does wonders!

[Mom2B&Z]

We've travelled extensively with our boys since they were a few months old, and all I can say is that there are lots of tips but not all will work for you :)

I too heard all about bringing colour wonder paper/markers, new toys etc for trips as the best strategy, and they both fail miserably for our boys. What works best for us is to let each child fill a large Ziploc bag with toys from home. They pick what they want (yes, I let my 2 yo pick out his own toys), plus a favourite "stuffie" for bedtime. We do bring matchbox vehicles, and we especially like the fold-up play sets as they are compact, light and give lots of entertainment in airports and other confined spaces. For the flight we usually let the child play with the on-board entertainment (i.e. tv), DS2 was 2yrs when we first flew and he worked the touch screen like a pro. I also like a product called Automoblocks, they are little cars that you cana take apart and reassemble. If you have two or three of them in the same size they can be hours of fun. We also use the iPad and iPod touch with the kids, but judiciously and moreso since they are getting older. Some of the apps are great, I can get DS2 practicing school work on vacation ;)

So the moral of my story is take everyone's advice with a grain of salt, know your kids and be prepared to figure out what works for you and your family. You'll be a pro in no time!

[ElsieToo]

You should check your airline/flight - most that I've been on recently have on demand in-flight entertainment units in the seat back. Last time I flew cross country with DS he was almost 4, and he was perfectly happy to watch the kids movies that they had. Between two movies, a nap, food, and a few storybooks he was fine (which made me happy since I was flying with a fractured rib and was uncomfortable as heck the entire time!).

[jlrn366419]

As other posters mentioned, each child is different. I read a tip to take stickers and/or painters tape. Some kids could play with stickers/tape for a pretty long time. I don't know the age so this might be too young for yours.

 

I know you said you don't have electronics but if you think it would hold your childs interest, maybe you could borrow a friends leap pad, old smart phone, old iphone w/o service etc. I know I wouldn't want to borrow an Ipad but a less expensive item might

[newbiecruiser09]

Not sure how old your little one is but when our DD was younger (3 or 4) we got her a Leapster to take on trips. They have a lot of cartridges for younger kids--including educational ones--and you can plug headsets into them for the plane ride. I do not pack too much stuff but I always travel with a small notepad and some pencils & crayons. Our DD & DS would play tic tac toe, hangman, that "make boxes" game, or just draw. (Plus pad was great for me to make lists as needed along the way)

[TheCalicoCat]

Thanks for the info/ideas. My son will be 3.5.

Too young for more than 30 min. of screen time - IMHO.

[ElsieToo]

Thanks for the info/ideas. My son will be 3.5.

Too young for more than 30 min. of screen time - IMHO.

 

Too young for you to feel comfortable with it, more like. :) That's fine if that's your preference (and overall parents sure do use TV as a means of distraction more than necessary, so I applaud you for setting limits) but biologically speaking, his brain is fully capable of handling that sort of stimulation by that age as long as you're selecting a program aimed at children without too many quick scene changes (which the brain does have more trouble handling and has been somewhat linked to later development of ADHD because greater amounts of serotonin are released when the brain is constantly having to shift from one thought process to another). Anyhow, I don't think two plane flights will be too damaging long term no matter what you choose to do, but definitely consider getting a few new things to occupy him during those hours.

[kroberts0525]

My 7 year old has been flying a few times a year since he was six months old. I read an article once that said, "All parenting rules go out the window when air travel is involved". I have found that this is good advice. On the plane my son can have as much screen time as he'd like and eat whatever he wants. The dvd player was a great help in the younger years. By age 5 we switched to a Leapfrog Tag and books. The Tag isn't much larger than a marker, many of the books are interactive and you can hook it up to headphones. Before each flight he also gets to go to the store and select various airplane snacks...often things he gets little of at home. His favorites are Goldfish, Teddy Grahams, and fruit snacks in whatever shape he wants. On the flight home we go through the vacation pictures stored on the digital camera.

[martikus]

Do you take long car trips? I would imagine whatever works there will work on a plane?

 

Any chance your airplane will music? DS loved plugging in a pair of headphones (I brought some kid ones) and going up & down the channels - only rule was M&D had to approve volume.

 

Honestly - I can't imagine a 5 hour flight without a DVD player so not sure how much help I will be. Whenever we travel DS can watch as much TV as he wants - only time there is no rule. I don't know how our parents survived without it! At 3.5 he LOVED all Backyardigans. Now that he is 5 - the itouch with a couple new apps is amazing for trips. Again, not something he gets at home so it is a novelty.

 

All I would say is quiet toys. DS gets a lot of use out of little figures when we travel. He couldn't care less about them at home, but for some reason when traveling he gets into some pretty elaborate scenarios.

 

Color Wonder markers, sticker books would be good at that age, but again I'd worried it wouldn't last long.

 

We take a small rolly bag I bought cheap at Walmart. If DS's toys don't fit in there they stay home. I also include a small travel pillow & blanket. DS actually naps on the plane - a rarity in everyday life.

 

He also really enjoyed looking out the window before takeoff which helped kill 20+ min.

 

Good luck!

[schooly2]

things my three like...

Silly putty - not good if you have child who will smear it around, but very tactile

 

Wiki sticks - wax covered strips of yarn you can create all kinds of stuff with - I think they usually have them at craft stores, maybe target or Walmart

 

An inventors bag - a ziplock or fancier bag with oddities from your desk drawer - paperclips, rubber bands, erasers, anything you think is safe and can be used to create sculptures, pretend robots, their imagination is the driving force

 

Snacks they pack themselves and can look forward to opening

 

Books on tape - my oldest couldn't get enough of this - stories read by the author, sometimes you can find the book to go along so they can enjoy illustrations