2yo on airplane

[DisneyinDecember]

I'm hoping you can help. We are taking my 2yo DD on her 1st airplane ride in December. She will be 2y5month at that time. What would you recommend to keep her entertained. We are coming from Minneapolis so I'm thinking about 3-4hrs in the air.
I've read on a couple other threads about bringing new toys - like from the dollar store, etc. I'm thinking about getting her some cheap headphones to listen to her tapes - she loves Disney playhouse music and Wiggles music. Has anyone had good luck with a 2yo having headphones on? Any other ideas? If I bring color books, what would she color on? I'm bringing her carseat and I don't think she'd be able to reach the airplane tray.

 

[josierac]

New toys always work, my kids at that age liked the headphones with the music or read along stories. A favorite toy will be good too. I also read to my kids a lot on planes to make the time pass.

I used to try and book the flights that were close to nap time so that they would fall asleep on the plane.

The other thing that works for us is that we get to the airport early and walk around the terminal with the kids so when it's time to get on the plane they are not figiting because they have been sitting for a long time. Allow them to buy a small item in the gift shops.

Purchase kids ear planes for her in case her ears start bothering her. www.earplanes.com

I'm sure that others will have more info for you

 

[lisadam]

We flew with our then 18 month old last year - he LOVED the travel sized magna doodle (its for ages 3 and up - but we were with him the whole time) we also had new books for him and some new toys. We' flying in 1 week (he's now 2 1/2) and we have some new things now... we purchased a view master and some disney pictures to put in it, and we have some color forms ... lets hope these things keep him occupied.

good luck!

 

[Heather]

My almost-3 year old daughter has flown 3 times since her second birthday. I'll share what works with her -- lots of manipulatives (lace-up shapes, colorforms, goldfish crackers or teddy grahams to eat), crayons worked okay (we had no problem reaching the tray -- the seats were way too narrow for my legs, so she had no problem) as did Magna-Doodle. We found that the musical toy we brought (a V-tech learning board) did NOT work as the airplane was really too noisy with white noise for her to hear the toy (and here I'd worried about it maybe bugging other passengers). Small board books (new) kept her quite occupied, as did singing songs (again, the plane was so noisy that only the people right in front of us could hear us at ALL and even then not loud enough to bug them).

I TOTALLY agree with getting to the airport early -- making sure to have plenty of potty or diaper changing time prior to getting on the plane, and also letting them run around a lot. Find a gate that isn't currently busy and let her climb the chairs or just run around in circles!! We walked up and down the concourse and it really seemed to wear her out enough that she wasn't too interested in getting out of her seat. And unless you are flying Southwest or another airline without assigned seats, don't take them up on the pre-boarding thing, or maybe just let your husband take all the carryon luggage on the pre-board, and you take your daughter on at the last possible minute. Truly, this will save you as much as 20-30 minutes of waiting in the seat before you even back away from the gate and on a 3-4 hour flight, that's a lot!

I will add one note -- I don't know what earplanes are, but each of the three times my daughter has been on an airplane, she has come down with an ear infection within 48 hours, so I say use them! We always, on the advice of our pediatrician, give her a decongestant about 45 minutes before boarding.

Best of luck!

 

[Barb D]

I second the Magna Doodle. We got the size that was even smaller than the travel size. It's very tiny. It has a hook on it, so we could even hook it on her stroller so it wouldn't get lost.

We bought a little train toy with Mickey and Minnie on it for a few dollars at the Disney Store. Also a Mickey Mouse invisible ink book from WalMart. She just scribbled on it, but she liked it anyway.

BTW, I found that the tray table wouldn't lay down flat because the edges of her car seat blocked it.

I was fortunate that she fell asleep in the airport while we were waiting for a replacement plane at MCO on the way home. (The original plane had mechanical problems.) She slept until after we landed at BWI. It was so funny because she actually braced herself with her feet against the seat in front of her as we were landing...but she never woke up!

 

[preb]

Thirds on the magna doodle! Also, we found stickers and paper to be a better choice than coloring because the tray table wouldn't go all the way down as previously stated. Suckers were also a special treat. My sister in law suggested wrapping anything we gave her in giftwrap which kept her entertained a few extra minutes. Pray for sleep!