is there *anything* that will interest my 14 month old on a long flight?

[yentroc]

I've flown with my dd (now 6) many times but never a long (6+ hrs) flight at the age my ds is (14 months).  My dd will be great watching movies and drawing, etc.  But ds??  Besides bringing some board books, I have no idea what will capture his interest, other than walking the aisle for hours.

Any suggestions?

TIA!

[IdahoMom]

Suckers. Seriously. Not something I'd do every day, but a huge bag of suckers saved us on a cross-country flight with a toddler and 2 other young kids.

[HappyMommy2]

I don't do sugar, since giving my kids a big bag of sugar is not conducive to them sitting quietly in their seats.  I have read that a lollipop on the descent will help with ear pain (as will breastfeeding). 

I bought my kids tiny wheely backpacks of their own and put lots of snacks and new toys in them.  They get to pull them thru the airport like grownups, but can't open them until we get in our seats.

Protein snacks like granola bars, trail mix, sesame sticks, snapea crisps, dried mangoes, etc.  Cheese and pringles. (babybel or string cheese are individually wrapped)  Treats they don't always get, but aren't total sugar either. 

New toys/activities from the dollar store - buy lots and get 2 so they don't fight over them. Cheap toys means you don't care if they get lost or broken.  Silly putty. Funny glasses. Markers, crayons, stickers, paper. 

Cool new sippy cup.  (buy juice and water after security)

[LynnS6]

This Hide 'n Seek board was a life saver on one or two trips with my kids when they were that age. Yes, it was $17. Yes it's a bit heavy, but it was worth it. For a while, the children just like opening up the doors and seeing the things behind them, and taking out the magnets. Then, you can hide one or two items behind the doors and they can look for them. This kept even a 16 month old busy.

One of my friends told me to bring a new 'activity' (snacks count) for every 10-15 minutes on the flight. She was right. It doesn't have to be sophisticated. Remember that an ice cube and a plastic cup will keep them busy for 5 minutes.

[yentroc]

Originally Posted by HappyMommy2 

I don't do sugar, since giving my kids a big bag of sugar is not conducive to them sitting quietly in their seats.  I have read that a lollipop on the descent will help with ear pain (as will breastfeeding). 

I bought my kids tiny wheely backpacks of their own and put lots of snacks and new toys in them.  They get to pull them thru the airport like grownups, but can't open them until we get in our seats.

Protein snacks like granola bars, trail mix, sesame sticks, snapea crisps, dried mangoes, etc.  Cheese and pringles. (babybel or string cheese are individually wrapped)  Treats they don't always get, but aren't total sugar either. 

New toys/activities from the dollar store - buy lots and get 2 so they don't fight over them. Cheap toys means you don't care if they get lost or broken.  Silly putty. Funny glasses. Markers, crayons, stickers, paper. 

Cool new sippy cup.  (buy juice and water after security)

Those are all great ideas for my older daughter, and ones that I already use.  Unfortunately my 14 month old only has 4 teeth and can't eat too many things.  Also, he would only be interested in eating silly putty, stickers, paper, etc.  :(  It's a dilemma.

[yentroc]

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

This Hide 'n Seek board was a life saver on one or two trips with my kids when they were that age. Yes, it was $17. Yes it's a bit heavy, but it was worth it. For a while, the children just like opening up the doors and seeing the things behind them, and taking out the magnets. Then, you can hide one or two items behind the doors and they can look for them. This kept even a 16 month old busy.

One of my friends told me to bring a new 'activity' (snacks count) for every 10-15 minutes on the flight. She was right. It doesn't have to be sophisticated. Remember that an ice cube and a plastic cup will keep them busy for 5 minutes.

Oooooh, great idea. I think I'll get one of those for sure.  And yes, I plan on those plastic cups on the plane being a great interest!  :)

[MamaMunchkin]

What about a little baggie (say, a dozen pieces or so) of Lego Duplo?  Whatever they build can always

be reconstructed, deconstructed, etc when they get bored.

[LuckyMommaToo]

I remember carrying something like this Put and Play toy:

http://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-Toy-Put-Peek-Birdhouse/dp/B0001NEAB6/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1297798659&sr=1-5

on a flight when my kids were that age. Then you can use the little birds for other things. Honestly, at that age I found that as long as I totally committed my self to the one-year-old, it was fine. The moment I thought I could whip out a magazine, forget it.

Good luck!
-e

[lindberg99]

My kids are older now but we flew to Hawaii when our youngest was about 18 months. I went to Goodwill and got some toys for him there. I remember there was some kind of noisemaker thing with Elmo on it that he loved. And it wasn't too loud because the plane itself was pretty loud. Then just snacks, drinks, etc. It really was not as bad as I thought it would be. What time is your flight? We had a night flight coming back (left Hawaii at like 10 pm) and that was great because he basically slept the entire time.

[MariesMama]

I've been told to wrap up every new toy in wrapping paper, to make it even more interesting.  I flew with DD at that age and it went well!  We took her carseat, brought stickers, wrapped up small toys, and brought lots of "new" snacks that DD doesn't normally get.  Lots of exercise during layovers is important too.

(I flew with her at 8 months and wasn't prepared -  I resorted to letting her tear up the SkyMall catalog to keep her calm. )

[ekh]

I flew last summer with my barely 2 year old and my 10 month old. Not the same ages but close. I went to the dollar store before the flight and bought a bunch of crap (sorry, but true). We opened each thing one at a time and I let my children play with the new toys until they lost interest. Then, we walked the aisles for a while (my 10 month old was walking), and then we went back and opened another toy. This worked well and I didn't spend a lot of money. (These were 8-9 hour flights.) I also did not let my children take naps the day of the flight and we took a night flight and a late afternoon flight. So, they slept well on the plane. Fortunately, they took turns sleeping, mostly, so I wasn't dealing with two babies at the same time. 

[thedenverduo]

I don't know how far away your trip is, but we went on a 20 hour car ride (40 round trip!) with ds when he was 13 months old and this saved us:

A month or two before our trip I started taking his toys and stashing them in a bag in my closet.  He didn't notice, and I also put in some spoons, a whisk, a spare toothbrush, and other household type things.  I also laminated some pictures and stuck in there.  And I put an empty bag the same size on top (I used reusable grocery bags).  So then on the long car ride I would pull out a toy and he hadn't seen it in at least a month so it was like brand new.  He would play with it for awhile, and then get bored or throw it on the floor.  I used the empty bag to put all the "used" toys in to keep things neat.  And then we did the same thing in reverse on the car trip home.  It was fabulous.  At that age he was big enough to sit RF in his carseat or FF so we switched him to RF for naps, and FF for awake time and to mix things up..  I have no idea if you can install a carseat RF in an airplane, but it might be an idea.

HTH!

[meemee]

how sensory is your son? my dd is hugely so i'd get a variety of little textured things that were already in the household. 

btw i've flows across teh world since dd was 5 months old and her toys were always packed away. she maybe read some of the books. the rest of the time she spent with the other passengers. as a 8 month old she was handed down the flight and as a toddler she walked around saying hi when it was ok to do. her thing is people though and these were international flights and i found lots of people who were so excited to play with a willing child.