iPad ideas to occupy my 5yr old on the plane

[eilarie]

Hi,

I searched all over to for ideas and was unsuccessful, so here goes.

I hate to ask this question as we don't watch TV at home and my boys do not have media access as a rule.  (I try to follow the Waldorf philosophy as closely as I can at home)

HOWEVER, I will be on a plane with my five year old DS and his twin 2.6 year old brothers.  By myself.  In fact the 5yr old will be sitting across the isle from me.  I am a little nervous about the trip as they are typical high energy boys.  So I broke down and bought an iPad for myself and timing it so as to have it on the plane to keep him occupied for the 2+ hour plane ride.

I will have coloring books and color wonder stuff for him, but I know that this will be a sure thing for him.  I'd like to download a few games and shows for him.  I did find quite a lot of game ideas that I need to check out but I am wondering what shows have people found that are appropriate to have and how did you load them onto the iPad?

We have two weeks until our trip.

Thanks,

Eileen

[Peony]

I've got a 5y and she adores our iPad, we have way too many games.  Her favorites are the Starfall app, some of the Monkey Lunch box ones, and many of the baking apps. Many of the baking ones are free, we've got pizza ones, doughnut, cookies, etc.. she will gladly spend our driving time baking various things. 

[puffingirl]

There are some very entertaining apps for little ones.  My MIL has an iPad and DD loves playing with it.  She has a SuperWhy app that has reading games, a coloring app that you can touch colors and color in parts of a picture (sorry, I don't know what it's called), and she also really loves flipping through the photos that MIL has on there and listening to some of the songs that MIL loads on there for her.  The apps you can get at the touch of a button through the app store on the iPad.  Enjoy.

[LuckyMommaToo]

You can buy tv shows or movies on itunes. You can also burn DVDs you own, but that takes a little more tech skill. Just go to the kids section of tv shows on iTunes and see what looks appealing. The choices are endless. Superwhy, Backyardigans, or Martha Speaks might be good places to start for shows. You can watch little sample snippets to see what you think.

And don't forget Angry Birds!

Good luck and have fun,

-e

[Skippy918]

My son loves his Thomas app.  He also has Gofun, shape puzzles, jump start pre and a few others. I got them for free.  

[eilarie]

Hi,

Thanks for all your replies. I guess that I need to spend some more time on iTunes. I already found some games for him.

I have heard nice things about Martha speaks.  

Oh, I think that he will have some fun with the baking apps too.

it is nap/quiet time now so I will go and check them out.

Thanks again.

Eileen

[liberal_chick]

My boys also love Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. :)

[chel]

My kids love books on the iPad, they are 11 and almost 2 but both enjoy...

the goodnight book

There's a monster at the end of the books

Both very interactive.

[missnoodlesmom]

My kids love the iPad - they don't use it a ton (maybe an hour a week on average) because we don't do a whole lot of screen time.  That being said, here are the apps my 5 year old loves (and so does my 3.5 year old):

-fruit ninja (very fast paced game of "slashing" fruit for points - I like to play this, too, lol)

-Highlights Hidden Pix (just like the magazine, but an app!  We love this)

-Cut the Rope (sneak some physics in! My 5 year old can make it to the end of the first level so there is plenty of play time in this)

-Geared (a nice physics app of making gears work together - like a cool puzzle, really)

-Zoola (tons of animals that make sounds, they can choose mommy, daddy, baby and see pics of animals in different stages of devt)

-Dot to Dot Numbers and Letters (like a workbook, they can do dTd activities)

-SuperWhy (literacy activities, just like the TV show - my kids have never seen the show so you don't need that background to play)

-ParkMath (math activities for PreK / K level)

-Doodle Buddy or Glow Coloring (pretty self explanitory :)

Have a good trip!

[eilarie]

What a nice list of ides.  Some of those look like a lot of fun.

I found Cut the Rope already.  I'm interested in the Highlights one as my son is getting the magazine subscription for Christmas.

I did manage to fine a few free Sesame Street shows to download and a few books for him. I think that he will be all set for the plane rides.  Now it is his twin brothers that I need to focus on.

Thanks again and have a nice Holiday season!!

Eileen

[missnoodlesmom]

Something that kePt my kids entertained on the plane was a pack of strings (the kind for stringing beads).  I challenged them to make a knot using all the strings.  They were busy for nearly 2 hours!

[eilarie]

Hi,

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great ideas.  The trip was a success!! 

My son was occupied with other items; books, Color Wonder markers, Hightlights Magazine and when he tired of those items I pulled out the IPad.  He was happily engaged playing the games and watching the Sesame Street show for most of the trip, needing my assistance periodically.  This allowed me to stay one step ahead of the twins. Every one was VERY well behaved and I couldn't have asked for a better ride with them.  Thank heavens for trail mix.  That alone kept the twins busy for at least one hour intermitenly through out the trip.

Thanks again.

Eileen