Since I already covered the how to stay sane while flying with children, how about I give you all the best and worst ideas about what to bring on the plane to entertain them?
Bad ideas:
playdough for children who don't really know how to play with playdough. If the extent of their play includes pulling it apart and making a mess, leave it at home. You'll thank me later.
stickers that are difficult to pull off the sheet without ripping. Seriously, who wants a frustrated kid on a plane?
crayons that roll. OK, crayons are good, so either get the triangular kind for the little ones or bring an easy container to keep them in so they don't keep rolling off the tray.
beads for making necklaces. See note above about messy things that roll off the tray and cause frustration...
new activities that may be either uninteresting or too difficult. If you aren't sure if your 3 year old can do a dot-to-dot, don't bring it! If you don't know if they'll like playing with Wikki Stix, don't bring them!
markers. There are so many reasons not to bring them.
oversized, heavy activities. No explanation needed.
activities that require supervision or direct parental involvement. This is OK if there is one kid and two parents, or even two kids and two parents but once they have you outnumbered you should keep it simple when possible.
Good ideas:
interesting activity books. Color by number/letter books keep my 4 year old occupied forever. Dot-to-dot pages are good as well. Blank paper and crayons are best for my 2 year old.
I Spy easy read books. These are easy for non-readers as well as readers. My 2 year old loves looking at these and finding the objects.
A DVD player. Don't count on the in flight movie to be appropriate. Bring favorite shows or home videos. Don't try out a new show!
stickers and blank paper. I've also used notecards instead of blank paper. One idea is to put a number on each notecard so the child can put that number of stickers on each card. They put 8 stickers on a card with an 8 on it, etc. This was mildly entertaining for my girls.
suckers/lollipops. These provide entertainment and last a long time.
books. Bring the ones they love but not too many.
snacks and meals. A hungry child is never that fun to travel with.
Crayola Color Wonder markers and coloring books. These are wonderful for the younger crowd. No need to worry about anyone coloring on the seats or trays. Or themselves.
Something to chew on for takeoff and landing. My kids don't do well with gum so other things we've used are fruit snacks, mentos, starburst, dried fruit, carrot sticks, you get the idea.
A cup with a lid. Those flight attendants will give you lots of drinks but a kid on a bouncy plane with a cup full of juice is a recipe for a wet screaming kid.
Other ideas I've read about but never actually used:
video games
What have you used to entertain your kids on a long flight or drive? What worked and what didn't work? How do you get it all on the plane?
