Flying With Kids

I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. I really enjoyed reading this post. big fan, thank you!

I had that book as a kid! My brother and I would roll leaves up around pencils to make secret note depositories and leave dumb things for each other to find.

Oh, this book looks just wonderful! <3

We made three trips around Christmas time with our almost 2 and almost 4 year olds, and were surprised that the queues were the worst part. We queued for almost 2 hours for one of the flights and the boys were beside themselves by the time we got on the plane. Thank goodness for sticker books, a colouring book with invisible ink pen, lots of little packaged snacks (doled out like gifts these can really eat up time, ha), airport pastries, and taking the double buggy all the way to the plane and ‘checking’ it in at the gate.
Our two year old spent several hours putting stickers on a picture of a hot air balloon until they were three deep, then colouring over them all with felt pens. Another passenger came over to tell me what a wonderful mother I was for letting him make a big mess instead of trying to get him to sticker and colour ‘nicely’. If you ever want to make a mother’s day, tell her she’s doing a wonderful job while she’s wrangling her kids on a plane!

Great recommendations! Am I the only one who hasn’t heard of the Usborne books? We are about to fly with our 1 and 4 year olds so I just ordered a couple. Great post!

Love the Usborne Books shoot out! I am an independent consultant for Usborne Books & More and love seeing and hearing praises for these amazing books :)

Love the Usborne Books shoot out! I am an Usborne Books & More Independent Consultant and love hearing and seeing other people praise this amazing books :)

For our trip to the UK, I stockpiled small toys and kept them hidden until we got on the plane. (Schleich dinosaurs, mini sticker books, etc.) Worked well on the way over. On the way back, it was iPad games all the way before our 3-year-old finally conked out.

I agree that Usbourne sticker books (specifically ‘Sticker Dolly Dressing’) are great for travel – my 5-year old daughter loves them and will spend hours playing with them on the plane and during long road trips. I like that they have vacation/travel, work, and ‘adventure’ girl themes in addition to the standard princess/ballet fare. My 2.5 year old son is harder to keep occupied but we found that buckles (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043G4JOA/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AC1EXZGHOJBZ8), a truck coloring book, and a variety of Little Golden Books (lightweight and easy to stash in a carry-on) helped keep him in his seat. They also both love surprise ‘treasure’ pouches (age/gender appropriate trinkets in small zipper bags – rocks, plastic animals, old keys, strings of beads, etc…)

I wish there was something that captivating for a 1 year old kid. I have a 18 hour long flight coming up and it’s first time for me and wife traveling with our 1 year old kid. I am absolutely scared of being judged by fellow passengers like we have been doing till now.

Flying 25 hours in December with a 23 month old and a 5 year old, Perth Australia to NYC – are we crazy? Yes. Will we make it? Who knows. After reading these comments I am really starting to worry!

As ever, you are so incredibly timely! Thanks for these tips. I’m currently filling up my carry on for flights from LA to Paris to Toulouse to visit family with a (near) 3-year-old and a 6-month-old. 11 hours in a plane with 2 munchkins (and hubby)…eek!

The Usborne sticker books are great! I’ve bought almost all of them at this point for our frequent road trips….

Ooo thank you for the Usborn rec! The last time we made the 10 hour flight to England from LA with our then almost 2 year old, it was inevitably the things ON the plane that kept him most entertained. The touch screen and seat belt fastening and unfastening ended up being way more entertaining than the books and toys I packed! And somehow, someway we survived the whole flight without a meltdown. Whew!

We’ve never taken a flight with kids but I (when I was a kid) took a few. Sticker books are the best!!! Just be careful! Make sure you get all the stickers off of clothes before you wash them because your clothes will end up with a gross adhesive spot that is a pain to get out! Haha! #momlife

OMG I had the spy one, too! Loved it so much that I was looking for it again recently as a present for someone.

We recently went a 5 hour flight with our 2 year old, and while he’s too young for activity books, sticker books were a savior! We had two new ones for him on each flight to and from. We also had a small army of trucks, cars, and airplanes. When all else failed… we totally handed him the iphone which we had loaded up with Daniel Tiger, Thomas, and this Lego train building app he seemed to really enjoy.

My son is a bit too young and restless (almost 2) to really get absorbed in activity books. We had a six-hour flight recently and by far the best time-killers I brought were:

– a pill case filled with stuff. You know like those daily pill sorters that ill or old people use to keep track of their medication? They usually have a push-button opening mechanism, for arthritic hands, which toddlers can do on their own. I filled the pill parts with some cheap pony beads, pom poms, pennies, a couple Shopkins here and there, whatever. Stuff I didn’t mind losing. Opening and closing the lids, moving stuff from one box to the next – it ate up a ton of time.

– a roll of masking tape. This was the big one. I ripped off pieces and he stuck them wherever. On his face, on the seat, on my arm. Masking tape comes off super easily so I didn’t need to worry about residue or leaving a sticker-covered tray or anything.

My husband and I just took our almost 2 year old on her first flight and I literally just wrote a post with some tips on traveling with a toddler on a plane! I took all of the most important tips that I gleaned after my travels and shared them in this post:

http://www.lushbreak.com/?p=1196

This is a fantastic tip! We’re headed on a lengthy road trip soon and those books would be perfect for my twins.

Thanks for sharing this! We recently traveled with our twin 5-year-old girls to Hawaii and they did great. They were enamored with having their own little tv and choice of movies. On the way home, however, the entertainment system on the plane was broken. We brought some activities but they did get bored with them after awhile. These activity books would have been amazing!

XOXO, Amy @ Jeans and a Tea
http://www.jeansandatea.com

We loooove Usborne activity books! They are expensive for one-time use but worth every cent. My kiddos love the dress-up ones. This awesome toy is our secret to entertaining a 2 or 3-year-old on a long flight:
https://www.amazon.com/Kid-O-Free-Play-Magnatab/dp/B004PR49EM/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1468326665&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=magnatab
On our last flight to London, however, my 2-year-old dropped the stylus between the seats before takeoff and we could. not. find it, even with flight attendants helping us. I had brought nothing else for him to play with as I was counting on it so much! Talk about parental panic. :-)

Yes! Great tip! I have a 16 hour flight next week with my 4 year old and 11 year old! Wish us luck :)

Couldn’t agree more. Love Usborne. One of their sticker books kept my 3 year old going for a whole 6 hour flight and while his little brother napped during our holiday last summer. Will be getting another for this year’s holiday!

So timely! Our family is moving to the UK soon, and I’ve been coming through all your travel-with-children posts for tips! My son is about the same age as your Anton, if I remember right. My biggest fear is long TSA lines with a little guy who is already quite anxious to get on the “huge plane!” Since we have to be fingerprinted for our visas, I’m hoping we will be able to sign up for TSA pre-check at the same time, but I’m dusting off my waiting strategies.