Nothing terrifies me more than being stuck on an airplane flight without food or toys to entertain the kids. But, I also don’t want to be weighed down with too much stuff. When we packed for our last trip which included a 14-hour flight, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t have enough so I carefully planned out what we would take. In the end, I was pretty happy with what I packed and each bag provided at least 2 hours of entertainment on each flight. The boys carried their own ziplock surprise pack in their backpacks and we had a rule that they were not allowed to peek until we got on the plane.
I think this bag pack would work for toddlers age 2-4. This is what I packed inside:
sticky hands (purchased at Target from their party section)
sticky frogs (also from Target)
stickers
a note pad and crayons/markers
Playschool Transformers (I bought two coordinating packs for each boy: ie the little red man that went with the red firetruck transformer. I love these because they don’t have weapons/guns. Next time, I thought I could interchange this with little Playmobile sets. )
Long story toddler books. I chose Frog and Toad and Danny and the Dinosaur. Frog and Toad is a current favorite.
Little knit finger puppets (thank you Auntie J!)
A couple plastic dinosaurs saved from a friend’s goodybag
pre-inked stamps (these alone could entertain for hours!)
Fruit Flakes from Trader Joe’s and a small bag of Goldfish.
At Hong Kong Airport we found a really great Airplane Set from the Muji store that we added to the mix.
Having a few things to do makes for better flying and the boys always look forward to the surprises that we put inside their bags. It also cuts down on how much we have to use the Ipad or movies to distract as I’m not a big fan of too much tv. And if you have any other fantastic airplane distractions for toddlers, please let me know, I’m sure we’ll be flying again very soon:)
(I’m linking this post up with walkinontravel and suitcasesandsippycups for their Travel Tips Tuesday, where there are oodles of other travel tips that might help your next trip)
What a great activity bag! We’ve done so many flights with our kids but all less than 8 hours. Next week is our first 14+ hour flight … I think I might be off to the shops to put together a similar bag. Thanks for sharing
hi there! you won the giveaway on my blog for the shutterfly cards … can you send me your email address so that i can get your information to you?? thanks! and congrats!!
I just sent it via twitter. Thank you very much:)
Love this simple idea 🙂
Thank you! It’s amazing how easy ziplock bags make travel, eh?
Ziplock bags are the greatest thing invented for the traveler! I love your rule about not peeking until you get there. I am going to try that. Thanks for linking up today!
Thanks:) I love them too! I’m always looking for new things to put inside and sometimes the things that worked on the last trip don’t work on the next.
Great ideas for activity bags! I always had a few surprises for the airplane when my daughters were younger as well – it’s so exciting to get something new!
We never fly without our own mini plane. It is an invaluable little toy. I happened to bring it on a flight on a whim once. I now have a bag full of them that I have picked up at various second hand shops just in case we loose one. It is esp. great for take off and landing just like the toddler books. Anything you don’t have to turn on is crucial for those non-electronic use times. We are also trying to cut back on our laptop dependence on flights. I believe an activity bag will be on a trip with us this summer for sure 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Keryn:) Can’t wait to hear about where you’re going next! We’ll definitely have to catch up and chat about trips after baby 2 comes:)