Recommendations for long flight activities for kids 5 and 8!

[4pmwinetimebebeh]

20 hour flight coming up and our first long haul!
Will have ipads charged, films downloaded, in flight entertainment, couple of sticker and colouring books and eldest will have some books.
Any thing that went down well with your kids to pass the time? Ideally not bothering fellow passengers! Any travel games etc?
Thank you! :)

my 6 year old loved kanoodle on our recent trip

also:

top trumps

Usborne wipeable maze cards and a dry-wipe marker (took about half the box as there are loads)

mixed puzzle book

where’s wally

I also got a magnetic travel board game kit from Vinted, really good value - about 10cm square, with chequers, chess, backgammon etc. My kids like playing a bit of chess so that got used a fair bit during our airport wait times

i totally avoided games on devices as they will watch the inflight movie too!

Screens and snacks. Snacks and screens.
Oh, have I mentioned snacks? Or screens??

But I have a child who doesn't sleep on planes. His record is 36 hours travel without sleep.....

My eldest likes making bracelets (loom bands or scoobie strings), word searches, scratch art kits (yes you’re allowed to take the metal scraper through security- we’ve done it many times!), fimo clay, Dobble, top trumps, Happy Families card game, Simon handheld memory game, Rush hour game, Where’s Wally, maze books…

Forgot to mention Nano Blocks kits

Micro mags - comes in travel tin
top trump cards
guess who type card game
usborne mini books - they do mini water painting, puzzles, etc
magnetic board games. We have very thin ones of car game, Ludo and snakes and ladders

Lego and Playmobil both do little travel cases with a decent kit in them. The Playmobil farm case was my standard go-to for long flights when my DC were that age.

Audiobooks and something to do with hands while listening like friendship bracelets.

Get noise cancelling headphones not kiddy headphones as they're awful on flights.

TBH when dd took Gdcs of much the same ages to Australia, she found that the on board films kept them happily occupied for most of the time.

Books

Lollipops as they take a long time to eat

You can
play word games like I spy (use colours instead of letters), 30 questions, would you rather.

Put together some playlists that they can listen to while dozing.

Don't rely on this though, a friend of mine got on a long haul flight only to find the screens had malfunctioned and had to get through 9 hours with two young DC.

Nightmare! Would have been for dd and Gdcs anyway. For myself, I always prefer a book/my Kindle.

Screens - when we flew to New Zealand with a 5, 8 and 10 year old they were more than happy with free rein on the inflight entertainment (films and games) with ipad for back up. We were on another long haul flight recently and DS was telling me his fond memories of watching the Angry Birds movie 3 times on that trip1

mini etch-a-sketch for drawing or playing games like hangman, noughts & crosses etc

Personally I'd avoid things like Lego and Nanoblocks as they're a right pain in the arse when they go on the floor.

My 5 year old likes those books with water pens, pipe cleaners to make things out of, drawing books with wipe clean pens, magnetic fishing game and audio books to listen to with headphones.

These are brilliant for drawing and cheap.

However many snacks you think you need, triple it. You would not believe the quanty of snacks they will eat.

Also put a change of clothes for everyone in your hand luggage. As someone whose child once developed a stomach bug on a long haul flight I highly recommend them.

Thanks so much all!
Ok so snacks +++, change of clothes, books, colouring, mini games etc. Thank you!!

This

Don't take too much other activities with you as it will likely be 99% screens and snacks and you just end up having to carry the other stuff and climb under seats to find all of it - we have done quite a few long haul flights since 3 years old ish and once they hit 6 years old it's been a meagre attempt at other activities as they are best occupied just watching films etc

Change of clothes for you as well! Even if it’s never happened before you will deeply regret it if/when child throws up over you/tips drink on you etc

I didn't just take snacks but whole meals, but then I had a DD who still now at nearly 30 rarely eats plane food, we would pack the snacks and let her choose a meal deal at the airport. If you have the space a water bottle with a lid works well if you don't want to wear your child's drink (unless yours are not as clumsy and fidgety as mine were).

If you take pens, small toys etc have an easy zip bag to put them in and encourage them to only have a few out at a time, otherwise you will spend half the flight on the floor getting what has been dropped (or again is that just my DC)

Clothes, spare clothes, layers, a neck pillow and a blanket to encourage sleep.

Their own headphones that they have worn before the flight to get used to and a device with their programmes or games on helps if they can't find anything on the IFE