What activities kept your toddler busy on a long haul flight?

[mamma1mia]

Hi all,
My husband and I are flying long haul with our DD (20 months at time of travel) to America for the first time in a couple of months. I am (trying) to be organised and get LO some bits and bobs to keep her entertained as much as possible on the flight. I was thinking of getiing things like a few new books, but thought I would seek some tips from those who have already done such journeys to see what has worked for your LOs? Any tips would be a massive help.

Don't get too much. You'll just end up lugging it around, and your hair will go static as you constantly have to root around under the tray/chair to retrieve when she drops...
Do get a small travel bag or backpack that has her toys in it, otherwise you're rooting round in your bag, along with everything else that's in there, looking for things.

Check if your airline has back of the seat tv's. Practise using headphones before you go and stick the cartoon channel on if they do.
My ds was lulled to sleep for a great part of our journey to NZ, via USA by the droning of the plane.

Make sure you have snuggly type toy/blanket for flight.

What toys does she like generally? Will she sit and play with something like a my little pony or is she more active? I recommend stickers, some kind of colouring if she's happy to sit and use felt pens/pencils. Also a small pot of fruity lip salve will keep her busy and you can distract with it every so often (ds liked the jellybean flavoured ones).

Ds also liked choosing a special packet of sweets for the trip - the travel tim kind. It also helped with take off and landing to have him eating a sweet for his ears.

Take an empty drink bottle/lidded cup and fill it with water/juice when you get past the security checks. You will be able to buy it in the shops there. Ask the steward to fill it up when they come round with the trolley so you're not having to wait to get a drink later. If you do put fruit juice in it remember that the sniffer dogs may be attracted to it when you land. They put ds's drinks bottle through the xray when it had ribena in it, so I would suggest a clear cup may be a better option.

Get the 3 seats by a window. Put dd by the window so she can look at the clouds etc and also lean against it to sleep. Then you won't have to disturb her if you want to get up while she is asleep. And you can easily lift her over you to get out with whoever is on the aisle rather than having to unbuckle, remove headphones etc.

Do take her for a wander up and down every so often, but try and avoid when the trollye is going up and down!

Thanks for the advice gillybean2, I guess that's thing don't go overboard!! DD loves books so I guess a couple of new ones would be good. When it comes to toys, she gets bored easily much prefers household/ everyday objects so fruity lip salve would be right up her street!!! Good tip about a window seat too. She is quite active, which I guess is why I am
A bit worried about occupying her for the 8 or so hours, it's an afternoon flight but hopefully she will be able to nap as she can be quite grumpy without her sleep (takes after her mummy I guess!!). Thanks again for all your tips x

Mamma get the bulkhead seats if you can - if not ask for the ones where there are only two seats so you don't need to get past anyone else when you are getting up and down. Get the other seat a couple of rows behind then you and DH can take it in turns to sit with her, it really does work better than sitting together.

A few things I've found good:

• one of those boards that you draw on and wipe off with the 'pen' attached (so she can't drop it on the floor)

• a bag of very cheap toys so you can get a new one out when she's bored (pound shop or the little bits you put in party bags)

• water painting (the books where they can paint with only water - do you know what I mean??)

A sense of humour :)

For us, the winner was Cbeebies / ITNG magazines. DD spent ages doing the stickers in them. I also bought a couple of sticker books - the ones with shiny pages so they are reuseable if you see what I mean. Basically - stickers kept her busy almost the whole time. (it was an 8 hr flight when she was 2 yrs and a few days).

We bought comfy kids headphones for DD that fit her - a good investment, they will last for ages. CBeebies channel kept her entertained for a good while.