Suggestions for entertaining an 18 month old on a 6 hour train journey?

[Snowgirl1]

We've booked Eurostar direct from London St. Pancras to Avignon in the South of France. It'll be a 6 hour journey (not including travelling to St. Pancras and on from Avignon). Anyone got any suggestions of what I could use to keep 18 month old DD entertained? Preferably things which don't take up too much space and won't annoy other passengers too much.

I've ordered a travel-aqua doodle, some sticker books, a pocket etch-a-sketch, a mini-slinky, a mini-jacobs ladder, and a couple of new books. A friend has given me a list of iPhone apps that she uses with her DD and I've got some finger puppets somewhere. Any other ideas?

Sleep?
Eat?
Then what you have

We tend to fit in a 2 hrs nap, and have lunch and snacks on that length leaving about 3 hrs to pass

Sedatives. Enough for you both.

Fiddly snacks eg packs of raisins (take a while to eat)
Crayons
Walks up to the buffet car, to the next carriage etc
Playdoh
Magnetic books

(We do a lot of long train journeys with toddler/s)

forevergreek thanks, I had forgotten about naps (although I think getting DD to nap could be a challenge). Eating, of course! DD loves her food, so I think I'll have lots of foody bribes handy in case needed.

Grumpla lol - and enough for all the passengers in our carriage?

VinegarDrinker, great thanks - will add crayons and playdoh to the "travel entertainment kit". Will have to investigate magnetic books - haven't heard of them. Any recommendations?

We did a very similar length train journey when dd was a bit younger (12mo) and it was no where near as bad as I feared! We did flight and it had been an v.early morning start so she did fall asleep almost as soon as we got on the train so that killed an hour or so..

I was surprised actually by how much she loved looking out the window and it kept her 'entertained'

Playdoh worked, magazines complete with the stickers. We did have a portable dvd player but actually didn't use it on the way there (she watched a bit on the return journey), cards ? snap ? that sort of thing, I think we had a pack of Peppa Pig ones. As you're doing, get loads of wee little treats and just keep dolling them out for distraction. He will need to go for walk etc so a trip to buffet car etc worked.

I'd been quite stressed out about the whole idea of it, but realised well we're doing it, had a glass of wine and actually relaxed and it all went well - so yes, key to us was to relax. I think she probably ate her entire weight in snacks too, but it worked too and I just had to think what the heck we're on hols!

Muddle farm and muddle jungle were the best magnetic books a t that age.

Colouring? Colour wonder is great, it won't get on the seats/ you/ anywhere!

HappyJoyful thanks for the reassurance. I'll also look out for some 'snap' style cards

olivio oooh, colour wonder - never heard of that and I've just googled. DD would love those - she loves "colouring" but it does usually include herself and anyone else around her. Also had to google magnetic books and I think I'll be getting one of those too. Thanks!

We're doing pretty much the exact same journey next Saturday - St Pancras to Perpignan. PM me if that's when you're travelling and perhaps we can meet up on the train and our kids can keep each other entertained (ours is 16 months). The good news is that French trains are so much more sophistique than ours that they have actual play areas on them where little people can run around...

If you take an umbrella-fold pushchair (ours was a maclaren techno xt) then they fit in the luggage rack above your head. We always put the pushchair up in the space between the carriages, kind of blocking the door when we wanted a dd to sleep. The motion of the train was like pushing the pushchair and it never failed to make them sleep. There are even fold-down chairs for you to sit on. And it is amazing when they sleep, you can do whatever you want, with no one nagging you at all...

Btw, is it a direct train all the way to the south of france? I've never heard of such a thing!

One of our favourites are Benderoos which are coloured wax strips which can be used to make all sort of things and then unfolded to be used again. They're light and not too messy and soothing for parents to play with too.

I've been on that train and thought it would be the most civilised way to get to the south of France with children. The trains had huge vestibules and aisles, so space for toddlers to jump up and down. And walk to the buffet a couple times.

Do you have an iPad or can you borrow one? There are an amazing array of things that you can download

Patagonia we're not going until the first week of Sept. Have a great trip and hope the journey goes well . We're going on Eurostar all the way, so not sure if it will have a play area...but I really hope it does!

janek we will be taking our umbrella style pushchair - good idea on getting to her to nap in it. She often falls asleep in the car, so here's hoping the train will also work. And, yes, it is a direct train. Eurostar run a direct train from St. Pancras to Avignon for about 7 or 8 weeks in summer.

notanother Benderoos? Okay, that's something else I'll have to google - never heard of them but I'll probably be buying them!

notcitrus that's exactly why we booked it and glad to hear there will be space for DD to have a wander about (with us of course!)

victoriadimple yes - DH has an iPad. Although I'm not sure he will be keen to let DD get her sticky mitts on it! Any recommendations on what's good to download? If I can demonstrate how good a distraction it is, it might persuade him a bit!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!

Benderoos purchased!

Fuckwittery thanks, that's a good idea - DH might even let me touch his ipad if it has one of those to protect it