Flight with a 14 month old who just wants to move!

[ParsleyTheLion1]

We are going to Tenerife next week (4 hour flight I think, during the day). My DS if 14 months and is on the cusp of walking (he can toddle around pretty speedily holding onto stuff). Recently, he's become a lot more grumpy than he ever used to be staying seated in the same place (buggy, car seat) for any length of time. I am stressing a bit about what the flight is going to be like and how I'm going to keep him distracted given that he's too young for books, he can't draw, he hasn't really got the concentration or dexterity yet to play a game or imagine-play with a toy....
Has anyone got any tips?

Just one thing more, he may not sleep on the plane at all. Neither of mine sleep very well on planes I'm talking crashing out at midnight, just an hour before we end a 12 HR flight..... DS1's best effort involved going to bed for 2 hrs at home, then going to airport in PJ's. He didn't sleep til bed time the next night. That's 3 hrs of sleep in 48 (OK, 45 given the time difference).

Yes to snacks, magnetic easels, stickers.And an (empty) bottle he likes drinking out of, because even those tiny cups you get on a plane can make quite a mess.....

Take a change of clothes for everyone.

If there are 2 grown ups traveling, send one on to board early, and stow the cabin baggage, and other parent and toddler board at the last minute.

Our flights to the canaries was saved by a magnetic drawing board and a sticker book!

Totally agree with disregarding screen time rules when in the air! The CBeebies app is actually quite good.

Remember that you have 2 flights so if you are going for new cheap toys, remember to reserve half for the return journey.

*desperately trying not to comment on the issue that op is reluctant to 'resort ' to screen time but thinks that 14 months is too young for books

Forgot to say, assuming you have seat numbers do not board the plane early before anyone else. No idea why people would do this. There's enough sitting in your seat before take off as it is. But don 't faff about, sort out a bag with all the bits you need in advance and put the rest above you.

Wait until last to get on plane.

Food lots of snacks like raisins or trail mix that take a long time to eat.

iPad and headphones.

Little toys are good but not little toys with lots of little bits that will be endlessly dropped on the floor and rolling under the seats.

Ideally try and force them to stay awake so they crash on the plane.

Oh and make sure Ipad has plenty of charge!

I say this as a veteran of long haul flights with twins.

When I said too young for books, I didn't mean that DS doesn't 'do' books (we have 'reading time' before bed every night). It was short hand for saying a book (like any "That's not my" and "Noisy Jungle" or How to bathe your little dinosaur etc) doesn't really occupy him for very long as, necessarily, he can't get 'lost' or engrossed in a story. And sometimes a book just gets swatted away or he's more interested in turning the pages at breakneck speed and a book is 'read' in 30 seconds. So I meant he's too young to be distracted often by a book for any meaningful length of time. But believe me, we try!

So maybe what I'm saying is, he hasn't got any concentration powers to ruin in the first place?!