9hour flight! 8&4 year old HELP!

[cindersrella]

How on earth am I going to keep them entertained for that long!

Really?

I suppose it depends on the child but I’ve done multiple long haul alone with my two (8 and 5 now) and really these ages are fine.

Read / draw / few travel games / then settle down for a film / snacks.

Rinse and repeat

Yep really, I think I'm panicking a little to much maybe as the longest we have done is 4 hours.

My youngest is a busy girl and struggles to sit at the vets of times

Break up the journey into sections.

Something like:
After take off watch a movie (2hrs)
Eat a meal (30 minutes)
Colour in (1 hr)
Play on phone/tablet/in flight entertainment (1 hr)
Play card games/travel games (1hr)
Watch another movie or TV (2 hrs)
Eat another meal (30 mins)
Play more card games etc (1 hr)
Tell the kids what the plan is that way they dont feel like anything is going to last forever and they dont have to constantly beg you to play with them as they know it is scheduled in.

Ahh bunny that's a good idea. Thankyou.

I took my now 8yo livewire to Australia alone when she was 3 and again at 5, nearly 6. The in flight entertainment kept her amused for quite a long time. Sticker books/activity books are good. A tip I read online was to have new stuff hidden/wrapped that they didn't know about - Poundland toys, for example. Wrapped in tissue paper for easy disposal and great for those moments when you need a change of pace. Snacks always on hand. Ultimately, she was the most spoilt child for those journeys to get us both through it!

I did annual trips to NZ from when mine were infants. That's minimum 26 hours. 9 hours will be fine. Especially as you now have iPads which I didn't at the tine. iPads, in flight entertainment, sticker books, reading books, activity magazines, Puzzle books....It will pass quickly enough. I think the novelty of endless technology would keep most kids happy. Take a power bank with you.

Thankyou. I will get to the shops tomorrow. We go on Wednesday 😀

We normally buy the magazines with crappy toys attached. They take their iPads, a notebook, pen pencils, colouring in. Snacks, the movies, a few toys. Card games are great like UNO. We talk about general crap of the day/week.
Before you know it, food and drink comes around.
9 hours disappear.
Have a fabulous holiday 🌞

Night time flight so they sleep is what I used to do but see that you are all booked and flying soon.

iPad with games and programmes downloaded incase they don't like inflight entertainment. Sticker books, colouring and small toys from pound shop keep mine busy for a few hours.

Thankyou All, we have a day flight on the way out and night flight on the way back.

I will pop out later and grab some stuff 😀

Long haul easier than a longish shorthaul flight because of in flight entertainment and free food and drink to break the monotony. So we find flying to US or Canada less tedious than the 4.5hrs to Tenerife

Ok, by the fact it's daytime there night time back I'm guessing it's across the Atlantic. I can't think of any airline that does that crossing without seatback screens. It will be absolutely fine.

At 8y Dd would have just had a film fest, plus taken some form of electronic device to play games on, and a book.

At 4y we would take books, colouring and some small toys. She used to like the magnetic playmobil mini sets. And these days I'd have taken an iPad with favourite programmes downloaded. Also practise using headphone - no one around you will appreciate listening to their iPad noises! We got over ear kids sized ones. Take them a nice blanket and cushion too, and travel in comfortable clothes but has a spare in case of spills. On night flights Dd used to change into PJs just before boarding.

Depending on your travel when arriving back - we had a pillow and blanket in the car too, as Dd would often sleep. Infact she is a teen now and still puts them in the car for the drive from the airport back home.

Yes, kids magazines always good, and sticker/activity books. Only hand out one at a time.

Take some snacks if you can too, invade they don't like the plane food.

Who are you flying with? If the onboard entertainment is decent, it's fine. I usually enforce some sleep if we fly at 1am, but otherwise unlimited screens. Its 2 occasions, max twice a year. Well, three times this year, but still not much in the grand scheme of things!
And find the playground in the airport. Make them run a bit. I'm not beyond making them do star jumps and high knees at the gate while we wait to board!
Enjoy the holiday!

We get keep em quiet bags for long haul flights. You could make up something similar yourself though. We are just back from a trip with 8-9 hr flights with our 4 year old. It was fine. She had a few bits from the bag, looked at a kids magazine and watched the in flight entertainment or films on our iPads. The only irritating bit was the continual dropping of pencils/snacks/toys and having to contort myself to reach them.

That's a doddle age set. Try flying that long with a crawling 10m old.

Second what everyone else has said lots of magazines, colouring books iPads etc...
I hide it all and then bring a new thing out one at a time.
Who are you flying with?
My 4 year old daughter didn't want to get offf when we flew with Emirates!!

Sticker books are good as are puzzle books. Download audiobooks?

Have a look at MumOntheMove I got lots of ideas from there. She flies all over the world with her 2 children from when they were babies to the age of yours. Lots of good ideas.

Soo I have been out today, got colouring books, sticker books, new Lego.

They have a switch which willl hopefully help. Plus LOL dolls they already have. And I'm assured inflight entertainment should be good.

Yes across the Atlantic to Cuba 😀

I am sure we are flying with Thomas cook

Oh, we flew to Cuba last year with Thomas Cook. Same as, day flight out, night flight back. Don’t think it was the full 9 hours. We bought magazines in the airport (less junk to carry), snacks also. It’ll be a doddle. No sweat cindersrella.

Let them control the TV on their chair back & eat what they want. Easy flight, we've done much longer than that often and its never a problem