10 hour flight

[MotherTryingHerBest]

I’m doing a 10 hour flight with my nearly two year old. Extremely active, never sits in one place. Not much of a screen watcher either. Any ideas

What small toys do they like?

My first long haul with DS, he was about that age and LOVED toy cars. So I brought 10 of the little matchbox cars and wrapped them up in tissue - when I was really desperate I pulled a new one out and kabam, he was distracted!

Other than that, rotate. Books, until they get bored, then toys, then a bit of screen. Stretch out what you can, eg meals, loo breaks etc. no point rushing anything as there's nowhere to go!

I've seen suggestions to wrap a small toy for each hour of the flight so they've got something new to do.

It's not going to be a very restful flight for you though! Good luck. I've flown with active 2 year olds before!

What time is your flight?
Tire him out as much as possible before the flight. After you've passed through security, do as much walking with him as possible. Literally do laps of the departure lounge! You might even be able to find a quiet corridor which he could run up and down! Some airports have soft play areas.
Don't let him skip a nap though, as he'll get overtired and that will be 10x worse!

Try and board the plane as late as possible. You'll probably get priority boarding but ignore it as there's no point in getting to your seats any earlier than you have to.

I used to take a small tub of playdough and a couple of cutters, sticker books, and food that takes a long time to eat - apples, raisins, cheerios etc.

Another hack I use is ear defenders. I saw another parent using them for her children and wish I had done it for dc1 and dc2. Got a pair of Muffy Baby ear defenders for dc3 and they made a world of difference. Helped her to fall asleep and she didn’t get distracted or overwhelmed by all the noises around her.

Water painting books are good for flights you can get some where the water is in a pen.

we also took a puzzle like this on the plane https://amzn.eu/d/dG1RybY

favourite books too and lots and lots of snacks. One of the long haul flights we took didn’t provide food for our (just) under 2 so we had to bring our own, double check you are ok.

Oh yes and sticker books were fab you can get reuseable stickers. Also the busy airport book was a big hit and gives you lots to talk about with them.

get them to the airport soft play before the flight too.