What do you do with a 4yo in an airport for 6 hrs?

[beansmum]

This is still months away but I am panicking slightly. We will have 6hr 45mins between flights at heathrow (terminal 1) and I have a feeling it's going to be the worst 6hrs of my life. What can I do to make it go a bit more quickly? It's from 2.30pm so we'll need to eat at some point, but that doesn't take too long. What else?

I"d get the tube into London and spend a couple of hours doing something fun. Legoland isn;t too far from Heathrow - you could go there.

Put your cases into luggage storage if you can whilst you go.

I know nothing about airports, can I leave the terminal then? Even if my bags go straight through and don't need to be checked in again? Hadn't thought of that. I could get my sister to come and meet me somewhere, she lives near london.

Watch the planes, let him have rides on trolleys, play with digital camera, phone nan, read a few books, play H+Seek (he hides with an adult), some airports have soft play areas (best bet is if he can find other kids to play with).

Ask your sis to come for a visit. I wouldnt leave airport myself, what if you got stuck on broken tube & didnt get back in time?

There will be an observation deck somewhere for plane spotters.

Go to an airport hotel for a swim and lunch with your sister...

Legoland is a grat idea but I wouldn't be brave enough [shame]

Maybe I'll hire a nanny for 6hrs and go and have a sleep somewhere.

if you dont need to recheck your luggage i would definately get out of the airport for a few hours.

I don't think I would want to leave, I'm sure I would miss my flight. ds is pretty good at doing nothing, listening to a story CD or colouring in or something but 6 hrs is a really long time. Give me a list of all the things you could possibly do in an airport and we'll try and do them all. And I'll get my sister to come meet us for lunch too.

books
phone granny
write postcards
cd
watch planes
ride on trolleys

what else?

Would getting him a camera to record the trip be a good idea?

there is a sort of heathrow airport viewing bit...took the kids there. I forget what it's called - it has a museum bit too but it wasn't great. However, if you've got time to kill!

Have you been to Heathrow before? It's enormous. There used to be a soft play area inside one of the terminals (I'm thinking either 1 or 4, just can't remember). I used to always take mine there if we got stuck in the airport but I have a feeling it's once you are through the departure bit. If you want me to check I will.

according to the website only terminal 5 has play areas, and all in the departures bit. There are a couple of lounges for kids that you can pay for but not in terminal 1

heathrow airport children's facilities

the visitor's bit is called the visitor's centre but I wouldn't bother unless you are very bored and have time to kill

in your shoes, I would take them to the soft plays and then pay for one of the lounges if you find you have loads of time left. Also, don't forget it can take ages to get around Heathrow.

Check for the soft play in Terminal 1. They may have closed it but I'm pretty sure it used to be there after you've gone through departures security.

heathrow academy...that's what the visitor's centre is now called. I took my kids when it had reopened. Has a cafe underneath but wasn't much to look at. You'd get a better view inside the terminal.

take the train over to T5 to have a look at it-it's quite impressive, and he'll like the train!

don't bother attempting Legoland, even if you could get there and back in an hour (never tried it, but doubt it) you would then only have 4 hours, which isn't enough time to do Legoland, even if you wanted to spend the exorbitant entrance fee!

erm

trying on clothes in the shops?

spotting people in funny clothes and guessing where they might come from?

riding the travelators back and forth?

Loads of ideas, thanks! Should keep us going for a couple of hours.

Actually, from door to door this journey is going to take about 33hrs, 6hrs in the airport is nothing!