Best toys to take on-board the plane?

[PDR]

We have an 8 hour flight to endure with a 1 yr old...

Any recommendations for what to take on board to keep him ammused?

I have bought a new book "that's not my plane" [congratulates self for keeping with plane theme] but not sure what else might be good and not make the other passengers want to kill us!

I'm afraid I go for noisy electronic toys that make diverse noises, flash lights and sing songs to them. Whip this out when they are bored with everything else (they should ideally be some things they have never played with before).
May slightly annoy some passengers, but far better than constant whinging or screaming.

Best toys by far are small plastic animals or dinosaurs.

Both of mine have loved them since they were small - obv buy the ones for very young ones.

Books
paper
chunky crayons
small toys
chunky jigsaw

agree with Gossipmonger.

when we flew to USA last year, the surprise hit fo dd2 was a set of bath toys (dinosaurs) that I'd taken along to play wit in the pool... she loved them, and clutched them all the way...

I have taken peg puzzles along too, but they can be a bit of a pain as all the bits fall out in your bag!

I'm not sure what to call them - 'magic slates'? The things you write on and then move the lever to rub it out. This stops pencils and crayons falling on the floor or writing on things they shouldn't.

this sort of thing

the most entertaining thing will be the plane itself ... endless fun opening and closing the fold-down tray, playing peepo with the unwilling passenger behind, exploring every inch of the passenger loo, hand basin, soap dispenser and fold-down changing thingy, and of course the obligatory walking up and down the aisle regardless of the steward's attempts to progress with the trolley. In-flight entertainment may enthrall if sufficiently brightly coloured, even if no sound.

Every flight I have taken with ds, he has looked at the array of toys and books for all of 5 mins apiece, said the toddler equivalent of "meh" and returned to the excitements of the window blind. The exception being stacking cups. Brilliant. For extra diversion ask staff for some ice - ice cubes in a cup are fantastic fun.

Whatever you do don't take anything with small or multiple pieces as you will spend the entire flight groping around your fellow passengers' feet to retrieve the pieces.

Good luck!

Excellent EyePeam we have some stacking cups

The winners for DD's (3 and 1) were
magic slate things, calculators from pound shop that beep when you press a button and shaped like mobiles and stickers with pads to put them in.
Anything with small bits will fall on the floor. It's the law.
We also took a DVD player with some night garden dvd's which was a godsend.

straws - esp those with bendy bits to curl over lip of cup. they can chew them, bend, batter and all with no noise - also they take up next to no space, and it doesn't matter if you lose them. You can join them together and make shapes too to entertain them. I always had one with me when DS was little no matter where we were.

smee great idea will steal liberate some straws from work tomorrow!