Our Favorite Toddler Plane Activities
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I know air travel can be incredibly nerve-racking for parents with young children. The idea of being stuck in a small box with limited opportunities for movement with a toddler might not sound ideal. We took quite a few flights this summer on our trip all through Asia and Australia though and overall they went incredibly smoothly. Over the past 2 plus years we have taken my son to a lot of places and gotten a lot of practice with plane activities. In this blog post, I share my favorite air travel activities. I tend to be pretty minimal. You won’t find me wrapping up a bunch of tchotchkes to give to my toddler on board. If that works for you, great, but it doesn’t work for us.
I find the most successful plane activities for us are a few small activities that my son has a long attention span for (all of his airplane activities for our whole 10-week trip fit in his small backpack!). Instead of bringing brand new activities, I tend to opt for activities that I already know he is engaged in. I would rather miss out on the novelty factor so as not to risk a dud. I also find he is more likely to be frustrated with an activity the first time so I prefer not to introduce while in the air. If there is something similar to what we have used before but not exactly the same and I really really think he will like it I might bring it.
I will also say I relied a lot more on activities in our early days flying with him than I do now. When he was around 15 months I packed most of these activities. Now at nearly 2.5 we have taken so many flights and are pretty used to it. We still use some of these though flights go by we don’t take activities out at all. I also wouldn’t pack quite as many activities now.
So without further ado, here are my favorite plane activities for toddlers.
1. Blue Painter’s Tape
Blue painter’s tape is a real favorite and so simple. It works with even young toddlers and older babies. From around 9 months my son enjoyed peeling off blue painter’s tape. Tape down little toys for your child to “rescue.” Take it and stick it on the tray table or window and let them take it off. Wrap things in it and let them peel it off. Repeat. Blue painter’s tape doesn’t leave any residue so it is perfect for this. This is one of my all-around favorite “toys” for a variety of activities! Bonus, use it to babyproof a bit where you are staying.
2. Magnetic Puzzles
We love puzzles around here but puzzles can be a bit messy for travel (sadly we lost some pieces on a non-magnetic one). Magnetic ones are an awesome alternative because they keep things a bit more contained. The base gives your toddler a place to work and the whole puzzle holds together a bit better. They come in sets of different sizes depending on your toddler’s puzzle abilities.
3. QTips in Spice Jar
We love this activity for fine motor work and because it keeps my toddler’s attention for a long time. He has enjoyed it for around a year now from before one and a half to now at almost two and a half. Take an old spice container, clean it out a bit, and keep the shaker portion on (you need one with a larger shaker that will fit QTips). Take a few QTips and your child can post them into the spice container. Be careful with this one if your child is still mouthing. My son was not mouthing at the point we started it. One perk of this toddler plane activity is it is pretty disposable so if you get tired of it you don’t need to carry it around the rest of the trip. The QTips easily store in the spice jar and you can take them out and let your toddler post them into the holes in the spice container. Just make sure the holes are big enough to fit the QTips!
4. Yoto Player
This is a great portable screen-free music player that is small enough for travel, making it the perfect toddler plane activity. We have not introduced screens to our child yet, so while the iPad or the screen on the plane is a great option too, this one works for us at this point. It is our second screen free player and, while we like both of them, this one is better for travel because it is smaller. My toddler likes to listen to The Little Engine That Could on repeat. We pair it with these headphones which allows him to listen to it on the go. If your toddler likes audiobooks there is a large selection but there is also a large selection of music. We also have sleep music for it he listens to on the plane as he goes to sleep. You can make your own cards with your audio as well.
5. Dot Stickers
Dot Stickers are a great activity for flying with toddlers because they are very little to pack and fairly versatile. You can use regular dot stickers and put them on paper or with dot sticker activity sheets (search this online or on sites like Teachers Pay Teachers for a lot of options- you could even get special travel-themed ones or ones themed to the place you are visiting!). You can also get a dot sticker set. We have one we love from Skillmatics which is dinosaurs. My son loves this on the plane and at airports!
6. Beading
The last activity we enjoy on planes is beading. This is a great fine motor activity and, although it has a few more pieces to keep track of, is minimally messy for flying and very little to pack. While I don’t like losing pieces obviously and try to be very careful this one is a bit less stressful than a puzzle since it isn’t ruined if a piece goes missing. Simply place it in a small bag. For younger toddlers, there are options like this one or this one. Ones like this work for older toddlers. You can also DIY. We did paper towel roll threading at one point when my son was around 16 months.
There you go. There are my favorite activities for flying with toddlers. Of course, however, it cannot go without mentioning SNACKS. Snacks are a great flying activity as well. In the past, I have done a “snacktivity” with a pill box container. This spinning snack container can also be fun as is this mystery snack container (which is what I would do if I were to make a snacktivity box for another flight).
Oh, and I cannot forget my toddler’s actual recent favorite activity: the in-flight magazine on the plane. This has truly been what has kept his attention for the longest on planes recently. There are a lot of things to capture the attention of a toddler on the plane: the window, magazines, ice, the safety manual. All that is to say, I recommend packing some activities for your first flight (probably more than you need at first) and going from there to see what your toddler enjoys. There is definitely a chance your toddler will not touch the toys because the airplane itself will be so entertaining!
