Tips for Travel with Toddler

Little cans of playdough are fabulous for plane rides. Silly putty works too. My 19 month old played with that for over an hour on our flight to NY. The other thing that was wonderful was the Story Reader. Lollipops are also good, since they take a long time to eat, just make sure you bring lots of wipes. We brought the safety ones, but I wasn't able to find them in sugar free. Good luck. I also agree with the car seat thing, accept that you can't put the tray down with the carseat and also they can kick the seat in front of them when they are in it.

On various trips with my son, new Schleich animals (available at Target or you can find the Papo version at Diddams) worked like a charm. You can get the small farm animals, or safari ones or dinos or whatever his interest may be -- they are *great* for travel. Pick up four or five new books (my son loved "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Keats, and I think I read it about 24 times on one flight) and be sure to keep some unseen for the return journey. A new box of crayons and pad of paper... also, various snacks, some of which may be "special treats" he may not normally get to eat. You have to walk a fine line with that last one, maybe bringing only one exciting snack per flight, lest he get too used to getting vanilla wafers or whatever you choose. Maybe bring some juice boxes too.

I agree with Stacy and Tracy. Make sure he is in his own carseat... he'll be more likely to treat it like a car ride. And a portable DVD player with his favorite cartoons/movies if he has them. If he doesn't try the Disney Pixar movies, they seem to really catch the eye and attention of children (my kids both started with A Bugs Life.) Good luck, please let us know how is goes.

1. make sure he has his own seat. Preferably with his carseat. in my opinion they sleep better on the flight in their seats.

2. snacks.. lots snacks.

3. new toys! something he hasn't seen.

and if you need to get up and move as long as it's safe do it.

Will he watch TV? Mine didn't at that age, but some do. We have a portable DVD player that we pull out on airplanes for our toddler.

When traveling cross country with my children of that age I would pack their carseats along. They knew they had to stay in their carseats when in the car and had to do the same on the plane. As for keeping him occupied, I have had a friend tell me a neat idea of purchasing dollar store items and wrapping them. Then every half hour or so they would recieve a new "surprise". Good luck and have a great time!

Hi! DRAMAMINE. As long as you follow the directions for dosage for your child's age, you may get a some sleep/quiet time.

I took my daughter to Costa Rica, used Dramamine and also brought a portable DVD player. Your son may be too young to want to use the headphones but coloring books to scribble in and any favorite books are a plus.

Good luck!

Hi!
We did some travel when our daughter was little and it was still free for our son to fly. Toys and books and snacks only get you so far... and the thing that was a godsend was what we brought for us... the DVD player! It keeps them quiet and if, God forbid, you have a unpleasant person next to you, will help them leave the other person alone! We were happy that we'd thrown a video for them in there... and while you could hope that the on-flight kiddie stuff will have something, I will say that there's stuff little ones shouldn't watch even in the kiddie stuff... they do have to please 7 and 8 yr olds... and the japanese dragon style stuff isn't good for under 2! :) For $100 or less, you can get a cheap one and it will save your sanity! I really try to limit what they watch at home, so this was a real treat for them, getting to watch a princess movie! Or Barney or whatever! Good luck!

sounds like you have a good plan and toys that do something where it be sounds lights or moves on its own