Toy Suggestions for a 22 Hour Flight

stuffed animals
bag/cup of M&Ms
bag/cup of cheerios

mini abacus
books (no music)
etcha sketch

Go to the dollar store or Target's dollar section and just load up on random objects and things. Stickers, crayons, and legit toys are good, but think outside the box a bit too -- an old tin filled with sea shells can entertain a kid that age for a while. Anything he hasn't seen before that isn't dangerous will do. A cup with soda, ice and a straw from the flight attendant can buy you 30 minutes if you let him play with all the parts and explore. New snacks are good -- again, things he hasn't eaten before, or things you typically don't let him eat. Don't worry about little pieces -- with the dollar section stuff you can afford to lose things. I would worry less about making a mess on the plane and more about just entertaining him and keeping him calm. Good luck!

This worked wonderfully for me: I bought numerous toys (see below), like one toy per 30 minutes of flight (maybe less since yours is so long), I wrapped them all like presents and packed them in a backpack. Every 30 minutes or so, I would pull a new one out to the delight of my child. He would unwrap it and play with it. It was like xmas for him. When things would start to get hairy, I'd give him one of the many snacks I had packed in another backpack. Just accept that you will not be doing anything for yourself during the flight so all your carry on will be about keeping your child pacified (you don't need books, magazines, or anything else to keep yourself busy).
You can get toys that are not normally appropriate for a small child because you will be sitting right there and playing with him.

Some of the toys I bought:
-pack of matchbox cars; he could roll these on the tray and all over me; they sell little car activity boxes too which are small plastic boxes that open up to be a pretend gas station or car wash, etc. Similar more girl-type toys would be small dolls with clothes or babydolls with baby bottles, etc. Anything that can be played on the tray.
-coloring stuff; Crayola makes lots of little activity books that can be used with special markers or stampers that won't mark on other surfaces
-little books that you can read together, especially new ones that you know will delight your child
-at the airport they sell small sets of airport transportation vehicles that include toy airplane, baggage carts, etc. They actually were not that expensive and my son LOVED playing airport since he had just seen all of it in real life.
-playdoh - it's really not that messy; buy some small containers and a few cookie cutters/tools
-I once found an activity book that had magnets of all kind of things and you created a scene on each page.

In between I packed lots of little containers of snacks because that also entertains for a certain amount of time:
-juice boxes
-crackers/cookies
-fruit (serve before it gets too warm or yucky)
-some crackers with cheese that require dipping the cracker (not nutritionally sound, but the point is to get through this)
-lollipops are great; they last awhile and help with ears popping during take off and landing and the stick makes it safer than hard candy (if he's still on a bottle or pacifier, those help during take off and landing too)
-cereal

I recommend perusing the aisles of Target or local pharmacies for small toys.

Be sure and bring a blankie and stuff for snuggling because hopefully he will sleep.

I also recommend bringing along several small plastic bags to collect your own trash.

I've never taken my child on a flight that long, but I've had lots of success on 5-hour flights. Good luck!

Hi. We travel once a year across the globe. Here is what we did for our LO at 2
1. DVDs (home rules out the window on long flites :))
2. triangle crayons that cant roll
3. blanket and pillow case from home
4. stickers!!!!!
5. coloring books
6. lots of snacks that can go through security -- cheerios, crackers, whole wheat pretzels, dried apple chips, raisins...

have a good flite.

Our youngest was just over two when we took our first flight...so about the same age. We boguht all of the kids new sippy cups with straws for drinks on the plane (cups with no lids on a bumpy ride is no good for kids).

We also got quite a few of the color wonder packs. No mess but fun times!

For the boys, we brought things like GI Joes, planes, trains, etc - all that were non-noise makers.

For our daughter we brought some barbie dolls and other easy arts and crafts.

That's a LONG flight...hopefully the little one sleeps for most of it. I don't personally do well on anything over 2 hours myself.

anything new is great!
Everything can be thrown or dropped - sorry!
instead of an etch-a-sketch, I'd do a travel magna-doodle
small playdoh
dvd player with plenty of movies
colored cereals/treats - get cups from the stewardess and practice sorting
any layover? - bring a balloon to blow up and let the kiddo run around playing catch with the balloon
If they're not too pokey in your opinion, a pkg of fuzzy pipe cleaners can be fun to twist and bend and make things

Portable DVD player with cheap headphones and an extra battery.
Books
Stickers and sticker books
Lots of snacks

In general, go to a $5 and under store and pick up a bunch of new cheap stuff. Then take out just one new toy at a time and prolong until you have to take out the next one. The toys will be new and exciting to your child and you won't care if they get lost or forgotten on the plane because they aren't too expensive (I can't tell you how many toys we've forgotten on planes because they get kicked way under the seat or fall into the bottom of the overhead bin where we couldn't see them).

Oh my, I'm imagining having to sit next to a toddler with a tin full of seashells...that would NOT a peaceful flight make! Stick with quiet things, the pom pom and butter tin idea is a great one. My toddler loves stacking things, we have some blocks similar to duplo, but bigger that he will line up and stack for half an hour. Anything he can manipulate and put on the tray would probably buy you some time. Get things that he's never seen before and just bring them out one at a time. For that amount of time hopefully he will sleep some too so don't forget the loveys or blankie, etc that will help him calm down. Good luck, this is a daunting task you are taking on! For the record, no one is happy to see a baby on a flight, but as long as you don't let him run around and scream like a little crazy person you should be just fine. Do your best to keep him happy and entertained and ignore any looks you may get. You have every much a right to travel as the single adults!