Flying with Kids: A Few Tips
/Before we dive into the nitty-gritty kids on airplanes stuff, did you hear about the Sea-Tac airport rebranding? Yup, they are rebranding Sea-Tac Airport as simply “SEA.” Read all about it here. Interesting, right?! I’m not sure how I feel about this change, although I’ll probably always call it Sea-Tac.
Now, to the kids talk. I recently took a flight with both boys (Caleb is 4 yr & Wesley is 14 mo) on my own from Sea-Tac (hehe) to San Diego to visit my parents (grandparents trip!). While I’ve flown with just Caleb and me a bunch in the past, I was very anxious about flying on my own with two kids. Two would outnumber me and I honestly can’t remember what I did with Caleb - something I like to call parental amnesia. I knew Caleb (4 yrs old) would be relatively easy since I can basically just hand him an iPad and he’s occupied for a good while. However, Wesley was another story. He’s 14 months, so he’s not watching shows or playing games, yet. He’s also in that very awkward stage between crawling and walking and is very, VERY wiggly. In addition, I remember Caleb being a terrible airplane napper (so I do remember somethings), so I wasn’t banking on that for Wesley either (rightly so, apparently, as he did not nap).
The good news: All the planning paid off because both ways went incredibly smoothly. {insert cheering!} No meltdowns and really not a lot of fussing either. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
Here are a few things we did to keep busy:
{Note the headlines are linked to the products I used or something similar to it (fyi-not affiliate links)}
Bento/Pill Box
I got this idea from my friend Kristen Bell. Okay, she’s not my friend but I follow her on Instagram. One of her posts led me to ‘Kids Eat in Color’ who posted the airplane bento box idea. Brilliant! I took forever to find the right box - I wanted something that had individual lids to each square and large squares to fit a few pieces of food. Caleb (4yo) was into the snacks and Wesley (14mo) was into opening/closing the lids. I maybe should have gotten two since there were a few struggles of “I want it” but overall it worked great. Oh, and the foods I put in there: creamies, freeze-dried strawberries, broken up yogurt pretzels, goldfish, raisins, cheerios, pieces of a date bar (like a Lara Bar), and cut up puffs (like Hippeas), and blueberries.
Blue Tape
Also known as painters tape. I love blue tape. I use it all the time but it didn’t dawn on me to bring it on the airplane until I posted on Facebook for airplane activity suggestions. What’s great about it is that it doesn’t leave any damage or sticky residue when you take it off. Caleb (4yo) loved trapping all his Matchbox cars to the tray table, and Wesley (14mo) liked to take them off. I also just ripped little pieces for Wesley to tinker with. I thought I might make roads with it for the cars, but we never got to that. Trapping them was enough, apparently.
Window Clings
I got a sheet of spring gel window clings in the seasonal area at the front of Target for $1. Best $1 ever. Caleb (4yo) was more into it then Wesley (14mo), although Caleb did have the window seat and they don’t work on the tray tables. Also, Caleb hogged them so maybe Wesley would have been more interested if he had more of a chance. #brothers. On and off they went and making different creations with them. I had heard of this idea in the past and always blew if off, glad I didn’t this time!
Wipe-off Maze Book
This was for Caleb (4yo) as I just discovered these erasable wipe-off activity books. We have a pretty big one at home, but I bought a smaller one with just mazes for the plane. They have all different ones with different activities, so browse around!
Post-Its
This may sound strange, but it did keep Wesley (14mo) busy for a bit. Basically this: put post-it it on, take post-it off. Maybe a twist: put a post-it on top of another post-it. I just took what I had in the house, but color ones or those that are like accordions may have been a bit more fun.
Dum Dums
Fact: A lollipop can occupy a toddler (in this case, Caleb as Wesley isn’t ready for lollipops). Dum Dums are great as they are a good size - not crazy large. Just be sure your kid is the right age for them, though (choking hazard!).
Water Wow
I brought these along as we’ve used them in the past. They didn’t get used on this trip, but I’ve had success with them on previous trips. The only issue is getting the water into the pen on the plane. I used my water bottle and did it over the aisle. I didn’t try this with Wesley (14mo), but thinking now it may have worked (maybe).
Hot Wheels and Cars
You know those $1 cars (I get them at Target). They are always with us. Everywhere. Anywhere. And then there are the slightly bigger cars, which I don’t know what they are called but they are metal and can be found at the grocery or drug stores (like these ones but there are endless types of them). They have little doors that open, pull back and go, and sometimes other vehicles/transportation versions as well. This time I scored a race car and garbage truck and those were top toys on the return flight. I would say this was the #1 toy on the flight home for both boys. The garbage truck for Wesly (14mo) since it had a door that opens & closes and the race car for Caleb (4yo) because race cars are fast.
Tablet Games
Caleb’s (4yo) top games for this trip: Sago Pet Cafe, Clay Dinos, More Trucks, Elephant Art. But some other games he enjoys are Endless Numbers, Endless Reader, Little Kitten, Petting Zoo, Tozzle, Sago Mini World, Fish School, and Crossy Roads. Wesley (14mo) enjoyed a minute or two of Funny Animals, Peekaboo Kids, and Bubbles (and a minute or two is all you can really ask for with that age, right!?).
A Few Other Things
Water Bottles: I bring them through security empty and fill them up before boarding. Or, the flight attendant will often give you a small water bottle rather than an open cup (hello, baby on the lap).
Headphones: Caleb doesn’t like to wear them, so we end up with the volume low and no headphones, but if your kid will wear them then I’m sure the other passengers would be appreciative.
Shows and Movies: Don’t forget to download a few shows or movies - you don’t want to rely on wi-fi!
Little Gifts: Wrap up little toys for them to open periodically throughout the flight.
More Toys/Things: Kleenex: (pull each tissue out and then put them all back in & repeat), Sticker Books, Dot Stickers, magnet boards, popsicle sticks or pipe cleaners can go through a hole of an empty Starbucks cup, books (like an open-the-flap book or indestructible book), finger puppets, paper + crayons.
Snacks. More snacks. More than the bento box snacks. And a snack for YOU (oopsies, I failed on the return flight for myself).
More Tips: I wrote this post on another blog a while back with some more tips for you there. (FYI, I do a few things differently now than what I said there, though).
There is so much more to talk about, but perhaps another post for another day. Oh, and word of the wise (and I speak from experience): Don’t tell your 4-year-old there is a surprise in his backpack for the flight at bedtime the night before a flight. Yea, that didn’t go well. {Hand smacks fact}
P.S. Bring all the Clorox wipes to wipe the seat and tray tables. I hear the dirtiest part is the seatbelt and buckle so get that, too!
