Keep 'em happy on the plane

Kids have a talent for burning through their travel entertainment within the first 30 minutes of any flight. Earning the ire of your childless seatmate? Some options:

• Make hand puppets out of airplane sick bags (but keep an extra for its intended use, just in case)
• Toddlers don't mind scribbling on the pictures in the in-flight magazine
• Or, make up stories about the products in the Skymall catalog. We entertained ourselves for at least ten minutes by imagining the person who would buy the golf club that dispenses alcohol. Okay, my husband and I entertained ourselves, and our kids had no idea what we were talking about. But we were laughing, so they started laughing.
• Turn to the flight route map at the back of the in-flight mag. Show your kids how many thumbnails from Portland to New York. Show them Four Corners. Show them "the Panhandle State." Ask them to find Hoboken, the Great Salt Lake, the smallest state. Etc.

We know you have clever plane trip hacks of your own. Add a comment, or send us your hack!

Comments

[Brian]

Great, necessary site, Asha! I was quite disappointed that we couldn't do something like this as an O'Reilly book, and I'm thrilled to see you filling the hole in an online version. Could I be your first subscriber?

Oh, and I'll be using this particular hack next weekend! Looking forward to many helpful hacks to come ...

[David Ascher]

* the portable dvd players are getting really cheap

* nintendo gameboys last really long on 2 AAs (and if they're reserved "for travel only", have lots of appeal)

Also worth knowing:

* dramamine can have paradoxical effects (i.e. induce hyperactivity, not drowsiness). be warned.

* puzzles are bad ideas, as is anything with small balls that can roll down the aisle

* crafts are good, but be sure to pick crafts that don't require scissors, since you can't bring them onboard.

[Erik Weibust]

Here is a "don't do". Don't reach up to turn on the overhead light or fan when your kids are looking. My 3 yr old son thinks those are some of the coolest toys in the world. Once he sees them he's standing in the seat reaching for them over-and-over.

Great site here.

Erik

[Andrew]

Yes, definitely test the dramamine/other antihistamine type stuff before you fly. In fact now our little lad is getting older (almost 3) he gets more grumpy than anything when we dope him up for a flight.

We just got back from a vacation and after a 3-flight, 20-hour door-to-door trip, things that worked really well were a couple of coloring books with wipe-clean pages, especially the ones where the kid traces letters and shapes, magnetic snakes and ladders game, and a portable DVD player.

[Sean Roche]

For pre-schoolers: novelty.

My wife has a bag of toys that only comes out for plane trips. Lots of them are cheap and she adds a few for each trip.

We also bring a set of new books from the library.

[Gary]

On one flight, I taught my daughter to put fake moustaches, eyebrows, tattoos, etc., on the faces in ads. Hours of entertainment and a valuable education in sass.

[Milan Ilnyckyj]

Gravol always knocked me out for the greater portion of the duration of flights I took as a child.

[Spyderkl]

Those portable DVD players saved our lives - and the lives of the passengers surrounding us - on our Thanksgiving trip to MN this year. Our daughter is 3 1/2. She also had a lot of fun with the safety card in the seat pocket.

On the way back, Auntie thoughtfully got her a color-it-yourself posterboard, complete with washable markers. She had a great time.

I got here from Boing Boing. Hi.

[Will]

We've had great luck with those little coloring books that use water to make pictures (see Aquadoodle link if you're not sure what I'm talking about). We have one with Dora and one with Elmo. The great thing about these is that when the page dries, they can color again. You can ask them questions about the picture, both before and after they color something (flowers, stars and so on sometimes "appear" after they've colored). Plus, the magic pen is just water, easy to get on a plane, and won't stain anything else.

[Ewan Spence]

The last long car trip we took was a woory, as our three year old always wants the same kids CD on theplayer - and we need something a bit more Guitar Rock based to survuve. So we picked up a basic MP3 player and a pair of basic headphones - plus an extension cable. That way our ddaughter had her headphones for music, but we had the MP3 player at the front to control the volume, switch back to "Wheels on The Bus" etc and amke sure her ears weren't blasted.

[Leslie]

For slightly older kids when you have the inevitable long waits at airports and the like, get them to make up stories about who the people are and where they are going.

[*** Dave]

1. Anything electronic you bring on the plane, make sure it uses headphones -- for the sake of the passengers and your kid and you.

2. My daughter thinks her Leapster is great in-flight entertainment.

3. She also liked, from an early age, the emergency instructions card -- her "little book," she called it. All pictures, brightly colored, and playing games to figure out what it's saying is instructional and fun.

[Peter Davidson]

A friend with young children favors small magnadoodles for their 3 and under children.

I second the headphones for all portable games, dvd players etc. Non-parents can be more sensitive and easily irritated by the noise of your little darling's amusement devices.

[Colin]

If you're tolerant of getting off the plane with amateur tattoos, there are crayons you can get for drawing on skin -- easily removed in the bathroom.

I'll second the novelty approach. Also markers that look clear except on expensive proprietary paper: bad at home, good for damage control on a 757.

I have some kids music on my iPod for emergencies.

[Neal Patrick]

I wrote an entry a few months ago about this:
http://www.the-patricks.net/sweetstuff/2005/11/bring-along-your-baggage.html

but your entry also reminded me of another idea - use the emergency instructions card as a "book" for younger ones (much like the skymall catalog for older ones) - the extra benefit is the laminated pages don't tear and are spillproof.

In a pinch I've also used the mini-pretzel bags as rattles.

[Christy]

In addition to all the other great ideas, when all else fails, all that junky food you wouldn't normally let them have ... cheetos, snickers, etc.

[jdblacklung]

I have two small children (3 and 5 yrs). The one thing I always bring on long trips (on planes, trains and automobiles) is my iPod mini. My wife gave it to me for our 4yr wedding anniversary. I have several children's books on it including several stories from A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" and Stan and Jan Berenstain's "Berenstain Bears". They love listening to these stories. Each child gets one earpiece and they are captivated.

[Aaron]

Get a bunch of small presents. Things that cost a dollar or three. You'll need about 1 or 2 for every hour of your flight. Wrap them up like birthday gifts. When you're on the plane, let them unwrap one. It'll capture their interests for a short while, perhaps half an hour. When they get bored with it and start to get antsy, tell them that they have to be good and maybe there will be another present. After ten minutes of this quiet time, give them the next toy.

Each item should be very different from the previous one or else somehow work with the previous one to introduce a new activity, else they'll just get bored with another hotwheel.

As they get older, get more interesting puzzles and educational toys, which might cost more, but take longer to get boring.

[Mieke]

I like a lot of these suggestion -thanks! One small addition for the problem of the ratio kids-ears:device-plugs is a headphone splitter. Very basic, no maintenance, but lets both kids use 2 earpieces each. Saves a lot of squabbles :)

[Kari C.]

I had success on our last trip with stickers and the air sick bags. I let my two- and four-year old kids decorate their bags and it kept them busy for at least 10 minutes!

We also had temporary tattoos along and I was able to use a wet wipe to apply them (instead of water on a washcloth like I would do at home). This occupied everyone for another 10 minutes up front and then amused them throughout the flight as they thought to look at, or pick at their tattoos!