traveling toys for a toddler

iamamother

Tue, Jul 17 2012, 2:20 pm

we will iy"h be traveling this summer. the plane ride will be abt 6 hrs. any ideas of what toys I can bring for my very active, cant sit still 1 1/2 yr old boy? im really nervous to travel with him. he does fall asleep in car rides and now hes not going to be buckled in a carseat so basicly I have to keep him occupied on mine and my husbands lap... so any idea???

baskrox

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 2:11 pm

That is really hard with a 1 1/2 year old. He might be too young but some travel ideas are magna doodle - no mess, same for crayola color wonder. does he like music? We have a fisher price mp3 player (it sells now for over $100, we got it for $50), but maybe you can get a kid friendly mp3 player with headphones and load it with his favorite kid songs and he can push buttons etc to hear music.

Just did a quick search on google and found this:
http://www.squidoo.com/travel-.....dlers

good luck.

Peek-a-boo

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 2:17 pm

We did - loads of books, stickers, and lots of snacks.
I found that nothing worked for more than 5-10 minutes so we just bought loads of small tchachkes and pulled them out as soon as we needed a distraction. And of course ... there's always walking up and down the aisles...
this was for a 12-hour flight btw!

Shopmiami49

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 2:23 pm

Magnadoodle

I cut out a bunch of magnet shapes (or you can buy some) and gave my kids a magnetic board to play with. They LOVED this!

Another idea is stuff to stick onto the airplane windows. You can either use paper shapes and scotch tape or those sticky window decorations (kinds like sticky hands) that they sell in a package.

Same idea with velcro things to attach to the seat in front of him. Even better, you can bring along a large felt sheet (folds up reaally small) and velcro it onto to the back of the seat and let him velcro on smaller shapes.

Are you into DVDs? That might work...

Crayons and paper, stickers...

Cheerios or Fruit Loops on a pipe cleaner or ribbon - let him string it on and then eat them

NOSH!! Very Happy

whiteboard with eraser

lots of interactive picture books (think: peekaboo flaps, textures, pop ups, mirrors)

finger puppets

I brought along once a Ziploc bag filled with mega blocks - that was fun!

Those egg toys that come in a carton - each half has a shape that fits into each other - They are easy to bring along and very entertaining.

I also always pack random little prizes to pull out when I am desperate - little dolls, action figures, mini crayon pack, slinky, etc.

You can also walk up and down the aisles with him...a million times lol!

Stuffed animal that has zipper, button, snap, velcro, mirror, tie...

I'm sure I will come up with more...we are seasoned travelers lol!

iamamother

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 2:31 pm

thanks! those ideas r great! not all for a 1 1/2 yr old. like theres not way he will be able to do the cheerio thing. but deff good ideas! we actualluy just got a mini magandoodle yesterday. I think he will love that! keep the ideas comin ppl!

Shopmiami49

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 2:40 pm

iamamother wrote:

Obviously you know your child, but sometimes, you may be surprised! My ds is pretty advanced bli ayin hara, so I can't really use him as an example, but we did some of these things with him by the time he was 13 months old - for sure all of them by the time he was 1.5!

Re: the cheerios - another idea, if you want it to work, is that you can stick a straw into a small chunk of playdough and "stick" it onto the tray table so the straw is stuck in place. Then you can show him how to place the Cheerios onto the straw. I actually jsut did this with my gan and it worked beautifully. Just note that either you need to use really thin straws or Fruit Loops, b/c reg. Cheerios don't fit on reg. straws.

Wed, Jul 18 2012, 3:05 pm

We traveled from Israel to NY (and back) a month or so ago with a 13 month old, and believe it or not, the thing that he enjoyed most was the little personal movie remote - he thought it was a phone (it actually is, on the other side) and sat and played with the buttons for a real long time!

We also brought along one of those beads on twisty pipes thingies, and he enjoyed that too. And a lot of nosh.... And yes, he let the entire flight know he was there - he was LOUD when he cried.

But he did sleep a bit - the parts of the trip with an extra seat made it easier - he slept in the seat. And one part of the trip we actually put him to sleep on the floor. Just remember to bring along your kid's blanket or teddy or whatever he needs to sleep! (And you can hope. There was one leg of the trip where he was EXHAUSTED and just would not fall asleep.)