Fun things for kids to do on the plane-Any suggestions?

[cinmell]

Things that work for us aside from coloring were:

Stickers
Colorforms
Magnadoodle
Travel size etch a sketch
and a major life saver was a DVD player to play Monsters Inc. and the Wiggles

 

[thumperjr9]

Oh, I don't know about play-dough my DS-3 made a mess with that, but maybe it would be ok for an older child. He liked I Spy books, sticker books and themed magnetic boards. We bought a nice "ocean life" one at Epcot for the plane ride home and took turns creating scenes and hiding a little treasure chest. My older son likes to just read or listen to cd player. Another vote for snacks, that always seems to keep them happy. Also, I brought small sports bottles for the drinks they serve on the plane, (it's so easy to bump the tray and spill them)

 

[TiggerInNY]

I haven't read one reply for the Gameboy stuff.... My DS (7) could sit for hours if I let him playing Yu-Gi-Oh Ruby. We go in October and I hope he's still interested in it then.

I like the Play=doh. My youngest DS will be close to 4 when we go. He would really like that. I was thinking about getting them their own personal CD player for the plane ride. I can burn as many copies of them as I like. We are a family of 4 and we are sitting 2 in each aisle on the plane. The magna-doodle is great. You can play tic-tac-toe on there forever without needing any paper.

This is a great thread. I know it helped me.

Keep it going.

Maria

 

[bearloch]

We havent left yet but i picked up a maganet game that comes with its one case and had many dif faces to make out of maganets kinda reminds me of mr. potato head. We also are adding a set of the small letters to go with it. I've been colecting disney coloring sheets and have a box of evenlopes and im letting my 4 yr old mail the pictures she colores back to her family stuck back home. She will also do post cards med week while waitning at a resturant.

I also read that pipe cleaners makecool cheap toys.
so do bubbles the small bottles like from weddings.
were also going to play the disney yathzee (sp) while in the air.

LOL

 

[LIFERBABE]

Kick the Seat!!!

Always fun for kids and Free!! (Just not any fun for the Kickee!)

 

[devine5829]

TiggerinNY-
Yes, I was considering the Game Boy. We have never owned one so when I started to research it, I was getting confused as to what to buy. There's one out that they say isn't "back-lit" enough-(new terms for me), so it can be difficult to see. I don't want to spend a whole lot more $$ on something that is difficult to see.

Anyway, any suggestions on what to get and which games are fun, I'm all ears.

My girls are 51/2 & 7.

 

[lmhall2000]

4, 5, & 8- something easy and cheap is takes awhile is magazine alphabet quest... you buy a magazine at the airport- (even a Disney magazine would be fun) and each child picks a page to tear out- you give them each a marker and you tell them to find all the letters in their name and mark them. Then Daddy and I take turns scoring the sheets- whoever has the most letters wins a prize (could be something else to occupy their time-like those invisible ink books) and we try to think up "winning" categories for each child- "who made the least mistakes", "the most creative"- like the child who connected all her dots to make a picture. Our kids names all have similar letters so there's no big advantage there- but if you don't want to do letters in their name just randomly pick letters- like D-I-S-N-E-Y- it's really fun and it keeps them busy.
Tara

 

[pinktink83]

devine,
the best thing to do if you're buying a game boy is to go to Best Buy and ask for help. They'll tell you all you need to know! My mom just bought my 15 yo brother a gameboy for his birthday, and thats what she did. Its the newest one. (whatever that is! I'm not up to date on my hand held systems either!) I think she said it was about $100.

Basically something in color thats just come out is your best bet. If you buy anything other than the newest model, it just isn't worth it because they stop making games for the old systems as soon as the new one comes out. So you only get so much playtime per system, know what I mean? The good part is, usually you can get half your money back by selling it to a video game store like GameDaze once the newer models do come out. Which you can use to buy the new one!

So, its not a totally bad investment, especially considering how much use it'll get.

 

[geetey]

This tip will work for the plane ride home, if you bring your camcorder with you. Charge the battery and rewind the tape before leaving the hotel. My kids (now 8 & 10) *love* watching the tape on the plane ride home. They usually watch it so much the battery is dead when we are getting ready to land.

Gameboy Advance or Gameboy Advance SP (no light needed) are great for this age but bring extra AA batteries.

My two also enjoy listening to their own cds with headphones.

Cards are a big hit too. Everyone enjoys a good game of War, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, etc.

Lastly, we spend quite a bit of time talking about the trip and filling out our Passporter pages. What was your favorite park? What was your favorite ride? Character? Best day? Worst day?

It's a nice way to end the trip.

 

[thumperjr9]

The camcorder is a great idea, I never thought of that. I'll have to try that next time.

 

[Bethel]

I have brought along a good "read-aloud" book - we especially like Hank the Cowdog books and read to them. I try to bring a couple of new ones they haven't seen so I won't go crazy.

I have found small books for $1 in nearly every theme that require a coin to "scratch" and show a hidden picture. Sometimes has a rhyme so they try and guess what the picture is before they rub it.

My teens and tweens like the gameboy stuff. I bought a "worm-light" that plugs into it and lights it from above that worked great and no extra batteries.

A new magazine just for them is great fun. Especially if Mama or Daddy is reading their own too. Lots of good ones to choose from at Boarders or other large book or magazine stores.

The Pal Mickey I have seen mentioned elsewhere might be great for the ride back.

There are ear plugs you can get for the DVD or laptops. There are even splitters - which we use for the 2 kids that use one plug into the dvd or laptop but runs out 2 sets of earphones.

You can also record their favorite books on your own cassettes and bring the book and tape with you (inexpensive).

I really liked the beachball idea.