The Traveling Mom's Advice On What To Pack For A Toddler On An Airplane
Updated: May 5
My daughter is 3.5 years old and has been to 15 foreign countries. She's endured long overnight flights, multiple long layovers, the worst of airline indigestion mishaps, and then some, and yet she's been a trooper through all of it. People always ask me, "how do you do it? How does she do it?" Now that she's turned three, it's only gotten easier, but for those traveling days from just a few months old to the day she turned three, we had a lot to learn. Learn from some of our successes and failures with this advice on how to entertain and what to pack for a toddler ages 1-3 on an airplane ride.
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What To Pack For A Toddler On An Airplane Comes Down to These Three Things
Base your packing on three things:
no mess
re-usable entertainment
educational value
You of course will also need to plan in advance for eating and drinking, napping and potty stuff, and interactive things to do with your child.
Eating and Drinking
Snack Pouches. These are just under the TSA liquid limits, so pack as many as you need! Bring napkins if your kid is a squeezer.
Snack Catchers: If your kid likes goldfish or cheerios, this is a good way to minimize a mess.
On this vein, always bring a sippy cup that can't spill!
Pro tip: get them to drink water upon takeoff and landing to help with the ear pressure
Reusable Entertainment
Water Wow. At least 10 minutes of coloring fun. These come in educational formats as well - your child can trace numbers, letters, or do seek and finds!
Be sure to fill with water that is drinkable. My kid likes to suck on the water stick.
EooCoo Writing Tablet. Endless Fun. We play Pictionary and she has to guess what we drew. Bonus factor: the pen is attached and can't get dropped or lost. This toy is slim and fits in any bag or purse, and can be fun in restaurants too. My daughter likes to pretend she is taking my order and scribbles down as if she were taking notes.
A Quiet Book : this has buttons, zippers and other things to keep baby fingers busy. Nothing can get dropped or lost except the little carrot in a hidden zipper.
Etch a Sketch: These pocket sized marvels can be purchased individually at the Dollar Tree. I put them in every purse. Slam dunk every time.
I Spy Books: Keep your kid busy for a long time with these. You'll both have fun pointing out objects and learning about what's on the page. We like the I Spy Letters book because it reinforces her alphabet and things that start with that letter.
Filler Toys
Bring their favorite stuffed animal (only ONE!)
Let them pick 3-4 little toys from home. I'm talking McDonald's happy meal type of stuff - one piece figurines or fidgety objects. Cracker jack prizes. Little things that an imaginative mind can play with without losing a bunch of little parts. Dollar Store buys are perfect for this.
Extras to Pack in The Diaper Bag
Extra diapers/underpants/wipes/whatever you need in the bathroom
Extra set of clothes (we've seen it all - puke was the worst!)
A little sweater
A tip on potty time: Pee before you board.
They'll want to pee the second the seat belt sign comes on (i.e. you can't get up) and again when you land, so always plan around that.
Interactive Games
Get up and have stretch breaks at the back of the plane. They usually offer water or snacks too, so it can be a fun little outing in the middle of the long hauls. Head shoulders knees and toes is good here, but don't sing too loudly.
Make up little quiz games. Here are two we play: "Muscle or Bone?" I make up stupid stuff like this to play in the mornings when she crawls in to bed with me. We point to areas of the body and say, "hard or soft?" If it is hard, it's bone! If it's soft, it's muscle! It teaches the basic concept without being super correct. Forget cartilage and further medically accurate details. It's muscle or bone! Another one for younger kids just grasping the concept of their body is to say, "where's your ears? your eyes? your belly button?" Have them point to the part as you quiz them. This is repeatable fun for a good 5 or 10 minutes.
What Not to Bring for Your Toddler on an Airplane
Chocolatey or sticky snacks
Snacks that have a lot of bits (think crackers, raisins, things that create a mess)
Blankets and pillows - forget the extra "stuff", you don't need it.
Things that make noise.
Crayons, colored pencils and other loose articles get dropped like crazy and it's not fun to dig around your underseat area for this stuff the whole flight.
Toys with lots of small parts (no polly pocket, legos, etc).
Their own backpack - I have done this and ALL the toys and snacks get tossed around in the first 10 minutes of sitting down. All the snacks get eaten and it's all over in a flurry! Carry the toys and snacks in your mom bag and distribute when needed.
Entertainment for yourself. You won't have a chance to read that book or magazine or watch that series you've been dying to catch up on. This will not happen.
Stay Engaged
Trust your kid to be pretty chill. They'll catch the vibes from around them. Look out the window with them, point out things you see and hear. More than anything, stay engaged with them the whole flight and they won't get bored. For the long hauls, they will sleep more than you, so plan for that. They'll spill their free beverages, beg to eat your dessert cup, and want to crawl all over mommy and daddy as many times as they want. But ultimately, no matter how wriggly or whiny they get, you'll get through it.
Remember something my mom always says to me, K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple, Stupid. With 1-3 year olds, that is the key. Pack only a few essentials and let their imaginations do the rest. Tell them about your destination and the things you'll do there, ask them questions and teach them things you know about life. This is a great opportunity to hang with your kid.