[miaka]

what are good distractions for toddlers on long haul flights? so far all i've got are portable dvd player w/ fav movies, magnetic drawing board (small, a fav toy) and crayola coloring pack w/ those markers that don't mark anywhere except the coloring pages. any other ideas?

[MLBW]

I think that story books on tape or CD might be interesting if they can listen to them and go through the stories themselves. Depending on whether the child is a boy or girl, I would suggest a book of paper dolls--maybe something they can color first and then put together--depending on their age. If all else fails, there is always walking around the plane and finding things to distract the child with.

[Buckeroo]

For older kids (3+), I highly recommend the Klutz books! They kept my son occupied through most of the 14+ hour flight. http://www.klutz.com/

For the toddler, though, you have to be creative. What worked for us on our recent flight:

1) I tore up small pieces of paper and crumpled them up into very tiny balls and had her drop them into a clear water bottle. I got her to shake the bottle (capped, of course). Then I would un-cap the bottle and she would then empty the bottle and put them in again, one by one. This was good for maybe 15 minutes.

2) I brought along some Cheerios, blueberries, grapes, etc. Using two small cups (the ones from the meal trays), I got her to transfer Cheerios, etc. from one to the other. Using the plastic utensils, she also "practiced" scooping the Cheerios. A bit messy, but it kept her occupied. :)

Good luck. You both will do fine.

[canadamommy]

I just did a 15 hour flight with a 2 year old and I brought a million different dollar store toys to keep him busy. Quantity over quality, variety is key! I just pulled out something new every 5 or 10 minutes. My son loves stickers. Buy an inexpensive sticker book with the shiny pages and many sheets of stickers. This kept him busy for a long time. Then I even put the stickers on paper and made them into scenes that we colored (example fish stickers underwater, insect stickers in a spring scene). Not sure if you can travel with playdoh, but i was allowed to bring it no problem and i brought a few cookie cutters too. Also brought lots of books that were new to him. My son loves watching pictures and videos of himself and family so we brought the laptop and showed him stuff as well as Baby Einstein videos. Hope this helps! Don't worry, it will be fine. I worried about my flight and it was much better than I thought it would be. He even slept a good portion of it, a nap at naptime and then went to bed at bedtime after doing his little bedtime routine complete with PJ's.

[canadamommy]

Oh, I forgot! Any sort of magnetic book or board where you put magnets on (I had a farm book with animals and an airport book with planes, etc) is really good too. Where's Waldo type book for toddlers also a good idea.

[jzb]

Yup - stickers, dvds and colouring were the winners with my two toddlers. Like canadamommy I also stocked up on plenty of cheap rubbish to bring out when they got bored. I wrapped them up so that each time they got something new it was like a present. They thought Christmas had come early! Depending on your children as well, my boys were very happy playing with little Bob the Builder figures or 'Cars' figures on their fold down table. They can fall off and reaching to pick them up can be a pain, but even my 18 month old played happily for about half an hour at a time with them - and you can create all sorts of games with them too. I always find that the thought of the journey with them is far worse than the reality, so don't worry. But as for jet lag......

[MeowMeow]

Just a tip, I kept my two kids sit still with seat belt fastened when taking off and landing by giving them their favorite snacks.

I know they all hate to fasten their seat belt.

HTH

[namaste]

Clothes pins to drop into a clear water bottle. Using a car seat on the plane is a life-saver as well because they can sleep comfortably.