Earlier this year we went on our first airplane ride in over three years! We headed to Arizona for my cousin's wedding and my kids were ecstatic to ride on an airplane again! This was our first plane ride that we didn't have a baby which made things so much easier.
With kids, it seems like we are always traveling with so much. We had snacks, activities, water bottles, and tablets for three kids. My goal was to streamline what we brought to keep the kids occupied without over packing.
These simple little busy bags I put together worked out so well. Each kid got their own bag of goodies that was age appropriate. Much of it was new so they were very excited to open them up. Plus with my two big kids, they loved being independent and picking what they wanted to do out of their own bags.
I used these small clear toiletry bags and they were the perfect size. For bigger things, I carried a separate file folder but ended up barely using it. Also for the way home, I had a few new activities in my luggage that I switched out of their busy bags so they had a couple of new things to find on the way home. The activities and snacks bought us the majority of the flight. Then for about the last hour we pulled out the tablets.
For my 3 year old daughter, she got a few Little People, a new dress up doll mini sticker book, etch a sketch (from the Dollar Tree), slime, and a play doh kit.
For my six year old son, I packed an airport mini sticker book, etch a sketch, play doh kit, slime, and supplies to make things (popsicle sticks and tape).
For my 1.5 year old son, he got a truck mini sticker book, cars, plastic toy animals, crayons, notebook, stickers, etch a sketch and play doh.
In addition to their busy bags, I also packed some printed activity pages, water wow books, and color wonder coloring pages in my bag.
The busy bags were a huge hit and it was so fun to see them all play happily in their seats.
Their play doh kits included paper straws, pipe cleaners, pom poms, jewels, googly eyes, a plastic play doh/cookie cutter, and small plastic toys.
We used kindles for our kid's shows. I use the free PBS Kids app and downloaded a few of their favorite shows to watch. We also purchased new kid sized headphones and kindle cases that have a flap that could tuck in to the airplane seat trays.
Our kids don't get to use the tablets very often. And when they do they just get to watch PBS kids. My oldest gets to watch it when he is sick during his usual quiet time (while the others nap) so that I can still get some quiet time to myself. He has also gotten this same privilege during pregnancy when I really just need some time to rest or watch my own show for a little longer! Because it is so limited, this makes getting to watch their own show extra special on big trips like these.
Our youngest wasn't two yet but we choose to still purchase him his own seat so that we could keep him in the car seat. This helped keep him from climbing over everything! No baby in the lap this trip was such a treat! Our kids did great and it was one of our best flight experiences yet.
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