I ask the question, but really, is there a right answer? I found out the hard way that there is no right answer. Although my two year old was relatively good on the very long journey, it was still very hard to keep him occupied. I prepared the following toys/activities, among others, but the first one was my favourite and of course his too.
I bought a bag of pompoms from the dollar store and put them in a yogurt container. My friend had the wonderful idea of using a clear cover so he can see inside the container. On the bottom of the container, which was supposed to be the top for this activity we pierced a hole. He would empty the pompoms and take time putting each one back in through the hole. At times he would give up and just open the lid and put them all back into the container in one shot. Regardless, it kept him busy and this was key. The great part about the pompoms is that they didn't roll so they were easy to clean up and if we lost one or two, we didn't care. I think this would keep older kids busy as well. He still plays this activity - a total hit in our home!
I cut up faces, eyes, noses, ears and accessories in various felt colours. I put them all in a bag with a glue stick and when my son was well rested on the flight, we spent some time placing the items in the right place and making funny looking character. This required a lot of concentration so it didn't keep him busy very long, but it was fun while it lasted.
I also bought him a few new cars and a small mat from the dollar store on which he would roll the cars. He really enjoyed this. The great part is about this activity and the others I have in this post is they were light weight and didn't take up much room.
This was another great find. It is a box with fish and other water creatures with magnets on them and a fishing rod. I found this at
Giant Tiger. It took him a little bit to figure out how to hold the rod stable enough to "catch" the fish, but not too long. This activity kept him busy for a while as well and when he would "catch" one he would get so excited. I also gave this toy as a gift to a few friends' kids.
He also received the Travel Doodle as a travel gift which was great as well. Easy to pack, mess free (which is so important on a flight) and fun.
To keep him busy, we also played with stickers, had snacks and watched his favourite shows and movies on our tablet. On other trips we have taken since, which were shorter, we found that all we needed was the tablet. Now I have to think of new interesting activities for our long journey back home!! Any ideas?!?
