Good morning!
So while I love traveling, I used to totally dread the travel part of it after having kids. I wouldn’t say we’ve had any totally traumatic travel experiences with our kids, but it definitely took some experimenting to get into a groove.
I also think how easy / difficult traveling with kids is totally depends on the ages of your kids – I personally find the 15 month-2 yr stage very difficult for traveling because they are SO active and aren’t often that into stationary activities. So we’ll see how I feel about traveling in a few months when Lilah is in that stage.
Anyway, we’ve had two fairly long, fairly successful travel experiences lately (one to Montana and one to Wisconsin that involved a FOUR HOUR layover), so I wanted to share what’s working for us! Our kids are 10 months and 3 years old for reference.
Please share any tips you have – I love reading these posts from other moms because in my mind you can never have too many tricks up your sleeve when you’re trapped on a plane! (We haven’t attempted any long road trips with our kids yet, so this will focus on air travel.)
1. Snacks on a Plane
This one is somewhat obvious, but I really do find that bringing a LOT of snack choices helps. I try to get a mix of favorites that we don’t buy too often (goldfish, sometimes fruit snacks, puffs) and new snacks the kids haven’t had before or haven’t had in a super long time.
I particularly love freeze dried fruit (we get this at Trader Joe’s, but I just saw it at Target too!) for travel snacks because the only ingredient is fruit, but it’s crunchy and much easier to pack than fresh fruit. We also try to include protein like nuts, Larabars, or cheese sticks because I know my son will snack the whole time and won’t eat a real meal later.
I like to put one of these disposable placemats on the tray because kids will inevitably drop their snacks and eat them with no concern to all of the germs on every plane surface.
FYI, for anyone who hasn’t flown recently, they now ask you to remove all food from your bag when you go through security, so we pack all snacks in freezer size ziplocks…it was a bit stressful the first time we went through security and were unaware of this rule and had snacks everywhere!
2. Get excited about the airport!
For our last two trips, we’ve made sure to read books about airplanes and airports leading up to our trip and it has made a huge difference in our experience at the airport.
I think the part where you’re waiting around to board the plane can be one of the hardest with a busy toddler because you don’t really want to get a bunch of stuff out from your carry on to entertain them. On our most recent flight, there was a bit of a delay so we were waiting to board for quite a while, but we parked ourselves by a window and my 3-year-old was fascinated by watching the snack truck, luggage trucks, etc. prepare the plane outside. Like he didn’t want to leave to get on the plane, he was all-in.
I love Richard Scary’s Day at the Airport, Richard Scary’s What do People do All Day (which has a detailed page on the airport), and Pilot Small (which I find excruciating to read b/c of all of the detail about planes, but my son loves). This one looks great too!
Do you have any plane / airport books you recommend?
3. Bring Legos!
Okay, this is our latest strategy and it seriously made our 4 hour layover a breeze!
We brought two small plastic containers with snapping lids, each with a small Lego set (not a new set, just ones we already had). We found an empty table in the airport and my son sat there the ENTIRE time building Legos, only getting up to use the bathroom.
Obviously you can tailor this based on your child’s own interests – we also brought drawing supplies, stickers, etc., but he is 100% into Legos so if there is a small toy like that for your child, don’t be afraid to bring a small portion of it for them to play with. I wouldn’t recommend this for the plane where pieces could easily get lost, but it worked great for us for the airport!
4. Headphones
These are seriously probably one of my top 5 favorite purchases since having kids and they are so inexpensive.
James used them on the plane and during the layover to listen to music and audiobooks with his Chameleon Reader. This is so great for a screen-free entertainment option for young kids!
I also think headphones are awesome if you’re trying to get a toddler to nap on a plane – we just put on lullabies or quiet music and he falls asleep if it’s nap time, and he is not an easy on-the-go sleeper.
5. Look for an Airport Play Place
Two of the airports we recently traveled through (Dallas and Milwaukee) had a small kids play place tucked away. This was perfect for letting Lilah get out some energy during our long layover!
I was a little hesitant at first because, you know, germs, but she really needed to move around and she LOVED it!
James played in there a bit too on our return flight but, while it says it’s for kids up to 5 years old, I think it’s really better for 6 mo.-2.5 year olds. It was definitely geared toward little kids. If you have a long layover coming up, check and see if the airport has one of these mini playgrounds, it was kind of a life-saver!
6. And one extra I’m excited to try soon – BCOZZY travel pillow!
(I was sent this to review, but not otherwise compensated. All opinions are my own 🙂
So I definitely think one of the most stressful parts of traveling with young kids who still nap is making sure they get some sleep during travel. I never found this to be too difficult with babies, but toddlers are more aware and interested in what’s going on, and can have a harder time falling asleep on a plane.
While James did fall asleep on one of our flights, he didn’t stay asleep long, partially because he wound up totally slumped forward in what looked like a super uncomfortable position.
This pillow is designed for just such situations and is meant to help keep your head upright if you fall asleep on a plane / in a car. Genius!
We don’t have any flights coming up, but we’re driving to Houston soon and we always time this at nap time so I’m definitely going to try it out for James then! I have an overnight flight next year so I am super pumped to try mine out for that and am thinking of buying them for my travel companions as well.
I’ll keep you posted when we actually try this but wanted to share before any upcoming holiday travel.
Happy traveling!
Do you have any tips for traveling with kids? Please share!
Montessori abc Book
My Montessori abc book uses phonetic sounds. Montessori teaches phonetic sounds, rather than letter names, to help children learn to read.
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8 Comments
Hey! We just took the kids (5 and 2) to the Christmas markets in Europe. We are insane, we know! The flight was exponentially better because we ordered inflatable footrests which extend the airplane seat so the kids could sleep on the plane like a bed. They were awesome! I’d highly recommend them for long plane rides. We also own the BCozzy travel pillow for our car trips home and Liam LOVES it! Snacks are always needed but I agree sleep is most important when traveling with kids! Safe travels this holiday season!!
Oh wow, those footrests sound awesome, do you have a link? And I’m excited to try out the BCozzy pillow tomorrow…hoping it will make for a better car nap! That sounds like an amazing trip 🙂 My sister and I are thinking of going to Italy in a couple of years, I will need your advice on where to go!!
When my kiddo was almost 2, we took her on a cross-country flight, and another mom recommended a Dollqr Store trip beforehand. I didn’t really go into the toy aisle, I just wandered around and grabbed whatever caught my eye – I ended up with pipe cleaners (which actually kept my husband amused, but I bet James would have fun with them), pompoms of varying sizes and a stack of containers that screwed together originally designed for medication (for putting in/taking out/counting/color sorting sorts of games) a small play mat type puzzle..: there were others, I think, but those were the really big hits. I spent all of $10 and every time she got restless or bored, I pulled one out. Bonus: it didn’t matter if something got broken or lost. For snacks, we used a bead box (anything with lots of small compartments would work – tackle box, small toy storage, embroidery floss box) and filled each compartment with different snacks. You could do one per kid and customize them, too.
These are such good ideas, thank you! I’m definitely going to try a bead box for snacks next time, that’s a great idea 🙂
We love Tegu blocks (just a small set) while traveling and at church!
Yes! I love Tegu blocks too, great idea!
My almost 3 year old has been on over 50 planes (including Europe and Hawaii) and has always loved flying. We only do screen time if it’s built into the plane (and still limit it then) because otherwise they don’t sleep and that’s the last thing you want when they’re traveling! Favorite snacks are candied ginger and fruit and of course gold fish. Favorite books are Maisy Goes on a Plane and the Usborne Airport Sticker Book. I am excited to try the Richard Scarry one since my son loves him! We read the airport books in the week before the trip a lot too, and it gets him excited when he walks through the airport and can name all the things. With one we always checked the car seat at the ticket counter but now that we have two (just under 3 and 1) we use the stroller as a caddy and gate check everything. We also avoid American Airlines when we can as we have found them to be the only airline consistently unhelpful/unfriendly for traveling with young kids.
We haven’t read either of those books but I’m definitely adding them to the list for next time we fly, thank you!