If you're looking for ideas to keep your little one/s entertained during car travel or a flight then I hope you will have found yourself in the right place. My boys are 6 and very nearly 4 and tomorrow we leave for a family holiday to Cyprus for a week (I can't wait!).
The last time I took my boys on a plane, the journey didn't go particularly smoothly and my youngest who was quite young at the time (around 2) screamed during most of the flight (he hated having his seat belt on for some reason). Thankfully we had very patient and understanding passengers around us so that helped a lot. I think a lot of it was his young age, it's difficult for a toddler to sit on a plane for hours. So we expect that this time around things *hopefully* will be a lot smoother now that he is very nearly 4. We've also made sure that we've stocked up on things to keep both of our boys entertained during the journey. We've got activity books and little toys that they haven't seen before to keep them busy and we'll be taking lots of snacks and a few treats with us to for lots of distraction.
I wanted to share what we're taking with us in he boys carry on cases just to give anyone else that might be planning a family holiday a few ideas of what sort of things you could take with you to keep your little ones entertained whilst you travel.
The boys' carry cases are both Trunki's - if you haven't seen these before then they are quite cool little cases that come in many different themes. (We have a blue one and also a police trunki for our boys). They are the perfect size for hand luggage and children can sit on them and be pulled along, to save tired legs in the airport and for lots of fun, or they can scoot themselves along on them with their legs whilst sitting on the top.
Inside of each of their Trunki's we've packed the following..
- A spare change of clothes
- 1 x hoody for if they get chilly
- Spare socks and spare pants in case of accidents
- Their sunglasses for when we get off of the plane
- Their headphones for use with the iPad
- Snacks - things like BEAR snacks, raisins, crisps, breakfast biscuits, brioches, breakfast bars, a pack of love hearts. They'll also have a sandwich and fresh fruit cut up in a tub (I'll do this the evening before and just take them out of the fridge in the morning).
- A plastic bottle/cup (we take a small Squash'd Robinsons that's the perfect size for getting through airport security and then we'll buy water on the other side of security, so that we can make the kids drinks up.
Entertainment wise we have packed the following in each Trunki..
- The iPad pre-loaded with games, films and TV shows. I recently discovered that iPlayer Kids lets you download any Cbeebies programme and you can then watch the shows offline. We also download movies/shows onto the Sky Q app at home and then we can watch them offline too.
- A Pokemon ultimate colouring book - bought from Amazon
- Orchard Toys Things To Do Sticker Activity Book (we love Orchard Toys and this looks really good especially for the boys' ages) - bought from Amazon
- A magic Wiggly Worm (I saw this in Primark for £1 and thought it would be something the boys would love),
- Mighty Beanz suprise (from John Lewis for a few pounds)
- Plasticine (£1 from John Lewis)
- Galt Velvet Pictures - bought from Amazon
- Toy Story stationery pack - £7 from Primark
- Crayola Ultra Clean washable colouring pens - bought from Amazon
I'm also packing these little drawstring bags (below) inside of their Trunkis - these are smaller than regular drawstring bags but they are a great size for carrying little bits in, so they'll be perfect for the boys to take some of their entertainment bits to dinner in when we are on holiday and I'll also be able to hand them the drawstring bag full of some of the bits we've got for them for the plane when they sit down in their seats.
I'll also have things like the squash I mentioned above, calpol satchets, wipes and antibacterial hand gel in my own carry on case for the boys.
I hope that this post has been helpful if you're wondering what to take with you in your little one/s hand luggage/carry on case when you travel. :)
Thank you for reading. Alex xo
