Nifty Ideas: On the airplane with older kids
Another round of fantastic nifty ideas I have discovered. You too may become inspired by these nifty things and in turn create your own. If you have any of your own nifty ideas please share them with me I'd love to learn about what is nifty to you!
Summer means travel. Going on vacation with kids? By plane? Oh pity you. The airplane is the hardest place to be with children. It's crowded and uncomfortable. Everyone can think of a better way to spend a few hours. Instead of getting stressed out there are ways to make your trip go well. No matter the age kids get tired and fussy.
I don't want to neglect the most important and simple of child distraction ideas. A decent tablet of paper can do wonders. Or even a small journal will do. Pair it with some good colored pencils, crayons (we like Twistables) or markers for them to color. A nice set of gel pens will be a good addition. My girls love to write stories and having pens and pencils to illustrate their ideas is a must.
Stickers. Can't say how much I love stickers on trips. They are easy to pack taking up little room and if you buy them in advance you can pick out all sorts of them to hand out along your trip. I try to pick a good variety. I think of some great ideas for how to illustrate a story. I also pick anything that looks really neat. I think my girls would like sticker dolls.
Card games are great for older kids. We like Skip-Bo, Uno and Scrabble Slam. Whereas Skip-Bo is a better game to play during lay-overs the other two are great on plane. Your little one too little to play? I think the Scrabble Slam game would be great for first graders on up. They can use the cards to spell out words and playing along by asking them how they can change the word using one letter will help them learn vocabulary. Trust me this kept my 7 year old busy for a solid hour, it was fantastic.
Other games we like are Bananagrams, Travel Blokus (we love the board size so this is perfect to take along), and Pocket Fundomino game.
Books. Reading is a perfect quiet way to spend time on the plane. I go to the used book store and choose some new to us books to take along. I choose a good novel for each and a new picture book. Pop up books are great for older children I love this one by Tomie de Paola.
Stuff your kids like. This takes some thought but it will be your saving grace on a long flight. For our girls little Lego sets, Calico Critters, paper dolls and finger puppets are great little extra treats.
Summer means travel. Going on vacation with kids? By plane? Oh pity you. The airplane is the hardest place to be with children. It's crowded and uncomfortable. Everyone can think of a better way to spend a few hours. Instead of getting stressed out there are ways to make your trip go well. No matter the age kids get tired and fussy.
I don't want to neglect the most important and simple of child distraction ideas. A decent tablet of paper can do wonders. Or even a small journal will do. Pair it with some good colored pencils, crayons (we like Twistables) or markers for them to color. A nice set of gel pens will be a good addition. My girls love to write stories and having pens and pencils to illustrate their ideas is a must.
Stickers. Can't say how much I love stickers on trips. They are easy to pack taking up little room and if you buy them in advance you can pick out all sorts of them to hand out along your trip. I try to pick a good variety. I think of some great ideas for how to illustrate a story. I also pick anything that looks really neat. I think my girls would like sticker dolls.
Card games are great for older kids. We like Skip-Bo, Uno and Scrabble Slam. Whereas Skip-Bo is a better game to play during lay-overs the other two are great on plane. Your little one too little to play? I think the Scrabble Slam game would be great for first graders on up. They can use the cards to spell out words and playing along by asking them how they can change the word using one letter will help them learn vocabulary. Trust me this kept my 7 year old busy for a solid hour, it was fantastic.
Other games we like are Bananagrams, Travel Blokus (we love the board size so this is perfect to take along), and Pocket Fundomino game.
Books. Reading is a perfect quiet way to spend time on the plane. I go to the used book store and choose some new to us books to take along. I choose a good novel for each and a new picture book. Pop up books are great for older children I love this one by Tomie de Paola.
Stuff your kids like. This takes some thought but it will be your saving grace on a long flight. For our girls little Lego sets, Calico Critters, paper dolls and finger puppets are great little extra treats.
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