How to travel by plane with a toddler

Toddlers have very short attention spans. Claire can probably last a maximum of 20 minutes of playing or watching on her own. Then she gets bored and needs me to tell her what to do next.
So when preparing for what I thought was a 4 hour flight (actually only 2.5 hours) I turned to Pinterest and the internet for ideas that are small and portable to occupy approximately 10 20-minute attention blocks. Almost all of these ideas came from THIS blog post, but I did come up with some on my own, even if the do overlap. Great minds think alike, right?
(I stopped hoping Claire would sleep on the plane when she was 6 months old. She has to be exhausted to fall asleep anywhere but her bed.)

So we start with a plug for buying a separate seat for the kid. Totally worth the money to have Claire in her car seat. Maybe it was because she is older now, but she didn't fight being in the seat like she has as a lap child. She knew that the carseat was for her to sit in and that she was expected to stay there because it was familiar to her.

Transporting the carseat to the gate can be a little tricky without planning. I've seen the special wheeled carseats they sell at baby stores. I've also seen the attachments you can buy to turn your carseat into a wheeled, traveling seat. Those are really expensive options. I do most-who am I kidding- all of my shopping research on Amazon.com which is where I found the alternative to a wheeled carseat attachment. Rather than trying to drag along a carseat, luggage, and carry-on, one genius entrepreneur invented a strap system to attach the car seat to the luggage you are already carrying. Hallelujah! This alternative cost only $10-16 on Amazon.com. The review page for this product is where I found the solution that I used.
I went to the notions wall at JoAnn's and found the largest D-ring possible. It came in a pack of two for $3.49. I bought it using a 40% off coupon.

My small roller bag is directly behind (attached) to the car seat. My purse/diaper bag is on top of the luggage and inside of the car seat is Claire's bag which has a couple books inside. 

So for $2 I used the D ring to attach the car seat to my carry-on roller bag using the LATCH system straps that are built into all current car seat models. Two go around the sides (attach them to the ring) and the top strap goes under the handle, over the top of the bag and connects to the ring. Be sure to tighten firmly.


Make sure that your car seat is airline approved. It will be written in red on a sticker on the side that says "this child restraint is certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft."


Now for my attention keeping tricks and toys.
Remember: I was going for small items so my bag could 1) fit MORE and 2) not weigh a ton.

Weekly medicine tracker: This is a you that I have used since Claire was about a year old. I fill the little cups with large buttons and pompoms and snacks. Claire has fun opening each if the pockets and rearranging the items. Some people contest this idea because you are teaching your child to open a medicine container. I don't have a problem with it because we don't use them to hold medicine in our house. Please use your own discretion though. If it doesn't seem like a smart idea to you, don't do it.

Pipe cleaners: twisty, bendy fun with endless possibilities. They are soft to touch and you can build all sorts of things. Use it for color practice, or build shapes and practice shape or letter recognition. You can also use them to practice threading.

Yarn and colored noodles: work those fine motor skills by making necklaces and bracelets. Then extend the play by playing dress up afterward. Tape or burn the ends of the yarn to prevent raveling. Knot one end to keep "beads" from falling off. Color noodles in ziplock bags using a few drops of food coloring and 2 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Mix then pour onto paper towels over cookie sheets. Allow to dry then play or repackage. FYI--the noodles count as "yellow" so consider that when mixing colors, such as purple, which turns brown when combined with yellow.

Play dough: Just a little bit can make snakes and balls galore!

Painters tape: it challenges little fingers in gripping and tearing. It is fun to cover magazines and screens in bits of tape and reveal small parts again.

Books: I brought a few small books which Claire read over a over again. Make book time last longer by asking questions about the story or pictures. Search for common objects through the book. Identify colors, characters, and shapes.
Claire had a seek and find book, lift the flap and trace the letters, and counting, opposites, colors, and shapes books.

Color wonder markers and book: coloring is always good for at least ten minutes.

Sticker book: once again, fine motor skills challenge

Lots of snacks including individually wrapped candies like kisses, rolos, taffy, or tootsie rolls. They take time to open and to eat.
I also put her snacks in an embroidery floss organizer that I found at Walmart for less than $3. It was fun to open and sort through the different sections.

Digital camera: let the little one take control and see what they see as they use the camera with careful supervision. You can also do lots of selfies. Make funny faces, sad faces, and happy faces. Turn it into a lesson about emotions.

Buckles: buy a buckle bear or make a buckle page. I don't know of anything Claire likes better than to do buckles herself.

Bubbles: I, personally, didn't do this, but you could take a small tube of bubbles (like the wedding kind or some from the party gift bag stuffing section) and blow a few. They aren't terribly intrusive if you do it right. Just try to be respectful of other patrons.

Legos: These are great for open play. They are fun to put together in countless ways and offer a slight challenge for small fingers. We used the Lego Duplos.

And last, but not least, a video player and noise canceling headphones. Claire LOVES Mickey Mouse, so I have invested in a couple of the DVDs which I bring on the plane via our tablet. They are just long enough to keep her attention and give me a little rest.  We have Panasonic headphones, and I think they are great. They combat the Nexus overly-quiet headphone range beautifully.

One thing that might be good to have is a tray of some sort because the one on the airplane doesn't work with a carseat.

And those are all of the ideas that I found and used for our trip. I would say it was the most pleasant flight that I can remember taking with Claire.