Recently we took our 4 kids, (9 yrs, 4 yrs, 18 months, and 3 months), on a trip to visit family. The trip included 6 hours on a plane, including a 2 hour layover in between flights. I was desperate to find activities for my 18 month old.  I went to the wonderful world of Pinterest to search for genius ideas on how to fly with toddlers, as well as asking advice from friends and family.

First- this was one of our FAVORITES!  Super simple and inexpensive.  I purchased fun buttons and a sandwich container.  I cut a hole large enough for the buttons and kept the buttons in a bag in the container to pull out when we were ready to play.   He loved placing the buttons in the hole and this activity saved us from a few melt downs.

I found this activity at a local book store.  It came with many different color shoe laces and a few different boards to thread.   While my 18 month old didn’t quite enjoy this like I thought,  my four-year old loved it.

This was the best one yet!   My friend had this in her church bag and when I saw it I knew I needed it as well.    This was super simple and an ingenious idea.

Take a spice jar with the larger holes on top, and cut pipe cleaners to fit the length of the jar.

  My 18 month old loved this.  He would pull out all the pipe cleaners and put them in one by one.

Last but not least, this snack kit that I found on Pinterest was awesome.  Even the flight attendants stopped to look at them and commented that they wanted some for themselves on long flights.

  

I packed a few sweet snacks but tried to keep it healthier by packing crackers, jerky, nuts, and granola bars.   You want more high protein snacks to help have fewer melt-downs.

Since our trip I have used these ideas at church and it has helped tremendously to keep my little ones quiet and entertained.

What things have you tried?