We are planning a trip from Seattle to North Carolina with my 17 month old soon. Needless to say, I'm worried about how to keep her entertained. I have a laptop-sized bag filled with entertainment items and a list a mile long. If I can make each activity last an average of 15 minutes I should be fine. But I'm hoping to expand it so I still have some new items up my sleeve for the return trip. Here is what I have come up with.
Let's start with the "no extra packing required" section of my list.
- Animal Noises/Body Parts Quiz: This is a simple game. What does a cow say? Where are your ears? Etc.
- Open-Close Game: I started with game for long car rides where I wasn't driving. Open her arms wide saying "open," make her hug herself saying "closed," lift her arms above her head saying "up," and hold her arms at her sides saying "down." Repeat, drawing out the words at times, going fast at other times, mixing up the order. And then randomly throw in an armpit tickle during an open or up time. Rachel knows what is coming and will giggle before I've even tickled her and tries to resist the open and up times with a big grin on her face.
- Flying-Hiding Teddy: Rachel loves to "capture" her teddy bear between her legs and loves it even more when her teddy does the things she does. It is very funny when teddy reads a book, sucks on her pacifier, and plays peekaboo. Teddy flies in for a hug and kiss and then runs away to peek at her from behind mama's leg. You're only limited by your imagination.
- Yes-No Game: We've been trying to get Rachel to start answer yes and no to questions by nodding her head since she still isn't talking. We ask her questions she know the answer to like “Is this an elephant?” while holding up her bear. Then we giggle and say “No!” while shaking our heads. She likes to mimic the head shaking and I’m hoping soon she’ll actually answer the questions on her own.
- Where’s the Binky: Put her pacifier in one hand behind your back and then bring them out and have her guess which hand it is. Make a pattern such as every other hand and see if she catches on.
- Wave/Blow Kisses: Make friends with the people around us (that look friendly) by waving and blowing kisses at them.
- Twist-Zip-Fasten-Latch: Unscrew lids on empty water bottles, zip and unzip jackets, fasten and unfasten buttons, latch and unlatch seat belts, etc.
- Peek-a-boo: Pretty self explanatory. I like to mix it up by “kiss attaching” her, sticking my tongue out, or making an animal sound when I peek out. These get lots of giggles and her trying to pry my hands away from my face to make me peek out sooner.
- Walk the Aisle
- Skymall Magazine Scavenger Hunt: Seems like there is a puppy or kitty on every page of this magazine. I’ll have her find an animal or item she knows on each page.
- Thumbs Game: I’ve been trying to teach Rachel how to do a thumbs up sign. She inevitably makes an “L” shape with her pointer up and thumb out. But it lead to a fun game that simply consists of her pointing to each finger while I say “finger” and then her thumb while I say “thumb” in a deep or funny voice. She is very excited about the thumbs and spends an amazing amount of time happily labeling her fingers.
- Shoes: Have her practice taking her own shoes on and off, and tying and untying your shoes.
- Songs: Here are some of my personal favorites that get her involved.
- If You’re Happy and You Know It: I throw in anything I can think of. If you’re happy and you know it say “mama,” laugh out loud, clap your hands, touch your nose, hug your teddy, etc.
- Thumbkin
- Bears go Marching: Variation on Ants Go Marching where her teddy dances along
- Brush Your Teeth: Song from a library book sung to the tune of Do Your Ears Hang Low
- Isty Bitsy Spider
- Eyes, Nose, Finger, and Toes: Not exactly a song, but a rhyme from one of her Sesame Street books that I have memorized. It has her touching her toes, counting her eyes, sticking out her tongue, etc. No need to bring the book when it is memorized!
- Tear up Napkins/Wipes: You’re sure to have a few of these lying around for her destructive pleasure.
- Look out Window/Open-Close Blind
- Stack Empty Water Cups: Just like blocks, but you don’t have to bring them!
And now for the activities that involve some packing.
- I-Spy: Hide small things like buttons, dice, and coins in a clear ziplock bag (taped shut) with rice. I took a picture of all the items I put in the bag and printed it out to use a key and have her find specific things, or to have her match what she finds.
- Pass Things Through Slots: Rachel gave me this idea the other day when she stole her health insurance card from me. I traded her for my Petco and Petsmart cards since they had animals on them and were less concerning if she lost them. She was very excited about them. She grabbed my hand, deposited me in my closet, and then we proceeded to spend 20 minutes passing the cards to each other under the closet door. To make a travel version, I just cut slots through some old greeting cards and taped them together. You can fold it down to the size of a greeting card and then unfold it to make a screen with options of which slot to pass it through. This will naturally only work if you have a partner to hold her baby while you hold the screen between your seats.
- Portable DVD Player: I practiced a couple times with Rachel to see if I could get her to watch a cartoon with headphones. Mild success. I think she would watch a 24 minute episode of her favorite show (Blue’s Clues) with only removing the headphones a couple times
- Books: Rachel’s favorite activity. If only planes were more like flying libraries. I opted for the most light weight, wordy books she will tolerate. I also him them two weeks early so they will be “fresh” and purchased one or two new books per leg of the flight. I have six books for carry on and six to check and use on the return leg.
- Coloring: Rachel has discovered the wonder of crayons but we have to use a “messy mat” and tape paper to large pieces of cardboard to keep it from going everywhere. My solution is the “mess free” markers and special paper. I tried them out once before the flight and she was more interested in taking the caps on and off the markers. Whatever entertains her works for me! It was also a good opportunity to practice colors. My mom also found a coloring book where the colors just show up when you scratch it with a hard surface such as a finger nail or the little wooden stick it comes with.
- Wooden Puzzle
- Card Matching: I found some cards at the dollar store with numbers and colorful pictures of animals representing each number, though regular playing cards would probably work, but be less fun. Lay out a few cards at a time and have her find matches. I pre-sorted the cards into sets so there would be an even number of matches during each round of the game.
- Flash Cards: Also at the dollar store, I found some toddler level flash cards. Rachel can’t say what the object is yet, but she likes to spot the right object from a pile of them.
- Lotion: Rachel loves to put lotion on me and herself. Just watch out or she’ll try to eat it and tell you it is “nom nom.” I brought the baby night time lotion to hopefully make her calm and sleepier.
- Bottle: I’m hoping that a bottle might entice her to sleep, especially combined with the lotion above. (Works at home!) If not, the slow release nipple spreads the bottle out over 10 or 15 minutes and might help pop her ears with the sucking motion.
- Snack Time: I read a suggestion about extending snack time by challenging her to see how small of a bite she can take. I am going to try that, but it also make me think to take a small sand timer and teach her how to wait until all the sand runs out before she gets the next bit of snack. She has never seen a sand timer, so that in and of itself may be a fun novelty.
- Ice Cubes: I brought Rachel’s mesh bag from when she was learning to eat solids to put ice cubes in. We can have fun taking them out of the cups (after the water has been drunk, of course, or this could get mess quickly), sticking them in the bag and then sucking the water out. I’ve also read the suggestion to ask for a straw and have her try to stick it through the holes in the ice (as they usually serve).
- Sock Puppet: I have a spare set of closes of her including socks, so I might as well take advantage of those socks for entertainment.
- Teddy Dress Up: Another use for those spare clothes is to have her practice putting her clothes on teddy.
- Pipe Cleaners: I took a small piece of cardboard and hole punched a bunch holes in it for her to try putting pipe cleaners through.
- Yarn: I cut a ring with slots out of cardboard and tied some pieces of yarn to it. She can try winding the yarn around the cardboard into the slot and making patterns. Or I can try to teach her how to braid. It kind of looks like a jelly fish with all the yarn tentacles, so maybe it will just fly around her head. We’ll have to let our imagination guide us on this one.
- New Toy: I gift wrapped a new toy (squishy Easter chick ball that lights up if you’re interested) several layers of wrapping paper. Between trying to take the paper off and squishing the new toy, that should keep her little fingers busy for a while.
- Stickers: Rachel likes to move stickers from her clothes to mine and back again. I brought some paper in case that gets boring and to prevent her from sticking on airline chairs or something.
- Bendy Straw: Rachel loves to drink from “big girl” straws and will spend a long time drinking water, chewing on the straw, and trying to stick it in and out of the cup. This game obviously requires a diaper change shortly after and supervision to make sure the water isn’t spilled.
- Nail File: Rachel is adamantly opposed to having her nails trimmed, but doesn’t mind having them filed. I brought two because tiny fingers like to steal my files.
If anyone has other ideas, I would love to hear them! I’m planning another trip in September and might need some fresh games.
