Fun activities and busy bag when flying with a toddler

Little J was merely 5 months old when he first flew. Our first flight experience with him was a disaster. A memorable disaster. He cried sooooo loud a lady came forward to offer kind tips to help us calm him down. Both hubby and I were doubting ourselves for ignoring our parents' advice of not bringing him on-board. 

From that moment on, I never bat an eye lid or even turn my head towards any crying baby or toddler in a plane, and I would frown whenever I hear any of my friends make nasty remarks about crying babies in plane. You'll never have the empathy for them, not until you become a parent. 

Now that J is turning 3 year old. I am proud to say I have no regrets ever, for making him an early flyer. Not only it gave both hubby and I more confidence as a parent, we have also had amazing memories and experiences flying with him all across the globe. Many friends reminded me that he will never remember much of the trip. Yes I KNOW THAT! But I would! 

Despite the fact that he's quite well-behaved in planes now, and he usually nap if the flight time is in between noon to 4pm, I still make tonnes of preparations ahead. I must also emphasize that we do not need to rely on ipads, smart phones or anything of that nature for him, as yet, which I guess, would explains the need of these busy bag activities. 

I know a lot of you will be travelling over the coming months, I decided to share some of my fun and educational activities that kept J happy on a few hours plane journey. 

A new toy wrapped in a present paper (so the fun begins from the anticipation and the present unwrapping stage) 

My brother bought him a new airplane kit by Emirates that came together with an airport mat. The mat were too big to lay on the tray table in the plane, so I folded it in half. The plane, the vehicles and the mat were no doubt his 'highlight' of the trip. 

I made the game more educational by making laminated nomenclature cards for all the vehicles found in the kit. It was definitely a fun one as they are all the vehicles seen in an airport. 

Laminated tracing cards, marker pen and pom-pom as eraser

Make a book

I designed this sticker and 'make-a-book' activity by using stickers by Melissa and Dough. One of its theme was animals, so I have prepared so that he will be making a book about the animals that he will see at a zoo. We were going to visit the Singapore Zoo, so it was definitely a great idea for him to have a brief overview of all the animals we would be seeing. I printed the animals name on the paper and upon seeing the names, he would look for the animal from the sticker pad and stick it on the correct page.

More sticker workbooks (info from here)

Alphabet road tracks and his favorite vehicles

Printables from Gift of Curiosity.