You're going on vacation? Don't forget to pack some toys for the plane!
I don't know about you, but before I had kids, the only things I cared about before a flight were how many meals would be served on board, where the flight attendant was, and where my wine was. With two children in tow, I'm primarily interested in how long the flight takes, whether there's a bassinet on board for infants, and how much the seatbelts cost for the other passengers.
My daughter flew on a plane for the first time when she was two months old, and it was her best trip—she slept through the whole thing, including the security check at the airport.. Later, though, she stopped sleeping around the clock, and I had to come up with a few tricks to keep her occupied during the trip if she wasn't sleeping.
Stacking Tower
Before your trip, it's best to pick up a few new toys that your child won't see until they're on the plane. One such toy is the Janod Pyramid, which consists of 10 blocks stacked on top of one another. 10 blocks is just enough to keep a child occupied for half an hour—and that’s how many a parent will be able to find on the plane afterward. Just fold out the tray on the backrest, sit your child on your lap, and you're guaranteed a moment of peace.
Oogi Bongo Creative Toy
Oogi is a creative toy that consists of a head and two legs with suction cups. Thanks to the suction cups, a child can attach Oogi to a window, the seatback in front of them, or an armrest—but they won’t be able to attach it to the head of the passenger in front of them.
Oogi Bongo's cousin is Oogi Junior Glow. This model also has suction cups, is flexible, and you can use it to do the "dove" maneuver—plus, it glows in the dark! So if your flight is scheduled for the night or late evening, the Oogi Junior Glow will comfort your child, who might feel a little lost in the dark airplane.
Magnetic puzzles
If you have a child who loves conceptual play, they're sure to enjoy these puzzles. It's best to choose the magnetic ones, which won't fall off during turbulence and won't make you worry about losing them (in my opinion, all children's toys should have a piece of metal inside them. Every evening, I'd walk into my kids' room with a big magnet, and in a second, all their toys would be in one place.). Janod offers, for example, the “Happy Garden” magnetic puzzle, but if your little one isn’t planning on becoming an avid gardener, they can always become an avid angler with Janod’s “Happy Fish” magnetic puzzle ;).
Small toys
Small toys that a child can hold in their hand—and, for example, take with them when going to the bathroom or walking around the plane—also work well. One such toy is the wooden acrobat crocodile from Cubita. All of the crocodile's parts rotate; you can roll it across the carpet on an airplane, over tables, or along handrails. At this point, I advise against any musical toys—unless, of course, you also get a cardboard box along with the toy, which you can put over your head when the time comes.
Stickers
When someone asks me what to buy for my child, and I want it to be something small but that will make them happy, I always suggest stickers. Stickers on a plane are a lifesaver, but you have to make sure they’re the kind that can be peeled off without leaving any residue—and you have to keep in mind that peeling off the stickers is a job for the parent, not the flight crew. Stickers that we can safely give our child on a plane include, for example, the reusable "Owl on a Branch" decorative stickers from Roommates. The manufacturer does recommend them for decorating your home, but I think they'll look good on an airplane too—and most importantly, you can remove them without damaging either the airplane or the sticker.. This means that a child can use the 44 stickers in one pack, say, 3 times, which means they can stick them on 132 times—giving us at least a quarter of an hour of peace and quiet ;).