Like every other thing associated with children, traveling with a child can be an arduous task, especially with one-year-olds. This age is usually a difficult age for parents. Now that you are planning to travel with your 1-year-old child on a plane, what’s next? This post will guide you on how to entertain a 1-year-old on a plane
1 year-olds are often overactive, disturbing, playful, and rough. Keeping them from disturbing or driving you is very difficult. A possible solution is to keep them strapped under the belt while the plane is on a flight, but how easy is this process? The baby might end up crying and calling on your attention, which might lead to increased disturbance.
The key to handling a 1-year-old while on a flight isn’t as complicated as one thinks. The key here is to keep it as simple as possible. You don’t have the luxury of carrying endless toys, books.
Moreover, there isn’t enough space for the baby to run around, running, and playing with them and throwing it at you. Most times, you have to carry the baby on your lap. We shall be looking at a comprehensive list of activities that can keep your babies entertained on a plane and not drive you around.
Table of Contents
Firstly, take a seat near the window or the aisle
Babies love to see pictures, and there is no doubt that it fancies them. Just looking outside the window can keep babies occupied for a few minutes. They can see everything under before the plane takes off. However, this activity only lasts for a few minutes because, after the plane take-off, the baby is back to square one.
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Before leaving, take assortments of toys along with you
Babies usually get bored with playing with just one toy. Throwing one toy and picking up another is their way of playing, and it often interests them. If you don’t have plenty of toys at home, you can get a dollar store toys before embarking.
Even after the baby destroys such toys during flight, you have achieved a mini-goal of keeping him busy.
Find a pair of sunglasses for them
Babies love to put things on. Buying a pair of sunglasses for them will keep them busy at least for the main time while they try to put it on and off. In the course of trying them on, they will play with it as much as they want even if it means breaking the hinges. Ensure you don’t b expensive sunglasses though!
Engage the baby with an iPad, DVD player or any other listening devices
In as much as patents hate to plug those earphones or earmuffs on the baby’s ears, listening to music or watching an animation movie will keep the child engrossed in the activity for a long time. It will go a long way in reducing their tantrum.
This activity is easily the best way to entertain a child on a plane. The sound of the show will make the baby cackle at any funny moment. Frequently, while watching, babies would love to put some shows of interest in repetition. The use of earphones or earmuffs will not go down too well for some babies as some one-year-olds are different from the others.
They react differently to the closeness of the sound. So it is left for the parent to decide which method of watching that Disney show will benefit the baby. Of course, except playing it on a speaker.
If the baby enjoys watching while the volume is on mute, that’s fine. If you are a parent and you hate your child coming in contact with a device, this method of entertainment might help you both on a plane.
The Use of a Toy Cell Phone
Toy cell phones can be a good companion for babies on a plane. Pushing the buttons and seeing the colorful light come on can be an excellent sight for them. Since they are small and offer a great play value, you can carry them along with your travel bag. One or two toy cell phones will keep the child busy for as long as possible before he finally falls asleep. Ensure the sound effects are not too loud to the extent it disturbs the next passenger.
Ensure you have plenty of snacks
Most times, the only way to shut a baby from crying is by introducing a snack to him. Snacks are essential, and it’s not something to be forgotten. Bites can keep the baby entertained for a long time. Snacks like Animal crackers are multipurpose. They are versatile in the sense that it can be eaten as a snack, and the box containing the snack can double as a play item for the baby. Consider taking snacks that can stay preserved over a long time.
Reading Books
You can bring along some activity books such as touch-and-feel books, lift-the-flap books. These books will entertain your baby for a certain period. Find sturdy books that are difficult to tear off because as the baby flip back and forth, the tab and some places in the picture can tear if the book isn’t sturdy. You can also load your iPad or tablets with some exciting books and have your child engrossed all through the flight.
Stacking Cups
Babies love this activity. Taking stacking cups on a flight trip will make an excellent toy for the baby. These cups can be stacked, nested, and clipped together to form a long caterpillar such as the munchkin caterpillar stacking cups. Besides, these stacking cups can be used as a bathing toy.
Nesting Toys
Like the stacking cups, babies love nesting toys. One-year-olds love putting little toys into bigger toys. Example of this is the put-and-peak birdhouse.
Point out things on a magazine
Reading and pointing our some pictures in a magazine to your baby is cool since babies love pictures. Give the baby a chance to do whatever he wants with the pictures (except eating it of course). Even if it means destroying it, you can always let him know that he has crushed an enemy or something.
Other activities/toys that can keep your child entertained are; doodle pad, play with the snake button, strapping them with a tray set like the Kids
Play-n-Go tray set and so on
Any entertaining activity you might want to introduce to your baby during the flight, ensure that you delay it as long as possible. Delaying it will make sure you have so much in store to handle their troubles and keep them out of boredom so that you can enjoy your flight.