Flying with children – What we take on a plane journey

I can confidently say that my children are well travelled. We usually fly to Spain a few times a year, so they know what to expect and they are pretty happy on a plane. As you read this we will be sunning ourselves in the Canary Islands, so I thought I’d do a post about flying with children and what we take on a plane journey.

My boys have a LittleLife trolley bag each. These bags are very cute, they are not huge inside, but so far they’ve done a good job for us.  I always make sure they boys have these things packed in their bags:

A few toys of their choice, so they can play with them whenever we get to our destination. They always take lot’s of toys that end up being ignored throughout the holiday

Portable DVD Players, you know the ones you put on the back of the headrest in the car. Each boy has one to avoid arguments. They can stand them upright  on the tray on the place, so they can watch whatever they want to.

A pouch with a few DVD’s, we try not too include too many, if we do, they just want to spend the whole flight changing discs.

We also take some crayons, a couple of packs each, nothing too fancy as we always leave some behind on the plane. Felt tips or marker pens are a no no for us when travelling, nothing worse than being confined to a small space for my son to try and colour the back of someone’s seat.

Magazines and colouring books, although now that my boys are a bit older, they are 6 & 4, they are not so interested in colouring on the plane. The pound shop or the book people are good places to pick up some cheap colouring or sticker books. If we get to the airport with plenty of time to spare I let them chose a magazine.

We also take some snacks with us. We try to give it to them mainly at take off and landing, which is when they are usually more excitable and they need calming down. We usually take something like digestive biscuits or something similar.

My boys are at an age now where they can be easily entertained with their DVD players and they don’t need much more to keep them busy. Flying is relatively smooth and not as stressful as it used to be.

What are you tips for flying with children?