School's in!

Putting together an in-flight activity pack brought the teacher out in me. Probably because I am one.  I mean, if you actually thought about that… if it brought out the astrophysicist in me, the short one wouldn’t be thanking me!

Nonetheless, I digress…

An in-flight activity pack – a must-have for all flyers tots.  

When choosing items for such a pack, you should consider the following:

1. Is it too big?  (Takes up too much room in the bag)
2. Is it too small? (Choking hazard, easily lost, not designed for stubby toddler fingers)
3. Is it too heavy? (Consider weight limits on cabin luggage)
4. Will I be forever picking it up off the floor of the cabin? (Forget it if the answer is yes, unless of course you can staple it to your infant)
5. Is it too noisy? (Running the risk of severely annoying sleepy co-passengers ...again...still)
6. Will it require in-flight topping up, winding up, fixing, sharpening, gluing, inflating, charging, re-charging, re-aligning, re-booting, re-anything else?  (Perhaps reconsider – as you may tire of this before the travelling tot does)

So with that in mind, here is my short list of ideas.  All of these items by the way are new and unseen so the novelty factor remains.  They will be dolled out throughout the course of the flight in the vain hope that she remains engaged and amused!

1. Sewing or threading cards – lightweight cardboard pictures with holes to thread through
2. Sticker books – ideally books with reusable stickers on shiny gloss pages so they can create a variety of scenes over and over
3. Pocket libraries – these are great for book lovers – 6 mini books in a pack measuring only around 1 inch square
4. Wind up pencils – these are terrific, no need for sharpeners
5. Small scrap books – regular size guillotined in half is perfect
6. Packets of stickers – cheap, portable and endless fun
7. Foam activity packs – these are also cheap, light, portable and a fun activity – you will need glue though so remember the LGA restrictions
8. Mini-tub of play dough –  again you will need to check such items against your LGA restrictions
9. Mini-magnadoodles – I found one that is a key ring about two inches square
10. Cardboard cut outs for colouring - come in several designs - farm animals, little boy/girl, flowers, fish etc
11. Favourite soft toy/comfort doll – for obvious reasons

Well that’s about it, I think…that should keep her out of mischief for at least a couple of hours…now, just need to think about the other 20…