An airplane, a toddler, four different airports and nine hours of traveling time. Arghh! Or Ahhh? It sounded more like Argghh! to me.

So out of pure fear, I developed a game plan for my annual trip from Utah to Pennsylvania. A prepared parent is a calm parent; a prepared toddler is a calmer toddler. Here are the toddler learning activities I used to teach my child about flying — with a trip to the airport, books and an airplane game.

Airplanes can be a pretty scary experience for a young child. They're big, loud and strange for a little person. Making children more familiar with airplanes and the process of flying eases travel with toddlers and will help them remain more calm when the big trip day comes.

A Toddler Travel Trip to the Airport

A week and a half before our trip, my son and I took a trip to the local one-terminal airport. We watched the planes land and take off for at least a half hour. He talked about airplanes for the next several days. Of course, if your airport is far away or just plain huge, such an outing may be more trouble than it is worth. But if there is time, it’s not a bad idea to make the extra effort to familiarize your child with the airport.*

On the day of travel, getting tickets and bags checked is hectic enough without trying to control an adventurous toddler. If your kids have already explored the airport in a relaxed atmosphere, it may buy you a few stress-free moments later on.

Travel with Toddlers in the Airplane game

Make airplanes fun. I developed this short five to 10 minute game to help prepare my son for the initial boarding and takeoff. I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t work on test day. Barring a few difficult moments as he waved goodbye to his dad, the practice game worked its magic pretty well.

Here’s what you need:

  • A new child-sized backpack. This soon-to-be-familiar object will help ease the transition from game to reality. Later it can be filled with surprises for the trip.
  • An empty carry-on bag for you.
  • Two chairs placed by a window.
  • Some long pieces of cord or ribbon to use as seat belts. (Make sure you put these safely away between games, so your child can’t be accidentally strangled.)

Directions: Play daily for several days prior to your trip.

  1. Start by referring to your child’s new backpack as his “airplane backpack.” Tell him you are going to play an airplane game. (If your child does not already know what an airplane is, you may want to read some airplane books before you start the game.)
  2. Some distance from your chairs, get your carry-on bag and take your child’s hand. Start walking toward your chairs, but stop for the imaginary ticket-takers and security scanners.
  3. Once you get to your chairs, put your bags under your seats. Fasten your seat belts. (He may climb out the first time, but he will get it eventually if you persist).
  4. Sit still in your chairs for a few minutes.
  5. Tell your child the plane is going to take off flying in the air. Add sound effects, rattle his chair and tip it back a little.
  6. Level off. Talk about the things you would see out the window of an airplane for a few minutes.
  7. Land the plane with sound effects, chair rattling and tip forward.
  8. Remove your seat belts, get your bags and slowly make your way down the aisle and off the plane.

Believe it or not, my son was asking me to play the airplane game the next day, and on travel day he had some idea of what was coming as soon as I gave him his airplane backpack and told him we were going to go an a real plane.

* In our more security-conscious times, you may not be able to get close enough to a window to watch planes at a major airport. Only ticketed passengers are allowed in the terminal.

 

Rachelle Hughes is a freelance writer and mom in Cedar City, Utah.