Well, in a few days the girls and I are flying back east to visit my mom. Dea has been packed for the trip since last week! Needless to say, we're stoked to be heading toward actual Summer weather! Rippin hot and humid? I'll take it for a couple weeks!!! This has been the coldest summer in Alaska on record. Chilly, rainy, misty and foggy. I SWEAR it's bringing out the bears. We had a grizzly in the driveway on Friday and there was the black bear on the back deck yesterday morning. Along with a couple more black bear sightings by the neighbors. Niko's girlfriend-dog from down the street came by for a visit wearing bear bells!
~sigh~
So OFF WE GO! We are taking the red eye from Anchorage-which is perfect-we all sleep. But my dilemma is this: Coming back home to AK, we'll be taking a grueling 7 hr flight out of Michigan.
DOES ANYONE HAVE SOME GREAT IDEAS FOR ENTERTAINING A 4 AND 13 YEAR OLD ON A LOOOOOOOOONG FLIGHT!?!?!?!?!??!
Dea does fine on flights-so does Lo, for that matter, and for her age-but Lo is of more concern. 7 hours without exercise....OI! Leave your great ideas and I'll draw a name next Monday as a winner! Winner gets a CHEESY *schmunsky prize from NEW YORK CITY!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
And I THANK you in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Schmunsky-Low in price and probably kinda useless. But fun none the less!!!
16 comments:
How about some really cool hip magazines for Dea like Seventeen Mag. (of course I haven't seen that mag. in a long time so maybe it's not such a good choice.)
We love to play "create a creature drawing game" when we have to sit still a long time.
On a pad a paper, one person starts out drawing a part of the creature. Say the head, then you pass it to the next person and they add one part to the creature, and then the next person and around and around it goes. It's fun to see what becomes of it with a bit of every-one's imagination added to it. You can do different version of this, say a cat or what ever.
Tracing hands a decorating them is also fun! Ummm....some farting puddy would be great fun! lol...
Have fun with Grandma and in New York City! Lucky!!!
For any long trip or appointment we just have things that are new and interesting. Little cameras, magazines, books, journal with special new pencils/markers (tracing paper is good to stick in the notebooks too), small travel games (haba has several), card games or mini puzzles. Oh, and puppets. A silk makes a great 'stage' and a few puppets (finger puppets are small enough to pack) are fun - we even take turns. One person starts the story...and each person takes over the puppet show and has to continue where the other person left off.
We also usually take things like the ipod with headphones, a digital voice recorder with playback (hours of fun, I tell ya). Taking pictures seems to make things go better too - even little ones love taking photos and seeing them. There are now the small use digital cameras that are good for things like that.
Good luck. Sounds like a fun trip - post lots of photos! :)
I hope you have a great trip. How cool...New York City! My daughter had fun playing with modeling beeswax for a long time on our last plane trip.
Wow guys! I love the ideas of a group game that each person can add their own flair to!
And Denise, I bet we could get some crazy video shot on that plane! Fun to watch for years to come!!!
We'll definitly have to bring along some kind of modeling something-or-other! Fart putty! That'll go over swell with the other passengers!!!!
Darn, I have no time to try to meet up with you in NYC! It has been hot and muggy like crazy here, you will love it.
I think it would be completely insane if I won a prize from NYC, since I live right nearby, but still...when we fly cross country, each of my kids gets a backpack filled with stuff they pretty much haven't seen before. Coloring books, sticker books, those little magnetic scenes, funky gel pens, etc. My kids love office supplies :) For our upcoming cross-country drive (not just a plane flight: it's FIVE DAYS) I got my son (almost 6 yo) one of those metal potholder looms. Hopefully he'll really dig that.
We pretty much abandon our Waldorf principles in the interest of surviving 6-10 hours of airports and airplanes: we let the kids watch the movie (if it's at all appropriate, and now they have TV shows as well, it's terrible), we give them the aforementioned coloring books, etc. that are not Waldorf in the least. That makes it all so interesting that they are pretty chill the whole time, even if they can't run around.
And, snacks. Tiny things like raisins, nuts, little pretzels, etc. that take a while to eat and are fun. And we abandon the diet we usually try to follow as well!
God, this makes us sound like totally craven parents. But, I have to say, it does work for us.
Anthromama! hey, I'll do what it takes on a 7 hr flight where everyone is jammed packed like sardines! I think I'll teach Lo those "seated" exercises they tell you to do to prevent blood clots!
I'm thinking of also renting a dvd player-at least I can control what she watches-for a last minute back up.
I didn't realize you were close to NYC!!!! Too bad we couldn't meet up :(
It's me that has a hard time sitting still that long. Course if it were just me oh the knitting and reading I could get done and some sleep! Oh yeah your sitting, cross of sleep.
I laughed about anthromama talking about abandoning Waldorf principles to survive. I hear that!
Toby went to art school in NY city and loved it. I have never been.
OK, my ideas...I have none! lol I just don't plan like that. I like the new game ideas. Me, I just make fun where ever we are. I could entertain kis with the barf bag for hours and I would for sure be making collages from the inflight mags. Face painting, hairbraiding, cartoon reading. I'd skip the electronics, but that's just me, they weigh me down.
Hmmm...We use to fly and don't any more, I don't miss it! lol
It seems the weather this year is bringing bears and mosquitoes.
Have a good trip!!
Oh what fun! I miss NYC.....
How about a small gift for each girl for each hour you will be on the plane? Wrap them all up in fun paper, and they can each unwrap one per hour to give them something to look forward to and keep them busy. Magazines, an unusual snack, a simple game, word puzzles, an Archie comic book, etc...
Have fun and take lots of photos!
Have a GREAT trip! Keep us posted.
Our three year old has 43 flights under her belt and several of them are 12+ hours. A bag of surprises that they have never seen before you hand them out are always winners. Little things that hopefully each occupy about 30 min being explored. Little fixed piece sliding puzzles, a knitting cone (where they lift the yarn over the previous loop to make a long cord), little matchbox cars, polly pockets, new coloring books and fancy pencils and pens. A cookie sheet tucked in the back of your carry on with raised sides (doesn't need to be the large size, go for the small size) holds everything on the drop down tray or better yet, you can avoid the drop down tray all together which helps the person in front of you stay sane. A tiny DVD player and NEW unseen DVDS....and cheap headset so they can plug into the airplane sound system and switch the channels themselves. Don't forget a pice of duct tape to cover the flight attendant call bell on the little one's armrest...my three year old can push that l0x in an hour without me noticing. REALLY pisses off the FAs. And finally FOOD snacks that they love but maybe don't get at home. Make sure they aren't messy, sticky or crumbly. Oyster crackers, fruit leather, pringles, payday bars. It works.
Safe travels,
Jill
Cool! I laughed at your comment (partly to me) at Anet's, so I had to come see you for myself. Anyone who worships me deserves a visit.
Oh, I'm jealous - my daughter lives in NYC, and I wish I were going. But at least she's coming here to MI next week.
Also, the ideas in the comments are great, and let me add my two cents. When we moved to Istanbul, the kids were 4 and 5, and let me tell you that was a long flight too, or was it two flights. Well, my mom gave the kids several cards to be opened at intervals. So my idea to you is to have the stuff you want to take - generated from these ideas and your own - and have them marked with specific times and places on them: TO BE OPENED at _____ o'clock or in the air over _________.
Also, having a map of your route can be fun (course they have those on the plane too).
Oooh! Have fun in NY and soak up that warmth while you are there. For long trips we do the DVD thing. I cannot sleep at all on a plane, so I usually bring a good book. One thing I did ojnce on a long trip was teach myself to knit. I got half a scarf done by the time I got there-woo hoo! Does LO know finger knitting? If not, there are some tutorials out there. She could also make yarn dolls to play with or do a little felt doll with simple stitching.Hmmm...will they allow knitting needles on a plane? Maybe wooden ones? Crochet hooks? Maybe one of those circle knitters would be ok.
Alternately a felt board and some dyed wool roving is fun to make pictures with.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by my blog. Good to "meet" another Alaska mom.
When we travel we can't live without AUDIO BOOKS! Our family (of7) used to travel a lot, 16 hour drives to Idaho from AZ and back. We love listening to new stories. One of our favorites is The Quigleys by Simon Mason. Minuture water color palettes are great as well as Wiki sticks.
hth, Tracie
My sugar pies have logged many airplane hours over the years and I find that it is always great, like many of the other ladies suggested, to have games/books/toys/movies that the kids haven't seen before. This summer my nine year old loved the string games book (Cat's Cradle) that I purchased for the trip. My husband has used the barf bags to make puppets, we usually take a variety of card games (Rat-a-tat-cat is a great one) and small toys and LOTS of snacks. We took cut up fruit in a container, trail mix, yogurt, and bagels with packets of cream cheese. Safe travels!
HI,
I've done numerous flights to New York ( from Los Angeles) and to the UK which can be a gruelling 12 hours flight. My kids are not allowed video games etc so we use many old fashioned games with en and paper, hangman, dots and squares, card games and I always have new little (quiet) toys, puzzles or books to surprise them! Lots of healthy snacks help but I think that peanut products may be disallowed now.
have a lovely trip!
Wow, bears in your driveway; sounds like Calgary this year! and it's a big city; I don't know where they are coming from. Unfortunately the wildlife people tend to kill them when they enter the city like that. I hope you have an amazing trip and a great time. You lucky girl!
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