Good Videos for a 21 Month Old Toddler on Overseas Flight

My 16-month-old son loves Handy Manny, Go Diego Go, Imagination Movers, Winnie the Pooh (we used lots of these while potty training). He would watch Handy Manny and Go Diego Go OVER AND OVER AND OVER and not be sick of it. He also likes Finding Nemo (fish movie, he calls it) and 101 Dalmations (Gog movie) and any of those simpler little kid Disney movies. I bought Blue's Clues but he didn't seem too interested any more.

My son also likes to color and draw. I give him 1 or 2 crayons and remind him not to put them in his mouth and he will color his Handy Manny and Pooh coloring books (I picked them up at the dollar store...also used them for potty training times). I also just bought him the Crayola Color Wonder crayons because he was starting to color on the actual potty and I thought they would help that and they are actually pretty cool, though I don't like that the colors aren't exactly right (red is more maroon), but they might give him something else to do...they also have "finger paint" and "markers" as well! Pretty cool! Even just a plain notebook and a pencil or pen works well too.

Oh, and maybe pick up a travel size Doodle Pad (those are those ones with the pen attached with a magnet on the end and they draw and then they can erase it and start over. My son got one for Christmas from my parents and HE LOVES IT! You can find them at Target or Walmart in the toy section. There are bigger ones that come with other magnets, but those might be hard on the plane. I think they also have a travel-sized Aqua Doodle, which might be cool. The ages are a little older on the Aqua Doodle, Doodle Pad and Color Magic, but with supervision, they should be fine!!! Hope something helps!

Mine (a few months younger, but not too many) LOVES The Wonderpets, Imagination Movers, and The Wiggles.

My kids loved anything Elmo or Blue's Clues at that age. Also bring some color books and crayons, books to read to him. good luck

My little boy has love Elmo's World since he was 18 months. He is now two. He could watch it for hours! He also likes Curious George.

My son 22 months can't get enough of Blue's clues. I love it because it's educational and has taught him so much. Good luck, I honestly can't imagine taking him that far.

Baby einstien are great. I love signing time with my kids too. The episode first signs is a great place to start. Good luck with your flight. I would go to Italy in a heartbeat...I am so jealous!

My kids have always loved "Veggie Tales". My daughter especially loves "Little People" movies and will watch them over and over and over! Good luck on your trip. I'm sure you will be fine.

My son fell in love with "Finding Nemo" at about that age - couldn't get enough of it! And you can also find lot's of fish themed activities to go along with it (coloring books, toys, etc) and tie it all together. Good luck!

My daughter (18 months) LOVES Calliou, Barney and anything Elmo. Those could be fun for him. How about Thomas the Train or Bob the Builder, if he's more into "boy" videos. Although Calliou is about a little boy, but my daughter loves it anyway . . .

Our kids like the ones you mentioned. The Your Baby Can company has a lot of good things. Our 2 1/2 yo and 9 mo old are enraptured with both the reading program and the learning Italian program. Our oldest (5) even likes the reading program even though he can already read. The Italian program is really fun. Have fun in Italy? I'm jealous. :) I particularly like the areas between Venice and Florence. Hope your son does well!

Not a toy/video suggestion, but take something for him to eat or drink or at least chew on to help his ears deal with the pressure changes withing the cabin. It's harder on kids that grownups.

hi, I dont have any video advice for you, but I did want to tell you it really will go much better then you think it will. We traveled to Budapest with my 4 year old and 1 year old a few years ago and I was sooo worried about the flight. Both kids did awesome. I feel like you can just settle in and realize that you are going to be on the place for that long it is easier. I read what all the experts said on what to pack to entertain kids and I found the biggest problem was that I brought way way to much stuff. Since it is so crowded on a plane its not easy to always be reaching into a bag and digging around for the toys. I also realized wind up toys are a bad idea.... they sound like a ticking bomb, not what you want on an airplane! One thing you may want to bring, if your child is still in diapers are some plastic zip loc bags to put dirty diapers in so they don't smell up the airplane. Also we brought jammies and changed the boys after dinner so they felt the rhythm of the day regardless of being on the airplane. We left late afternoon and that made it easier since there was just a little time to settle into the plane and by the time it was getting boring they served us dinner and then we got the kids ready for bed. Your little one should also sleep quite a bit on the way over there so that will make it easy. My best advice is not to bring to much. And pack an extra set of clothes for your child and if you have room for yourself.... nothing worse then spending 11 hours covered in something sticky because your child spilled all over you. If you are traveling with out your childs other parent you may need proof that you can take the child out of the country with out them (I don't know what your situation is with the father, but I would hate for you to get to the airport and not leave because of some paperwork that you dont have)

Scholastic videos are wonderful! They have classic stories like Chicka, chicka, boom, boom, Goodnight Gorilla, The Snowy Day and so much more. Our other stanity savers on long plane rides are lots of snacks, treats and drinks! And then we also wrap up little presents they get to unwrap during the flight like stickers, coloring books, hot wheels and such. Good luck and have a great trip.

We LOVE the Baby Signing Time DVDs. They are wonderful and my daughter has been entranced by and in love with them since the first time she watched...and her signing skills are developing so much faster, too! You can see what there is at www.babysigningtime.com Good luck with your flight!

Elmo, Sesame Street, Barney, Teletubbies, Leap Frog Letter Factory- all have worked well with my kids at that age...

My son is 23 months old and shows little interest in movies for over 15-20 min. However, he will watch the Disney movie cars almost all the way through. I think it's the action and of course they are cars. Other than that when we took a family road trip books and toy cars seemed to work best, and different snacks in different shapes.

My son loves the Elmo Potty video, Madagascar 2, and also Dr. Horton Hears a Who. If your baby will wear headphone you might want to bring some because I often find it hard for my son to hear due to plane noise. Also bring an extra portable battery because some DVD players only last 2 hours.
Quick suggesstion about the seat arrangement; let the flight attendent know you are traveling with a baby when you get to the gate and sometimes they will make sure to seat you with no one in the middle. The only thing about that is if you picked seats you really like they sometimes have to reassign you to different ones. It was smart of you to pick an aisle and a window because often no one wants to reserve the middle seat. I'm not quite so sure this will work on an overseas flight because it nay be full but it is worth a try. Good luck!

Try "Kipper the Dog"

Blues Clues is awesome for that age group! My daughter LOVED Blue at that age, learned her colors and shapes with Blue! :) Also Bear in the Big Blue House was a HUGE favorite. She also actually loved Monsters Inc around the two year mark, LOVED IT! She wasn't one to watch much TV but Blues Clues and Bear were two shows she loved. Sesame Street has come cute videos too to keep them entertained and edcuate. My daughter watched Monsters Inc on a long drive to Oklahoma and LOVED seeing the little girl Boo in the movie and would just crack up with Sully and Mike, I mean full belly laughs. You know your son however on what he is able to get into.

Neither of my kids liked Baby Einstein, pretty boring in my opinion, more geared for infants with colors and sounds going on. You may be surprised and he will sleep a lot. I know anytime I flew with my kids they were asleep by the time we took off! :) Remember to have him sucking on something, straw, cup or lollipop during take off and landing! Have FUN! Italy sounds amazing!

My son was just a few months older when we flew to Hawaii. He stayed awake the whole time! He loved any Elmo dvd I could find. His favorite was "Potty Time with Elmo." I also downloaded children's music onto my ipod, which he loved. Finally, I brought some books and coloring supplies. I bought him a couple of new things to entertain him, and didn't let him open the packages until he was sitting quietly in his seat. He really liked playing with the buttons on the seat (volume, channel selector) Just make sure the flight attendant call button is not on the same panel! I rarely give my son candy, but brought a couple of dum-dum suckers to use as bribery tools. I'm not really proud of this, but it worked, and the people seated around us were relieved and surprised to have a quiet 2-year-old nearby

My son loved the Elmo's World dvds and Wiggles at that age. However, if you go with wiggles, make sure to get something with Greg as the yellow wiggle. He left the group about 2 years ago and has been replaced by Sam. The stuff with Sam is not as good.

We just took our toddler to Germany and her favorite thing to watch was a CD we put together of photographs--her, us, the family, etc. She loved watching herself and us. We also brought signing times, which was excellent because it's children like herself and she uses a lot of the signs. Lastly, we bought the many adventures of winnie the pooh (2007 from amazon--it's actually the 1977 version). This is nice because it's animated, but not computer animated so it's not too fast. It has fun songs and our daughter loves it. Good luck!

Hi A.,
Italy...lucky you! We took my son on an 11 hour flight at about that age. This is what was suggested to me by a child expert.

Get a new special bag only for your child, but don't let them see it until your on the way to the airport. We picked up and adult size back pack with wheels, so we could manage it through the airport.

Fill with all kinds of new things your child has never seen.
I hit the dollar store and got, little cars & trucks, books, playdough, pipe cleaners coloring books, little animals, finger puppets, etc.

Each thing, I put in a plastic bags so I could easily grab it.
Is your child into trucks or diggers. Those type of action videos might be good. At that age they don't really focus on a movie. Levin Productions has a few great one my son loves.
If you are taking a night flight, bring pajamas on the plane and I definately brought the car seat on the plane. This was a comfort thing for my son. he knew it was a place to sleep and would ask to get in it.

As far as the car seat, I bought a plate with wheels that attached to the car seat and it doubled as a stroller. I got some funny looks, but it was one less thing to carry. The plate was a little time consuming putting on and off,but well worth it.

To this day, that back pack is his favorite bag!

Have a fabulous time!

L.
www.DenverJuicePlus.com

Hi A.! Our kids have all loved the baby Einstein videos. They are short but captivating for kids.

Which airline are you taking? We traveled to Italy when my son was about 2 1/2. Alitalia Airlines had little activity boxes for children with games, colored pencils, coloring pages, etc. They also had individual TV screens on the back of every seat (not the screen above every couple of rows like most planes). They had several kids channels with a wide variety of movies, cartoons, etc. just for kids. My son thought it was AWESOME that he had his own TV and could choose whatever he wanted to watch.

As others have mentioned, we also created a backpack just for the trip that we filled with snacks, books (including a couple on airplanes), etc.

We traveled with my parents, and my dad was on the row behind us with an older couple. About halfway through the flight, my son wanted to go and see "Papa." When he went back, the couple was amazed that such a little guy had been on the row ahead of them! They had no idea he was there, he had been so good! I think all of the ideas you have here will help your little guy (and you!) have a similar stress-free experience. :) Good luck!

My 23 month old twins LOVE "The Wiggles". I just went to the library and checked a few out. They want to watch them all of the time.

Any video(s) you decide to use -- your baby is at the right age that they like to watch the same stuff over and over again. It might be a good idea to test out a few videos on him before the flight to find something he really likes. We used some sesame street song videos with my son when he was 1 for a drive to california and back in 2 days (30 hours of driving in 2 days). They really helped. Good luck on the flight.