Long flight activities - 2 1/2 year old edition

It's that time of year again. I ALWAYS have tons of ideas of things I want to make in my head, but daily life takes so much time, so they rarely happen. But then I realize I am about to be stuck on a plane for 12 hours with a 2 1/2 year old, so suddenly I find the time (or just stay up late!). Most of these ideas aren't my own - pinterest has come in very handy. I thought I would share the ideas, though, in case anyone else can use them for times an active toddler needs to be still...

 Wrote the ABCs on a plate (front and back) and on the dot stickers you can buy as office supplies. I also made a plate with numbers and shapes. Hadassah loves matching things at this age.

 Hadassah enjoyed helping make this one. She stuck the stickers on popsicle sticks and I'll have her put the corresponding color pompoms on them. It's harder than you'd think to get them balanced!

 These popsicle sticks are to find the match to make shapes.

 She's enjoying playdough more, so I'm bringing a container along with some wax paper (this particular brand is very sticky, so the paper helps it not stick to the tray). I'll be buying more cream of tartar state-side, as I much prefer the homemade recipe (though have failed at every recipe I've tried without cream of tartar!). I also made some shapes on some papers, to see if she wants to press the dough into the shape, and am bringing some toothpicks and small cookie cutters to play with too.

 This is likely a one-time use activity, but if it uses even 5 minutes it can be worth it! It's a pompom drop to match the colors to the holes. The idea was to punch holes in a tupperware type container but I found the plastic in mine too tough to pierce, so used a paper cup...

 These foam sticker pictures are quite cheap of Taobao, so while she needs some help placing them in the right spots, she enjoys it! And we are stuck side by side for hours on end, so help will be fine. :)

 Cut large plastic straws into beads to tread the right colors on the corresponding color pipe cleaner.

 A felt rainbow chain. One idea I saw was to do buttons and button holes instead of velcro, but 1) that would be a bit advanced for Hadassah and 2) I can't imagine sewing on that many buttons! Just peeling the backs off of the sticky velcro was boring enough. ;)

 I am not a perfectionist or an amazing artist. But these little popsicle stick dolls of our family will probably make my daughter happy. :) And ignore the heights of each person, I got them all pretty off scale! ;)

 I've been saving this sticker book for a while, as I found it on Taobao a few months ago. Will make riding on an airplane while doing it all the more fun!

And yes, notice a theme? She loves stickers all the time (we have four other sticker books of random things a friend gave us to bring along!) and popsicle sticks are SMALL so I looked for as many activities with them as I could!

Case in point. :) She's not as crazy about puzzles as she was for a few months, but these will be a new type, so we'll see how she likes them. :)

 Hadassah is getting more imaginative, so I gave her felt dolls a lot more outfits. That way we can pretend they're going to church, or having a party, or going swimming, or wearing pjs, or whatever... It's fun to see her story imagination grow! And I could make felt doll outfits for hours quite happily...

I also made a felt farm. :) There are some felt books my mom passed on that I loved playing with as a child, but they're a little bulky. I wanted to make her activity bag as small as I could, so made my own little things to play with. Again far from perfect, but I had fun!

Other things in her bag:

• Coloring book and crayons
• More random stickers
• about 15 small, thin paperback books
• A new "Water Wow" coloring pad (they're great for this age!)
• her beloved stuffed animal "Travel Puppy"
• Her stuffed sleeping companion lamb

Water cup and plenty of snacks are in another carry on. I think we're ready! And while she may not do all of these activities on the plane, I've finally gotten some ideas in my head made (though there's way more I want to do some day!) and if nothing else this gives our quiet time church activities some more pizzaz!

Each time our carry ons have gotten smaller. I'm getting smarter at packing. And realizing she doesn't need a ton, just the favorites. Like our first flight back from the states I brought her lamb, her bear, her singing dog, and I think even more stuffed animals. Now I've realized just her two favorites are all she needs...

Prayer that we make all connections and our luggage does too is appreciated! And for patience and peace for the girls, as their sleeping will be wacky and Ryan and I will likely be running on no sleep for 30+ hours...