With Tom playing professional baseball for many years and my family living halfway across the country, my kids have a ton of experience with flying. My oldest daughter went on 22 flights before she even turned one year old. Yea! Crazy! Just her and I, traveling the country. It was a blast! But needless to say, we travel all the time and I have quite a few tips and tricks up my sleeve for flying with kids. But most recently I’ve been concentrated on what to pack in my kids carry-on bag.
My FREE family style packing list can be found HERE.
As we all know, kids will try to bring everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink if we let them. But when it comes to flying with kids, I am a MAJOR minimalist. The less you can get by with, the better. So when I pack my kids carry-on bag I think about essentials, mess free, lightweight and attention grabbing. I have one MAJOR rule when I fly with my kids…if you can’t carry it, you can’t bring it! I absolutely will not carry anyone else’s bag through the airport since I’m always carrying the diaper bag and almost always wearing a baby.
For reference, my girls are 6 years old and 3 years old.
This is exactly what I pack in my kids carry-on bag:
Backpack: Each kid gets their own kid size backpack to carry. They each started with SkipHop backpacks and my oldest has progressed to a more “big girl” bag.
Gum: I always bring the kids gum to chew to help their ears. (sugar free of course)
One Small Lovey: One small lovey or stuffed animal is good for naps, layovers, or just comfort during a bumpy ride. But it must fit in the backpack.
Mess Free Drawing Board: These things are MAGIC! The kids draw and draw and then with the click of a button it erases! Be sure to grab one with a stylus attached to the board.
Blank Notepads: Bringing a notebook or sketch pad is clutch. I’ve found that my kids get bored with coloring books and they like the flexibility to write, or draw, or fill the pages with stickers.
Sticker books: Another (relatively) harmless activity that will keep them occupied for hours on a plane. Just takes a few reminders to keep the stickers ON. THE. PAPER.
Crayons: Have you ever looked over mid-flight and realized your child colored all over the WALL of the airplane with a black marker!! You know the phrase “you break it, you buy it.” YEA! Talk about a panic attack in the air! So we only do crayons now. And I put 10 crayons in a Ziploc bag for each kid. That should be more than enough color options but makes it easy for keeping up with them. I personally like the twistables better – they can’t be broken in half!
Amazon Fire Tablet: We are really big lovers of the Amazon fire tablet for our kids. Make sure you download a few shows or movies before your trip.
Volume Control Headphones: Love these headphones. The volume can only increase to a safe level for kids ears. But also because they can connect to each other. So if one tablet dies, they can both enjoy one device.
Tablet charger: Each kid has their own charging cord and I get a double charging cube so they charge side by side.
Sweatshirt: Each kid brings a sweatshirt for those frigid flights. Often they tie it around their waist or the top handle/hanging strap of their backpack.
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