I'm flying about 3 hours with my 1 year old at the end of the week and am last-minute trying to figure out some apps I can put on my ipad to keep her entertained on the plane for part of the flight. She's never used the ipad and doesn't usually watch screens except for skyping with family (which doesn't seem to hold her attention at all).
Any suggestions?
kiwi / 656 posts
A bit older than at peekaboo barn and bubbles were hits,as well as videos of himself.
persimmon / 1111 posts
Not what you're looking for, but my suggestion us don't rely on the iPad. If she's never used one, odds are she won't want to use it regardless of how cool of a game it is. I've gotten no more than 3 minutes of captivated baby on the 9 flights I've been on. Trust me, I've tried.
What works for us is getting plenty of exercise in the airport. We walk to the bathroom, fill up our water bottles, and explore the entire gate area. Then on the plane we snack (pouches, one cheerio at a time, mandarin oranges, and granola bars). Normally he's sound asleep by then. If not we play with the safety card and tray table. Next up is a touch and feel book. Then I bring out stickers and post it notes. Then we play with the snacks and cups they give out. Then go to the bathroom. Then repeat.
Good luck!
persimmon / 1095 posts
We tried this with our daughter who doesn't get screen time and it was a huge miss. She was frustrated and threw it.
nectarine / 2047 posts
We recently had some success with an app called drawing desk and also with baby bubbles. DS also enjoys watching videos of himself. Definitely figure out how to set up guided access so they aren't constantly exiting the app.
hostess / papaya / 10219 posts
Bubbles app? Nothing holds my 1yo's attention on a screen yet though... lots and lots of snacks were the only savior.
persimmon / 1479 posts
I second watching videos of themselves! DD also really likes these baby sign language videos on YouTube.
nectarine / 2262 posts
My 22 month old is also not into screens or anything at all, so apps and stuff were not a huge hit... BUT I found it sometimes bought us a few minutes here or there, which is sometimes all you need.
His #1 thing is videos of himself. We probably watched about 5 20 second video clips OVER AND OVER AND OVER again for 10-20 minutes. This was huge.
Others - I have an app called "baby toy" which is where you push pictures of animals and it makes the animal sound, they also have musical instruments and robots. He would play with that for a few minutes.
We also put some Elmo videos on and he would watch for like 1 minute at a time. So overall, kind of a fail, but helped a LITTLE.
6 months ago he wouldn't have cared about any of it.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I'm with the others who are suggesting you can the ipad idea. Take some toys that currently hold your child's attention. Then just plan on getting up and moving around a lot and doing a lot of apologizing to your seatmates when your kid flails around. 
Any chance you are flying at naptime?
cherry / 196 posts
@pollywog: I hear ya. I hope I'm pretty prepared with other ideas/activities, too. I was hoping to have something stocked up on the ipad for those times she's not hungry and has to stay in her seat. Right now she's learning to walk and it seems like the only thing that will hold her attention for any amount of time is walking around with someone holding her hand, which is... not an ideal plane activity. My thought was if all my other activities fail during takeoff/landing/food service, I'd have something ready to go on the ipad and give it a shot.
@peaches1038: @winter_wonder: @mrsads: good idea on the videos. I don't have too many loaded up on devices, so I'll try to stock up before we leave!
@mediagirl: the flight is right at naptime, which is not making me feel great about our prospects for a happy flying experience. DD is a champ at keeping herself awake in new environments, so I'm anticipating her being tired and cranky with a short attention span for the majority of the flight. Hopefully I'm planning for the worst, and she actually sleeps on schedule, or at least at some point during the flight, but I don't wanna bank on it.
cherry / 196 posts
@mrsbucky: @ms. rv: @travellingbee: thanks for the suggestions! I'm downloading a few to give them a go
apricot / 341 posts
What @MrsADS said about the videos of your baby! Somebody recommend this to us and I've tried it now and my son (just turned a year) will sit and watch videos of himself over and over when he has very little interest in other videos. We'll be flying across the US in Aug and I plan to load my kindle with videos of him!
The other thing that will entertain my son is the camera on selfie mode and he can watch himself and take photos. So that might be an idea for a few minutes at least!
apricot / 374 posts
My son LOVES puzzle apps! We use an Android tablet but there are probably iPad equivalents. We introduced them at 18 months while on a flight and he caught on quickly, although he borrowed our fingers to drag things for a while like a human stylus.
We used https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appquiz.Baby_Blocks and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.edubuzzkids.alphabetwoodenblocks
nectarine / 2047 posts
Oh, I forgot to mention that DS loved just punching numbers in the calculator app and also using the notes app with the emoji keyboard.
cherry / 196 posts
Just thought I'd update this with my experience in case it's of use to anyone. Flying went pretty well generally (not enough sleep, but when does that ever happen), and the apps I ended up using were actually a great success!
The bubbles app was a miss, but LO did pay attention to peek-a-zoo and baby flash card apps for a good 20 or 30 minutes on each flight. She also watched two 6 minute long baby einstein videos that I downloaded off Amazon, but was definitely at her limit with that by the end of the second one.
I got a few minutes of sitting still watching videos of herself, but that didn't go as well. I'm not sure she got that it was her. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, app related or otherwise, every little thing helped. 
pear / 1717 posts
Purchase movies on amazon prime, download them and BOOM! DS has flown twice, at 1 and 2 years old. This worked like a charm!
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