How to entertain small children on a five-hour flight: a peek inside our carry-on bags

I recently took a trip with my kids, which involved two almost-cross-country flights. Although my kids typically don't have screen time (we actually don't even own a TV, or even a tablet), we make a special exception for air travel. When it comes to having to entertain a five and three-year-old on my own, for five hours, inside a sealed aluminum tube, with a couple hundred other people who most assuredly will not appreciate any loud expressions of displeasure or boredom, I'm pretty grateful for the distractions TV, movies, and games can provide.

So, you can imagine my dismay yesterday, when we boarded our flight and discovered that the brand new aircraft was not equipped with seat-back screens. The airline has recently moved to a system where you download an app before your flight, which allows you to access in-flight movies and games on your own mobile device. Given my aforementioned lack of a tablet, the only device I had was my iPhone. For various reasons that are irrelevant to this post, we don't let the kids play with our phones. Anyway, I only had one phone, not two, and wasn't about to start moderating the sharing of an iPhone for five hours.

Fortunately, I am a very strategic packer, and the lack of screens turned out to be no issue at all, because they had plenty of interesting stuff to occupy their minds and hands.

These are our three carry-on bags, packed and ready to go. Come and take a look inside. Maybe you'll find some ideas for your next flight with kids!

We'll begin with what's inside the large, black backpack (mine).

My bag mainly carries all the bulky, utilitarian things. I don't bring much to entertain myself, because flying with a five and three-year-old doesn't lend itself to leisure time. The first thing I pack is my laptop, which I actually never use in flight, but the airline prohibits laptops and certain other types of electronics in checked baggage. In any case, I'd never check-it because of the risk of it being stolen.

The smaller, black case contains a set of noise-cancelling headphones. I almost never get to watch a movie or listen to music when I'm travelling with the kids; nonetheless I pack my headphones with naive optimism :-)

Next, I pack an emergency wet-bag.

This bag contains a full change of clothes for each child, a few diapers or pull-ups, and a second wet-bag for storing any soiled items. Why do I pack diapers for my fully toilet trained children? Because if there's anything predictable about air travel, it's that it's often unpredictable. Turbulence, long queues for the toilets, kids suddenly deciding they have a bathroom emergency during landing, beverage carts blocking the way... There are so many situations where a kid wouldn't be able to make it to the toilet in time. Not to mention that a year ago, my then two-year-old was terrified of the airplane toilet and refused to use it. It would have been a disaster if I hadn't brought along a diaper for him to wear.

I also bring a small blanket for each child. Even though they won't normally sleep on the plane, blankets are essential. A blanket is an amazingly versatile item. It can be a comfort object, a seat cover for a dirty or wet seat, something to help them stay warm if they're chilly, a catcher of accidental body fluids (thank goodness we've never had that experience), or even a pillow for Mom.

I always pack lightweight jackets for everyone, as sometimes the cabin can be drafty. In a pinch, they can serve as a neck pillow, or even an emergency change of shirt. Plus, it's nice to have a jacket handy, in case it's raining or chilly at our destination.

Here is where I reveal my slightly OCD tendencies. Yes, I pack Lysol wipes, for wiping down the trays, arm rests and touch screens before we sit down. I don't bring the whole big container shown in this photo, but just tuck half a dozen into a Ziploc baggie. On the left are two garbage bags. I tie one to the tray table at the beginning of the flight, so we have somewhere quick and easy to tidy away our garbage, as it is generated. The blue clutch contains baby wipes (for wiping hands and faces after eating, or wiping up spills and messes), and the package on the right contains hand sanitizer wipes, for cleaning hands before having snacks.

Since my three-year-old's backpack is tiny, any of his stuff that won't fit in his pack goes into mine. Hence the books, magazine and stickers. I also bring some reading material for myself, and surprisingly, I did get some time to read on both flights!

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I pack snacks. In the case of air travel, I choose the types of snacks based on how tidily my kids will be able to consume them, and on how likely the snacks are to motivate them to keep quiet. Since they don't normally get to eat these kinds of packaged "snack foods" (except for the olives), these little snacks are highly motivating to them :-). I dole out small amounts of food every half hour. It gives the kids something to look forward to, and it gives me a break for five minutes while their mouths are occupied.

They were especially enamoured with the Smarties - their first time ever eating them!

Next up is my older son's carry-on. He's almost six, and loves to read and do puzzles. For him, I packed:

1. A small selection of novels (including a surprise new book, Captain Underpants);

2. A notebook for him to write, doodle, and put stickers in;

3. A book of puzzles, a book of mazes, and a travel version of his favourite board game, Othello;

4. Markers;

5. An empty water bottle (which we fill after passing through security;

6. Two favourite plush toys;

7. A set of headphones (which proved useless on our second, screen-free flight);

8. A couple of dollar-store knockoff Lego kits;

9. A fidget spinner, his chew necklace, and a Slinky; and

10. A bag of fuzzy pipe cleaners.

For the little guy, aged three, I packed:

1. An empty water bottle;

2. An airport sticker activity set (reusable vinyl stickers with two background scenes);

3. A paint-with-water activity book;

4. A three-colour package of Play-doh;

5. An anthology of "Frog and Toad" books "Owl at Home" stories (he loves these!);

6. A reusable alien sticker activity set;

7. Headphones (again, useless for the second flight);

8. Slinky, fidget spinner, and stretchy gummy frogs;

9. An early reading alphabet spinner (he's just learning to read, and thinks this is a great game); and

10. A couple of favourite plush toys.

How did it go? Swimmingly! They were fantastic. My older son started and finished his Captain Underpants book, wrote a letter to his grandmother, and did some mazes.

Why is this photo upside-down?

My younger son loved playing with the gummy frogs: stacking them into piles, stretching them, and spinning them around on his fidget spinner.

He was also greatly entertained with stickers.

Surprisingly, they spent the better part of an hour engaged in some imaginative play with their Slinkys and plush toys!

And we (er... I) decorated the motion sickness bags with face stickers :-)

Despite my initial worry that they would get bored without the electronic entertainment, the flight went about as smoothly as I could have ever wished. I'm definitely keeping these items on the list for our next flight!