Band-Aids (particularly the colorful ones) should occupy your toddler for an hour or so. Temporary tattoos are great too if you don't mind your kid being inked head to toe. You already have stickers but I've found that a huge variety of stickers in what would seem like an excessive quantity helps.

Stickers are great. Thrift stores are a treasure trove for tiny toys like matchbox cars, little dolls, etc. that can entertain a toddler for hours!

My 3-year old and I traveled to Tanzania and back (from Texas) and here were some of her favorites:
- mini magnetic doodle pad
- 3 plastic "princess dolls"
- magnetic "paper" dolls
- small puzzles
- my iPhone (sad, but true!)

Have fun!

matchbox cars, flash cards with pictures, finger puppets... fuzzy balls... even cotton balls... bendable pipe cleaners... I guess a little extra mess is better than a bored toddler on a plane!

I was given a cosmetic bag that I didn't need and I use it for car trips. It is only about 10"x5" and has three zippered compartments. I put different odd little things in there and it's like a little safari of discovery for a toddler. It could even be turned into a mystery game.

I don't recommend crayons on a plane, opt instead of the magnet drawing board. We once were on a flight and my eldest son, three at the time, dropped all his crayons and they rolled to the back of the plane. Ugh.

I like the idea of the pipe cleaners and cotton balls!

We always do books, the iPhone or iPod, a DVD player (not so much now that we have iphones), snacks, cars, and some surprises.

Colorforms are great, if you can find them. We also made use of those little magnetic story books/kits where you can arrange a scene with magnets. We had a Thomas the Tank Engine one, a pirate one, a robot one, etc.
(Like this: http://www.amazon.com/Mudpuppy-2139-7-Robots-Magnetic-Figures/dp/B002FO4KDC)

Crayola Model Magic (play doh that doesn't crumble) was a life saver in my last trip.

Try buying something new (like a small book) or a lightflash.

We like to make a scavenger hunt bingo game ahead of time. We can cater it to the time of year and type of trip. Items might be things like a tree with orange leaves, a blue truck, a black and white cow, a field of flowers, etc. We like to have stickers ready to cover items we've already found.

For plane travel, my daughter really liked her mini Doodle-Pro (an etch-a-sketch with a stylis instead of knobs). Big plus: the stylus is attached and she can erase and start over endlessly (no crayons to drop on the plane).

i also recommend keeping things in their original packaging, or wrapping them in tissue paper. it might sound petty, but that occupies them for another couple of minutes. and quiet minutes add up!

These are all great suggestions!! thanks!

The dollar store, Micheal's, and Target dollar spot are great places to look. I have a plane bag, a restaurant bag, and a church bag. The things inside are only played with at those locations so they are new every time! We have dollar spot books, coloring books (never had a problem with the crayons), play clay, stickers, an old cell phone, flash cards, mini dry erase boards (that are also magnetic), mini etch-a-sketch, snacks (ones we don't normally buy so they are novel), ziploc of letters (I have sets that are printed on cardboard), etc. I don't put all the same things in each bag so there is some variety. I sometimes do two airplane bags, one for the ride there and one for the ride back. Good luck!

We fly about every other month with our two year old and three year old, and I always hit the dollar store for some new surprises before we leave. Each kid has their own backpack that I load up for them (I have to buy two of everything to avoid fights). The mini-MagnaDoodle is perfect, and I love Color Wonder markers for trips since they don't make a mess. Also, those silly bands? For some reason the kids LOVE them, and you can buy a pack for a buck, so I buy up as many different kinds as I can - the kids will play with them and make up stories about the different shapes and match them by color/shape/etc. I've also made a little picture book for each child with a little plastic photo album - I take pictures of the house, backyard, car, whatever, and close-up shots of me, my husband, relatives, their teachers, etc, making silly faces or whatnot so that the kids can flip through and see people and things they know. And when in doubt, suckers and gum will almost always keep them happy. :)

@rachida. That's pretty much what's in my travel bag!
Gotta love the little magnadoodle! A stuffie & a few small dolls are great

You can melt broken crayons and re-mold them in something like a muffin tin or ice cube tray, etc. This makes them easy for kids to hold and non-rollable, which is perfect for travel.

For our summer road trip, we packed small "presents" for our 2 year old to open along the way to keep him occupied (wrapping the items individually adds that much more excitement/diversion for simple little things. Some of our favorites: stickers with an empty toilet paper cardboard roll to stick them on, a dinosaur figurine,matchbox cars, and lacing cards.

If you are flying, I recommend getting the CARES instead of a car seat. It is less bulky and also lets your toddler use the tray table. We had great luck with some duplo blocks and a base plate.

I really don't like a lot of junk, to carry or to deal with during the flight, so I stay away from anything that is flimsy or has lots of small pieces. I've never wrapped anything because of the junk issue but I do pull things out one at a time to prolong the excitement.

I like keeping a small bag that zips for all of the small toys to fit in. Inside these days I keep about 10 Memory matches in a snack ziplock, a couple of Matchbox cars and a some small planes. Also a couple of small goodies like a mushroom shaped magnifier to look through (Plan Toys) and maybe tiny tiny tubs of play dough. We also have a ton of small stickers and a little notepad to put them in, color on, etc.

We also bring several favorite books (paperback) or a large hardback book treasury. We're big readers and the pictures can be enjoyed by our son (now four) even if we're not reading them. The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury is our favorite as it has several reading levels, new favorites and classics. http://preview.tinyurl.com/369nsft

Crayola makes triangle crayons which solves the rolling problem someone mentioned above. We've never lost one though they do get dropped on the floor occasionally.

The mini magnadoodle works for a little bit they're kind of bulky space wise and but my son much prefers the Color Wonder markers and paper that Crayola makes. They're only work on each other, so you don't have to worry about the seat backs, hands, or when the pens inevitably touch someone's clothes.

Another vote for the mini doodle with attached stylus -- daughter loves it -- but we also brought the Crayola Color Wonder markers & paper, b/c we were staying at a friends lovely beach house in Hawaii with all...white...upholstery. It was a godsend, and the pictures she drew on vacation were fun to send back to grandma, etc.

When I was a nanny, I packed for plane trips all the time. Here are my Go To items:

Band-Aids (really - kids love them)
Etch-a-Sketch
Crayons (washable)
Notepad
Coloring Books
Clean T-shirt & Undies (ya never know)
iPod (if possible, with appropriate music)
Lovie (stuffed anilmal, blankie, etc.)
Snacks!!!
Board Books

An activity style coloring book. It has simple word searches, different things to color, spot the difference activities, blank pages for drawing etc.

I got this tip from my sister: bubbles. Especially when your child is behaving, but the other child on a plane needs a distraction, having a small bubbles bottle can truly make travel easier for everyone. I find that the wedding favors bubbles work very well, often better than the bubbles marketed for children.

If it's a car trip where I'm driving by myself with my 2-year-old, I eliminate anything that he could try to eat or smush into his car seat, or make any sort of mess. He invents new ways to make messes when I can't supervise!

Beyond that, it always helps if it's something he's never seen before, whether it's a book, a toy, or whatever.

>Funny slippers: you can squish the soft ones into a tiny bag.
>Window stickers: removable, see-through stickers that go on the window to make pictures/scenes. I found a dollhouse set at Big Lots once!
>Lacing game: you can get cards with pictures or you can make one yourself.
>Silent movies: this doesn't take any space; if you're flying and there's a personal tv/screen for everyone, put on an age-appropriate show your kid's never seen before then make up dialogue on your own.
>Earphones: be sure to get kids a pair that won't harm their hearing. We use Mad Catz AirDrives for kids - they're worn outside the ear so sound travels naturally.
>Slideshow: load some photos either from your trip or old stuff on your mp3 player/smartphone and let them look at it over and over.
>Flap/pop-up books: just find the book with the most pop-ups/flaps.
>Post-cards: find ones with forms of transportation or maps on them for your kid to write/draw a note on while you travel, get some more at your destination for the trip home. Get some cool stamps too.
>Something new: seriously, anything will be good if you have a small child, we gave our 1st daughter a pair of colored socks once and it kept her happy for AN HOUR on the flight home while she stared at her feet. Hairclips, breathe right strips (boys thought they were funny), wind-up butterfly/robot (things that hop or flip are annoying to others), tiny binoculars, tiny magnifying glass, sunglasses, squiggly straws, fold-up/collapsible kiddie utensils, mommy's new magazine - it doesn't have to be a toy. And don't worry if it's not the right "time" - let them play with the utensils and blow in the straws even if it's not mealtime. Of course, they will probably spit through the straws too, just try to keep the spit in the family I guess. :)

We always bring masking tape and popsicle sticks. The kids made amazing creations for hours upon end and then ripped them all up and started over. Plus it's cheap.

As a former flight attendant (9 years) and a current mom to a toddler, these are all great tips! However, can I please say, "No Bubbles". It's supremely rude to the other passengers. Also- please bring headphones. You wouldn't believe how many people blast their kid's movie. I got some of those big ones for my 1 year old, they cover her whole ear and she loves them, smaller ear buds are hard for most kids. And please don't let your kids put the stickers on the plane. Bring paper or coloring books, or even use the SkyMall magazines. Again, you would be surprised at how many times we had to scrape stickers off of tray tables and windows. Remember the other "little people" who have to clean it all up. Good luck!

For a young toddler, I recommend a large yogurt tub with different size/shape holes cut in the lid (slot, circle, triangle, square). Inside that, put a mesh bag like what you get oranges in at the store, run a ribbon through for a drawstring, and put in some assorted sizes of craft pompoms, pennies, pipe cleaners, triangular or square blocks, ribbons or bits of yarn, wine corks, or other small items that you don't care about losing if they can't be retrieved from the floor of the plane. They can spend HOURS putting the objects through the slots into the container, putting them in/out of the net bag and the refuse bag in the seat pocket, sorting items by color or shape.

We also picked up a set of flashcards with Landmarks of the World at Target for $1. They are great story/conversation starters with the 3 year old, and he recognized the Taj Mahal when he saw it in another context weeks after we'd been looking at the cards.

And Magnadoodle has been our MVP for the last 3 long car trips we've taken. No home should be without one, seriously.

Now if somebody can tell me how to keep a squirmy, mobile 13 month old lap child happy, we'll be in business for our holiday travel!

i love revisiting this topic - i always get fresh, new ideas from everyone else. i tried to bring small tubs of playdoh on the plane a little while back, and they confiscated them!

recently we've discovered "wiki sticks" which are thin sticks made of wax. they work like pipe cleaners, but you can straighten them out and reuse them repeatedly. we also like to load stories up on our ipod. my kindergartener's into charlotte's web now, but we've also really enjoyed peter and the wolf and bill harley.

In response to kcparker regarding the 13month old, my baby is 15 months. For a cross country flight last week, we broke down and bought a portable dvd player then brought along HBO's classical baby and Winnie the Pooh. What a difference! She still fussed some about having to sit still, but we had good long stretches were she was satisfied watching her videos.