Family Travel & Vacations Blog

How to Handle Being Stranded in an Airport with Cranky Kids

Traveling with children is never easy however it can be made easier by keeping a few tips in mind. One issue which often arises is the stranding of one in an airport with cranky kids. The good news is that there are ways to handle this situation should it arise.

Have Snacks on Hand

One of the main reasons why kids become cranky is that they are hungry. If you find yourself stranded at the airport, try to make sure you have snacks on hand. Some parents will travel with a plethora of snacks to pacify the hungry little ones. If you find that you don’t have snacks packed, simply head down to the snack bar and pick up some healthy snacks for the kids. This will not only ease the crankiness by easing their hunger but it will also use up some time as well.

Entertainment

Another tip for easing the crankiness when stranded at an airport with kids is to have enough entertainment on hand for all to enjoy. Things such as coloring books, reading books, games, word searches and I-Spy games will all do the trick. These entertainment items should pass the time and ease the crankiness.

Pull Out a Map

An additional tip for making the time stranded at an airport much easier on the kids is to talk about where you are going or where you have been. If you have a map, pull it out and show the kids exactly where you were or where you are headed. Doing so will pass the time wonderfully.

Watch the Planes

Most airports have extremely large windows in the terminals. This is the perfect spot for watching people board planes as well as watching the airplanes take off and land. In addition to the planes, the children may also love watching the luggage cars zipping around the airport.

Listen to Music

If you have a walkman or mp3 player on hand, listening to music is another way to pacify the kids. Hopefully you can listen to some kid’s music as this often puts a smile on the faces of the little kids.

Put Your Cell Phone to Good Use

You can also make the time go faster by putting your cell phone to good use. Call up family members who are not traveling with you and put the kids on the phone with them. This will entertain the children and make their time stranded at the airport go much faster.

Make Up Games to Play with Your Children in the Airport

If you are stranded in the airport for a long period of time, you are going to run out of things to do pretty quickly. Lucky for you, airports are huge places with a lot of places that your kids haven’t seen before. Make up games to keep your children happy during this long period of time. However, NEVER PLAY HIDE AND SEEK IN AN AIRPORT. You will need to keep an eye on your children at all times so don’t play anything that will take your eyes off of them. You never know what sort of predators are hanging out in the airport. Kids love jumping from square tile to square tile, and I bet you can make up a ton of games from this simple idea. There are also flat escalators that your kids will love to go back and forth on. There probably will be abstract sculptures that have dual purposes…one is aesthetics and the other one is for kids to climb on. There are tons of games to make up in the airport, just make sure to keep them all safe.

Let Your Kids Play with Pay Telephones (Just This Once)

You are in extraordinary circumstances that hopefully will never happen to you again. You need to keep your young children and toddlers busy for a long period of time in an airport. If you see an entire row of pay telephones and only one or two are in use, what is the harm to let your child play on the pay telephones. If you have extra minutes on your cell phone plan, call the number on the pay telephone and let your child pick it up and speak to you. He or she will LOVE this games and probably will tell you that it was their favorite part of the entire vacation. If you don’t have a cell phone, they can still have a good time playing with the telephone. Just remember to hit the hang up button every few seconds to make sure that they don’t call anyone.

Go Shopping with Your Kids in the Airport Stores. Buy Them a Special Gift.

The airport is filled with specialty shops. If you have extra money that you have in your budget to spend, then take your kids shopping. Help your child find a special toy or game that will keep them busy for a long time.

Take Out Your Wallet and Let Your Children Play With Your Change



Take a lot of change with you when you are on vacation. Change always comes in handy for vending machines, coin operated items such as phones, tolls, and other things that you might have to pay for with change. So, if you follow this rule, then you probably have a LOT of change. Take it out and let your child play with it. Your child can count it. Put it under paper and rub a pencil over it for cool patterns. Your child can make designs with it. Your child can play coin basketball or coin football with your or another child with coins. Your child can stack coins. Your child can create a bingo game with paper and coins. Your child can create a checkers game with coins and paper as well. There are limitless possibilities with coins.

Help Your Child Meet Other Stranded Children Who Are On Your Flight



There are a lot of people who are probably also stranded from your flight or other flights. Look out for other people with kids that are around the age of your children. Then sit close by this family and watch it all happen. Making a new friend could keep your child occupied for days, lets hope that it doesn’t come to this though. On the other hand, keep it safe. Always keep an eye on your children and don’t leave your children with this new parent that you just met.

Pay for Internet Access at the Airport and Connect to Kids Friendly Web Sites

Okay, now you are getting pretty desperate. It has been 12 hours and your kids are getting cranky. Ahah! There is Internet Access at the airport for people who have to be connected ALL THE TIME. Well, there is no law that says that kids can’t use these computers. I have never used this service, so I am not sure how much it costs. But if you have extra cash and you are about to go out of your mind entertaining your kids, then go for it. Some fun sites that your kids will enjoy visiting are:

Nick Jr Nickelodeon
PBS
Noggin Cartoon Network
Game Zeeks Kidz Page
Fun Brain
Fun Island
Kids Games
Real Arcade
Fun School Games
Slash Play
Sess
Play Kids Games
Free-Games
Squiglys Playhouse Games
Alfy
Cool Math 4 Kids
Primary Games
Creating Music
DW Kids
Colgate
Learn 4 Good
Prongo
Terra Game
Free Games WS
Cogcon
National Geographic
BBC UK
Scholastic Kids Games
Scholastic Kids
Up to Ten
Kids Com
VKids
Kidz World

I hope that you never get stranded in an airport with your kids, but if you do, now you have the ideas to get you through it with out going completely bonkers. Good Luck.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Airplane Travel with Kids, Family Travel Organization & Packing, Family Travel Safety Tips, Family Travels, Lists, Stranded in Airport, Travel with Baby, Travel with Kids, Traveling with Kids, air travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.