We are going on our first long-haul flight with the kiddies soon and I have been gathering lots of activities for entertaining the children at the airport. It seems ridiculous but spending around 4 hours at Heathrow Terminal 5 needs to be done efficiently and keep those kiddies happy.
Our flight is during the night, so we leave Heathrow at 9pm and arrive in Dubai at 6am (UEA time). I am very excited about our flights, as I have said on numerous occasions! I have been doing a lot of research on what we can do at Terminal 5 to keep the kiddies entertained.
Book a family meal
We have to be at the airport 3 hours before our flight, so we will get there around dinner time and to be quite frank, it’s the witching hour. We have booked our meal at Gordon Ramsay Plane Food at Terminal 5 and I am so excited. I have never eaten there before, and the menu looks delicious. This will also keep us all entertained, not just the children, for a good 90 minutes.
Download fun games for their devices
Now, I do not want them on their devices for the entire time. But when you are trying to check in or gather yourselves so you know where you are going – sometimes keeping them quiet on devices can really help. Downloading the latest and fun cooking games for example, they love it when they have to make pizzas or sell the most amount of chips.
Pack lots of fun travel games
I have a backpack full of travel games to take with us, I recently discovered Monopoly Deal and it’s brilliant. These games are perfect for waiting around with the kiddies, when we are waiting for food at our table for example. Or waiting at the departure lounge where there is limited activities around us. You don’t necessarily need to pack standalone games, either — hand your child your smartphone, and they can play kid-friendly spider solitaire, online pool, or other quick and easy casual games. They won’t get bored!
Planning an airport treasure map
I have been doing my research and I can see that Terminal 5 has some fab areas for families, like the Stay & Play area in the departure lounge. There are fun slides, soft play areas and baby areas too. I love the fact they have catered for family activities at Heathrow. They even run special events every now and again to entertain the children. So, I’ve been thinking about making a treasure map so the kids can help navigate us around the airport and have a little fun.
Do you have any fun tips or ideas on how to entertain the children at the airport? I would love to know in the comments below, or on social media: @mummyconstant.
The ‘i-SPY at the airport’ book is a good way to keep kids occupied plus a new comic and Top Trumps or Dobble.
I have seen so many really bored kids at airports, which is a shame. The parents need to read this!
We have some travel board game – hoping to have our first long haul flight this year
Some great ideas for keeping the kids entertained at the airport. The waits are always so long and this will definitely help. Will give some of these a go when we can finally go on holiday
This might be a reality soon – cant wait for our adventures to start again
Thanks for some tips which can prevent a very gruelling time.
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Some great ideas.
Nice ideas.
Lots of good ideas
Thanks for the great article and tips.
Some good tips here, i always dread the waiting round at the airport with the kids!
I always forget the airport, usually we have been waiting for a very short time. I have always done y main planning for the flight. We do have a book treat for the trip at the airport
It is hard to keep little ones entertained for a few hours , manchester airport terminal 2 had a small play area for the little ones but they soon got bored
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