The first game app my daughter played was at about that age. Preschool Monkey Lunchbox from Thupp. They have a series of them - all of the preschool ones are great.

My 2.5 yr old likes Endless Alphabet and Endless Numbers.

Peppa was hypnotizing for all three of my kids at that age. Episodes are short.

If you have internet access on the plane then "Cocomelon" on YouTube is pretty good. It's a family of characters and animals with animated songs. Some familiar and some new, but it's fun and 'safe' (made by ABC Kids TV). It helped get us through potty training.

Peekaboo barn is a good app for a few minutes, although they may be too old for it.

Whatever you do, please use headphones. No one around you wants to hear the chatter and squeak of children's programming. Thank you!

My 2.5 year old can make it through a 1 hour movie like The Jungle Book and Lady and the Tramp. Paw Patrol is totally mesmerizing to her on planes or when she is sick as well. She likes Daniel Tiger, but the audio is too quiet to hear well with all the plane noise and the limit on the level for kid headphones.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took my DS to India when he was almost 3. We tried to put on movies, but he could only watch for 25 minutes. I would say short episodes of something, rather than a movie.

+1

Water Wow might keep them entertained for a bit too.

How many Water Wows are you talking about? It takes my DD who is 3 years old 5 minutes to complete 1!

Duck duck moose apps were recommended here when I asked a similar question a year or so ago, and are a plane favorite for my DS (starting at 2, now at 3 he’s an even bigger fan)

Thanks everyone. Definitely loading the Little Baby Bum on the tablets, alongside some other suggestions. I have Frozen, but I doubt they will be into it (for long). I also have The Gruffalo "movie." It's 25min long. They like the book. Maybe this time they will sit through it.
-OP

Some shows have 1-hour length "movies" that my 2.5yo likes. There are a couple of Daniel Tiger movies on Prime that are approx 50 min each. There are also several Curious George movies around the same length but I'm not sure if those are available on streaming services anymore (they used to be on Netflix, then Prime). My DD can do these hour-long movies but nothing longer than that.

Little Baby Bum is also great. As PP said, it's weirdly mesmerizing for kids.

We also like Beat Bugs on Netflix, if you're looking to load up on a few different shows for the plane ride.

We don't do a lot of apps, but Peek-a-boo Barn is a favorite. Just a simple app featuring different animals where the kids open the barn by tapping the screen to reveal the animal making the sounds. I downloaded it years ago when my now 6yo was a toddler so there might be something better out there now, but my 2.5yo still loves it. It's also supported in about 5 different languages.

Just download a bunch of shows or the shorter movies from Netflix and Prime so that you're ready with as much variety as possible on the plane.

My 2.75 year old sits for an entire movie. We don’t do screen time at home (she wishes!) and when the iPad comes out she’s like a zombie. She sits for an entire frozen or beauty and the beast movie.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Little Baby Bum. I swear my kids can watch it for hours, it's hypnotizing. Netflix has three 1-hour long "episodes" which are really just like 25 nursery rhymes back to back.

Oh God yes. My 2 year old will not sit still for anything except this.

Thirding. My DS loved this when he was 2. Crack for toddlers. Not great for everyday but a life saver on a plane.

Just throwing my vote in for this too.

But how did you guys get this on a plane? Are you relying on the plane's wi-fi or doing something else?

DP, but Netflix has Baby Bum, and you can download to your tablet.

We just travelled overseas with DD, also 2.5.

Short videos (Daniel tiger, Masha, Peppa, etc.) were helpful, as were some apps like Peppa, Bimi Boo, Fisher Price.

Videos of herself were also great, especially when they were in slow-mo - she thought this was hilarious. We got her her own iPad, so I also purposefully put on pictures of her and things she likes, so she could scroll through the photo app.

I don’t think kids this age have the patience for a long movie, but maybe someone with actual developmental experience can chime in. DD could busy herself with the iPad for an hour if we needed (and we did - we had a long delay after boarding that resulted in a cancellation).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Little Baby Bum. I swear my kids can watch it for hours, it's hypnotizing. Netflix has three 1-hour long "episodes" which are really just like 25 nursery rhymes back to back.

Oh God yes. My 2 year old will not sit still for anything except this.

Thirding. My DS loved this when he was 2. Crack for toddlers. Not great for everyday but a life saver on a plane.

Just throwing my vote in for this too.

But how did you guys get this on a plane? Are you relying on the plane's wi-fi or doing something else?