第一次坐飞机 The Airport Book

If you're travelling with kids soon and
want to prepare them for an upcoming airplane flight,
you've got to read this book.

I recently read this book a few times with my kids
leading up to my 3 and 8 year old's first flights.
I give this book full credit for
helping them understand what's going on,
be calm and mostly cooperative throughout, and
be curious about all the happenings in the airport!
They mostly knew what to expect, and
spent lots of time observing the staff at the airports,
and the surroundings on the aeroplane.

(We didn't do any extension activities this round,
just read the book a few times and
had lots of conversations on what they found interesting,
expected behaviour, how our actions affect others,
safety and security etc.
And it's more than enough!)

When what they read comes alive,
there's this sparkle in their eyes that is so precious!

In the book, as we follow the family of four's journey,
we see many relatable scenes
that come alive as our own trip unfolds!

• Packing luggage
• Not forgetting precious soft toys 臭臭
• Saying goodbye to our home
• Getting to the airport
• Seeing different shapes and sizes of luggage
• Queueing up over and over again, lots of waiting (need to mentally prep them)
• Showing passports while checking in luggage
• Tagging luggages with barcodes
• Going through security checks
• Seeing shops, restaurants after clearing customs
• Going on travellators
• Luggage being loaded onto carts, then towed with a tractor, put on conveyor belts to store in the aircraft hold
• Going to the airplane via passenger boarding bridges that look like accordions
• Pilots, air stewards, air stewardesses and ground crew preparing for takeoff
• Putting bags in the overhead compartment
• Putting up tray tables before takeoff
• People sleeping, reading, drawing, listening to music, using laptop etc on the plane (We learn to keep quiet when others are resting, not kick the chair in front of us, be considerate neighbours as we're all cooped up for hours in a small space etc)
• Seeing crying or curious babies on the plane! (Kept kids entertained)
• Pre-flight safety demonstration (to know what to do in emergency. In the actual flight, my kids were too short to see the actual safety demo, so we read the safety card on the back of the chair in front of us)
• Keeping bags under the chairs
• Putting down tray tables for writing, drawing, reading, eating
• Serving of meals, drinks, snacks (Highlight for kids)
• Conversing politely with the air stewardess
• Kids finding hard to keep in their seats (real struggle)
• Looking out of the window at the clouds
• Getting our luggages from the conveyor belt upon arrival
• Repeating everything on the flight back

and much more!

My kids' favourite parts of the book

• Spotting the soft toy monkey in almost every 2 page spread
• Seeing how the dog interacted with the 小猴子
• The whole process of how the luggage travelled from one country to the next

Possible extension activities (Optional)

• Some batches of the book may come with a paper aeroplane model too!
• Draw pictures of travel experiences
• Create a pretend airport at home
• Visit the airport some time before the trip,
  maybe for a meal at Jewel, then seeing the checkout counters,
  just to familiarise with the surroundings and the concept of travelling

Suitable for ages 2-10
Pages: 38
Format: Hardcover
Language: Simplified Chinese
Author: Lisa Brown
Translated from: English
Translated by: 徐文婧