Between road-trips, carpools and a million errands, kids spend many hours of their life buckled up in the car. Our recent Summer road-trip inspired me to create a DIY Lap Tray that could work for crafts, activities, snacks and even a nap on-the-go. Now that I have one made for Clare, I want to make one for everyone, including myself!
Ready to learn how to make a DIY Travel Lap Tray? I think this one could be our next great go-to birthday gift!
Gather ye supplies:
A cookie sheet. This 10″x13″ worked well
1.5 yards fabric total (or 6 pieces 4″ taller and 4″ wider than the outer edge of the cookie sheet – 2″ all around) I used Nursery Versery and The Birds & The Bees.
Cotton Webbing (or your strap of choice) 1 yard.
1 – 12″ zipper. I love these colorful metal zippers from Zip-It Zippers
1/2 yard medium-weight interfacing
Follow our zipper pocket tutorial, placing the zipper exactly centered on the fabric.
The pocket should be 1″ smaller than the front fabric all around.
Cut 2 – 18″ lengths of cotton webbing. Seal the end either with glue or a serger.
Sew the ends to the right side of the pocket front, 6″ from side edges. Repeat on one of the pieces set aside for the pillow side.
Fold the bottom edge under 1/2″ and press. Repeat on the piece of fabric that will be the “back” of the pocket.
Align these two pieces right-side facing and sew around both sides and top, leaving the bottom edge open.
Place the other two pieces of fabric right-side-facing with the handle tucked inside and sew all the way around except for a large opening at the bottom, 8″ or so. This is your pillow side.
Cut two strips of Velcro to fit along the sides of the bottom of your cookie sheet. Remove the paper and stick the rough side to the bottom of your cookie sheet.
Peel off top paper of Velcro and position centered on the “pillow.”
Pull the “pillow” away, taking the Velcro along with it.
Sew the Velcro in place through the hole in the bottom of your pillow. If it’s too tight, open up the hole a bit.
Find a curly-haired helper to stuff your pillow. If you can’t find one, a straight-haired helper will work just as well. Don’t pack it too much!
Sew the opening of the pillow closed. Your needle might be sticky from the Velcro and need replacing.
Tuck the edge of the pillow into the open bottom edge of the pocket. Pin well.
I thought that I might have to hand sew the two sides together but it was surprisingly easy to machine sew. I think it depends on how full the pillow is stuffed.
Add reinforcing stitches to the top of the handles.
Now hit the road! You’ve got crafts covered!
Style covered!
Naps covered.
Activities covered!
And snacks covered! Everything you need to keep them from going crazy if it’s not already be too late…
44 comments
this is awesome! This might just be my next weekend project. Now I’m SO glad I didn’t buy the $20 lap tray I saw in the store a few weeks ago.
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AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! i have to make one right.now.
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Adorbs! Our prudent mamas are so crafty. Love the fabric, too.
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Absolutely too awesome!! Def doing this! Just a question or 2 (sorry…sloooow)….. Why 6 pieces of fabric? (2 for pillow, 2 for pocket…….??other 2? Or is the pocket one 4 layers? And the interfacing ….would that be 2 layers…1 for each side?
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Jacinda Reply:
August 13th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
yeah, the last two are for the inside pocket so they can just be something cheap, I used old sheet. The interfacing if for those 2 layers (as described in the zipper tutorial. If you want to add interfacing to the outside layers of the pocket, feel free. It will make it stiffer.
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Sumé Reply:
August 14th, 2012 at 5:37 am
Thank you! Should have read the zipper tut before asking!! Already bought the tray….sooooo excited to get started….
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Jacinda Reply:
August 14th, 2012 at 7:03 am
No prob! Have fun!
You are brilliant!
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So so brilliant! Thanks for the tutorial!
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Jacinda Reply:
August 14th, 2012 at 7:06 am
Xoxo!
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Or you could just buy an inexpensive one for $12.87 http://tinyurl.com/97rl6pa
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Erin Reply:
September 3rd, 2012 at 6:49 pm
i made mine for 2$ with a cookie tray and pillow case from the dollar store cant add another dollar for the thread and velcroe that i already had and 3$ is way cheaper than 13(plus i still have another pillow case to use)
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LOVE IT!! This will be perfect for all the trips our family has been taking lately-usually 2+ hours. With hubby preaching I’m always looking for ways to keep the kids quiet while he studies(in the car). I might have just found my solution.
Thank you Prudent Mamas!!!
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Jacinda Reply:
August 14th, 2012 at 7:07 am
That sounds like um…. A challenge. : )
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Cute! My daughter LOVES her cookie sheet – plays with it most days. I have linked to this post at ajperspective.com/blog – Thanks for sharing!
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I made one last night for a birthday present today, I actually used a pillow case to make mine it was so cute wish i had remembered to take a picture, but i was cutting out my laminated pictures for the magnets min before we left this morning.
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I love this idea and can’t wait to make one! Thank you for the tutorial
I’ve posted a link on my website: thesunshinemoms.com/
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These are great! I am already planning to make 2 of these for my kids.
My only problem is that I’ve never made a pillow before. How much pillow stuffing do I need to purchase?
Thank you so much for the tutorial!
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Heyyomomma Reply:
October 7th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
I ended up just buying a large bag of stuffing and winging it.
Anyway, here is a link to my blog with the results…
http://heyyo-momma.blogspot.com/2012/10/diy-travel-lap-desk.html
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Question: What is the purpose of putting the zipper exactly center? Wouldn’t it be easier to get things like coloring books,etc. in and out by putting the zipper towards the top closer to the handles? Or closer to the pillow side so they can reach the pocket easier when they are using it as a desk?
I love this project! I’m starting on two today for my kids. Thanks for the ideas!
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Claudia Reply:
December 22nd, 2012 at 11:00 am
I thought the same thing and then I saw that when it lies on the child, the handles are toward the bottom, and when it is carried, the handles are toward the top. So I guess that it why…
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Featuring this on my blog today! Such great ideas! Thanks for the How-To!
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Wow – brilliant. Will be making for our semi-annual trek south for the holidays!!!
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This isn’t safe in the event of an accident though
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Great tutorial – thanks so much! I just finished one for my sister in law, I’ll send you a link after I give it to her.
One more thing to note – nothing sticks to Teflon! Super glue worked great to get the velcro to stick to the cookie sheet.
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Hi. I love this, just got started (with a few small differences like extra pockets). Very inspiring. Just one thing though, got stuck (literally) sewing the sticky back Velcro onto the pillow. The gluey stuff from the back of the Velcro clogged up the sewing machine really badly. Any hints about how to avoid this? The pictures suggest that yours wasn’t done by hand so maybe I’m just missing something!
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Wow! This is exactly what I have been looking for and it’s taken me a while to find it. I knew someone was smart enough to have made a DIY travel tray tutorial and here you are! Thanks!
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This is awesome. I want one myself….but I think I will use a piece of wood that I can sit my laptop and kindle on. Wow you are very creative indeed. Making one of these for my little man and I think a couple (with wood top) for my grown son and daughter-in-law. Thanks so much for sharing.
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I love this idea. I want to make one for my granddauther.
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This is incredibly unsafe. In the event of an accident, all of those things on the lap will become flying projectiles.
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This is a really cute idea! Kids always need something to occupy their time while travelling. For those of you who have concerns about safety, I would suggest using a metal tray as opposed to aluminum, or painting the inside of an aluminum tray with Magnetic Paint, and attaching a magnet to the bottom of sippy cups/water bottles/snack bowls, and including magnetic playthings (magnetic letters, fridge magnets, etc). You can even glue magnetic strips to the back of books, coloring books, sketch pads, etc. to prevent them from sliding around.
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I love it! So cute and very useful
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Great idea! Only changes I will make is to paint the tray with chalkboard paint and magnets on the things will rest on the tray including a box of colored chalk.
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Great idea! Only changes I will make is to coat the tray with chalkboard paint and add magnets to the items that will sit on the tray.
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Wow, that is one of the most detailed guides on how to build a travel lap tray yourself i have ever seen. The pictures help along as well, thanks for this great tutorial Jacinda.
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So I’ve been trying to make this today, and for the life of me I can not get the ‘sticky’ back velcro to stick to the tray. I’ve tried filing the back of the tray to give it a rougher surface, I’ve tried hot gluing it on, if I can ever find it I’m going to try super gluing it. Given that it’s apparently a very effective nonstick tray, I’m not holding high hopes. Any ideas? I need to have two of these made by a week from now for our 12 hour road trip with a 5 and 3 year old, I really don’t want to have to go buy two pre-made lap trays when I just bought everything for two homemade ones.
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Although this is very “cute” the amount of danger here is incrediable! First having all that stuff in her lap in an accident will just fly in her face. Also the tray it self will fly either straight in her face or worse, get smashed straight into her tiny fragile stomach. Just think of you sitting in the front seat and having a cookie sheet across your lap. You get rear ended hard, you fly forward and the cookie sheet essentially goes right through your stomach. It’s the same in the back but worse as she dosnt have much protection between the front of her belly and her spinal cord. Just a bit of FYI since you are advertising this product.
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Great in theory, but I would not use in car, maybe just for around the house or once you get to a destination. We have the commercial one, and while somewhat flimsy and flexible, that’s the point. It’s meant to collapse on impact in case of an accident. I can only imagine the damage this could do if pushed into stomach or flying around. Please think about that before using this product in the car!!
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Has anyone used this on a plane? Or suggestions for something to use on a plane? I’m flying from the east coast to the west coast with 5 kids and I’m looking for stuff to do on the flight
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I just made one each for my DS and DD and they absolutely love them. In fact they both wanted to take the pillow to bed with them….very cute! I did make one adjustment and added a hanging pocket to both the left and right side. I included ribbons on the bottom of the pocket so that these could be folded up and tied inside the bag. I also added some Velcro dots to the top corners so that the bag folded together stays nice and compact. Thanks for the inspiration and looking forward to our big car trip next weekend with these trays.
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4 yr old in the car for 10-12 hrs with nothing to do? Or a lap tray that actually works? The odds of getting in a car wreck are much smaller than potential odds of an absolutely miserable day stuck in a Honda Accord with a bored, winey 4 yr old with the vocabulary of a 10 yr old. I mean, my other option would be benadryl… SO. Lap tray, here i come!
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I think the safety issue can be mitigated by not velcro’ing the tray to the pillow. Then, in the case of an accident, the tray will just slide off their lap. Make sure the tray isn’t too wide to fly forward and fall onto the floor and I’d think you’d be fine.
Granted, that means the tray is likely to slide off their lap, right? But a big book in a kid’s lap could pose the same risk, and I haven’t noticed anyone claiming you shouldn’t let your kids have a book in a carseat.
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Becs Reply:
May 18th, 2013 at 8:15 pm
I actually would say you shouldn’t let your child read a big book in the car. Although it would be nice for the child, it just doesn’t seem worth the risk. I recently read this story about a boy who was badly injured because he was hit in the face by a sippy cup in an accident. It might seem silly, but it’s worth considering.
I don’t think you can just assume the tray will slide off of the child’s lap, because it might not. In the article about the boy with the sippy cup, the author points out that to calculate the force at which an object will hit you, you have to multiply the weight of the object by the speed you’re traveling. That’s why a sippy cup did so much damage.
I couldn’t find the news article again, but here’s a blog post about it: http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/120581/almost_deadly_sippy_cup_incident
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