Lap tray for the car?

[Jenny-momof3]

We are driving for the first time this year from Ohio!

My youngest is 4 and loves to color,etc. I'm hoping to find him something that would fit across his carseat that he could use to color,play with toys, etc.

Any suggestions? TIA

 

[snoopy5386]

most lap trays are some sort of hard plastic and they are not safe in the event of an accident. I would go with either a big, flat piece of stryofoam or a cardboard tray - like the kind a case of soda comes in.

 

[pdy11366]

Here is a link to the one we bought last year:

http://www.momsminivan.com/car_seat_tray.html


It has a lip to keep things from falling off, and is soft so it couldn't harm him we also got a small plastic tub and filled it with dollar store toys suitable for the car. I even wrapped a few of them. Each morning we would let him have a new toy, and then as needed on the road.

Some other good tips we found and used were eat at places with or near playgrounds. Let the children play and run off energy adn give them there food once you are in car. You can order it to go, or fis them a sandwich just before you load back up.

He also loved hearing his songs, and we got a dvd player for the car. So he stayed pretty busy. We are flying this year and plan to bring the tray on the plane.

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

We're driving from Ohio as well and I bought our kids the trays that the PP linked to. I think they'll work well, hope so anyway! I especially liked that they had a raised edge so I (hopefully) won't be constantly retrieving dropped crayons/markers/etc. The only thing I didn't like, and I realize it's a safey issue, but they'll need to put a book or something underneath if they want to draw on just a sheet of paper because the tray surface is too soft to draw on. A coloring book or something will be fine, so they can just put the paper on top of that.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

My Aunt gave her granddaughters "cheap" cookie sheets, the kind with a lip around the edge and a bunch of magnets and coloring stuff...they had to make a trip from Virginia to Las Vegas for a cross country move...they said it worked great!!

 

[katybugsmom]

I just saw a great one a couple of weeks ago at Walmart in the baby section of the store. It was on the bottome shelf underneath the shopping cart covers, safety equipment, etc. It was different from others I had seen-very soft.

 

[Carriemel]

http://www.onestepahead.com
has some REALLY great lap desks for car seats...and most of them are reasonable.

 

[ChillyWilleys]

Here is a link to the one we bought last year:

http://www.momsminivan.com/car_seat_tray.html


It has a lip to keep things from falling off, and is soft so it couldn't harm him we also got a small plastic tub and filled it with dollar store toys suitable for the car. I even wrapped a few of them. Each morning we would let him have a new toy, and then as needed on the road.

Some other good tips we found and used were eat at places with or near playgrounds. Let the children play and run off energy adn give them there food once you are in car. You can order it to go, or fis them a sandwich just before you load back up.

He also loved hearing his songs, and we got a dvd player for the car. So he stayed pretty busy. We are flying this year and plan to bring the tray on the plane.

I got this tray, or at least one just like it, last year. It was sturdy enough for coloring and other activities but soft enough that it would crunch up in an accident. I think it was a good buy.