Would you use an carseat activity tray?

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MomToEliEm

Moderator
We have this tray for my kids and we like it. We don't use it every day, but for long trips, it works well for the kids to draw on or just hold whatever it is they are playing with (only non-hard type toys of course).

I much prefer this option over having to constantly hear about toys or crayons being dropped on the floor. It is very soft so I don't think it would interfer with the safety of the carseat during an accident.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
If it's all fabric & won't interfer with the carseat, then maybe -- although, I'm rather simplistic: I'd rather just keep a canvas bag next to my seat filled with soft puppets, etc. to hand kiddo one at a time (Leila was always good about telling me when she was done with something & if it fell then she had to wait until I stopped the car). I never had to take my eyes off the road this way & I just imagine that something like that would have encouraged Leila to have *everything* out at once inviting chaos + complaints when they ALL fall?
 

laurenrachey

New member
Yeah I had thought about looking for one and cutting a piece of felt to fit it, could do feltboard stuff, etc. What about it strapping around the carseat? Does yours strap on somehow? Wouldn't be a problem right now, as he's rf, but I'm sure the whole thing would fall when he's ff. Do you feel okay about it being attached?
 

natysr

New member
I have a smaller one that is soft and sort of kidney shaped, made by fisherprice. My son likes it. But we don't use it everyday.
 

Paperdragon

New member
I would have concerns about having the tray attached around the child (which is one of the options, isn't it? or am i mis-reading). In that scenerio, the child and car seat are restrained, but the tray keeps fying forward and all of the force used to stop it is put on the back of the child's spine. While it is light, it would still be going 30mph or whatever when the strap was stopped against the child's back. This is just my :twocents:. Does anyone else see this happeneing?
 

Dragonflymama

New member
I would have concerns about having the tray attached around the child (which is one of the options, isn't it? or am i mis-reading). In that scenerio, the child and car seat are restrained, but the tray keeps fying forward and all of the force used to stop it is put on the back of the child's spine. While it is light, it would still be going 30mph or whatever when the strap was stopped against the child's back. This is just my :twocents:. Does anyone else see this happeneing?

We have one liek this soft one and it actually straps around the car seat (not he child) and it is VERY light weight. I dont think it would create any measurable force to be restrained in addition to the child+carseat mass. Does anyoen see a problem that I am overlooking?

That said, we used it for part of a long trip in July but have not used it since. Maybe for another long trip in the future. DD liked having it at first, but tired of having something "on" her after awhile.
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
When we used ours, we strapped it around the carseat, not the child. It is so lightweight, I doubt it would add much force to the seat in an accident.
 

natysr

New member
We have this one. It is much smaller.

One of the pictures shows it has metal hooks to hook it to the carseat cover...ours has plastic hooks. Although, I don't hook it. One side you can remove the strap. The other side it just hangs, but if one was worried about the plastic hook swinging around, it could be cut off.

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Morganthe

New member
I just ordered this travel tray with a vinyl top for our long trip next month (approx 26 hours drive time each way-- so "long" might be an understatement ;) ).

I wavered between it and the Snack & play tray of the OP. What won me out was cheaper price, free shipping, easy return if it doesn't work out, and it's smaller in size.

I'll provide my impressions after we've tested it out, if anyone's interested :)
 

natysr

New member
I just ordered this travel tray with a vinyl top for our long trip next month (approx 26 hours drive time each way-- so "long" might be an understatement ;) ).

I wavered between it and the Snack & play tray of the OP. What won me out was cheaper price, free shipping, easy return if it doesn't work out, and it's smaller in size.

I'll provide my impressions after we've tested it out, if anyone's interested :)

That is the one we have. It will not fit a full sheet of paper though. But the writing board is removable. I would suggest getting some stock paper or posterboard and taking out the insert and tracing the insert and cutting it out. This way it will fit perfectly inside the lip and she can color on it, flip it and color on the otherside, then get a new insert to color a new one.
 

Connor's Mom

New member
We have the one the OP asked about. It is made off all soft material and is VERY light weight. I decided on this one over the FB because the FP was too small.
 

Morganthe

New member
That is the one we have. It will not fit a full sheet of paper though. But the writing board is removable. I would suggest getting some stock paper or posterboard and taking out the insert and tracing the insert and cutting it out. This way it will fit perfectly inside the lip and she can color on it, flip it and color on the otherside, then get a new insert to color a new one.

LOL -- that's assuming I'm allowing her crayons in MY car!! (Oh and with a brand new carseat :p) Last time that happened, she coloured the roof above her head about 7 months ago. The marks are still there and she still apologizes everytime she looks upwards :D

I'm getting the tray more for a flat surface that she can play with her tiny dolls and figures upon. They're always getting stuck down in her seat or over the edge. She also likes magnets and needs flat areas for them.

Who knows, maybe I'll pop out a surprise of crayons for her to color with. I just wish they'd make square instead of rounded crayons that roll all over the place. They might be out there, but they're not the washable types. :(
 

natysr

New member
Crayola makes Anti-Roll crayons, but you are right, they are NOT washable. Don't they know that if a child is not old enough/mature enough to keep their crayons from falling everywhere, they they are also not old enough/mature enough to know that they shouldn't color all over everything in sight?

I would recommend the Color Wonders markers and finger paint. They are clear except on the special paper.
 

Jewels

Senior Community Member
I have this tray from the first post and we love it. I strap it right around my ds and have no problems doing that. It is so light that in a collision I don't think it would do anything; although I would like to add clips to it and just attach it to the seat cover sort of like the side rider just so it would sit better.
 
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amyg530

Active member
it looks safe to me, i read some of the reviews on a different site and some people said it was hard to color on b/c it was so soft, and i emailed them to see what the actualy weight of it is.
 

Jewels

Senior Community Member
it looks safe to me, i read some of the reviews on a different site and some people said it was hard to color on b/c it was so soft, and i emailed them to see what the actualy weight of it is.

It is quite light, I don't know exactly but it is light then the pillow on my couch and a folded bath towel and a box of kleenex. It is light and very soft, the legs is what gives the tray support to hold it up.
 

NOAHSMOM

New member
I have the FP one too. It is not the greatest, but it keeps my son entertained for awhile on long drives. He likes to color, but it is too small to hold a coloring book properly. The book will fall to the floor after awhile, but then I give him another.
 

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