Repurposing an old Car Seat into a Swing

I can’t lay claim to this idea as a swing was provided to us by an organisation that looks after our family.  Have you seen how expensive it is to buy a “special needs” swing with all the safety harnesses?  How many car seats are thrown out once they reach their use-by date?  Why not convert it into a swing, like the one at the bottom of the post.

  

What you need

• Old car seat
• 2 long pieces of strong rope
• 2 Strong steel eye screws
• 2 strong steel carabiners

Instructions

• Drill 4 holes into the car seat, making sure they are evenly placed
• Thread each rope through the bottom, then the top of the car seat (so you have one rope each side of the child).
• Knot the rope at the back of the carseat, double knot for security.  Pull hard to make sure it will hold and remember to check regularly to make sure it has not loosened in any way. 
• Knot the rope at the top, attaching it to a carabiner.
• Drill and insert the eye screws into a strong beam.
• Attach the carabiners to the eye of the screw.

Tips:  All of this is a bit fiddly, everything must be even or your swing won’t swing evenly.  If the gap between your eye screws is narrower than the swing, the swing will go wonky.  The same will happen if your rope is uneven.

Happy swinging :-)