DIY Child Car Seat Poncho

It’s cold out, and your child needs to wear a big coat. But safety guidelines say not to wear a big coat while in their car seat. So what do you do? You dress your child in their coat to walk to the car, take it off before they climb into their seat (still in the cold air), and then repeat it all again at your destination. Or you run them to the car without a jacket and hurry to buckle them in while they’re cold.

Either way, they’re cold, and you still have to cover them with a coat or a blanket in the car anyway. It’s this exact hassle that drove me to make my kids some car seat ponchos.

The fleece fabric is warm and cozy, and it’s easy for them to pop over their head so it doesn't interfere with buckles. They can wear it to and from the car, or you can keep it in the car to put on in their car seat. And if they get too warm, they can take it off or move it around.

These ponchos are easy to make and a lifesaver for the winter struggles of keeping your kids warm and also safe. I wanted to pass along this simple guide so you can make your own or pass it along to a friend who might want it!

What You’ll Need

• 1-yard pattern fleece fabric
• 1-yard solid fleece fabric
• Rib cuffing fabric
• Child’s shirt
• Thread
• Tissue paper
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Cutting tools

1-YARD PATTERN FLEECE FABRIC
You will need patterned fleece fabric for the top of the poncho. I used exactly 1 yard for my 4- and 3-year-old kids, and they were plenty big enough. You can use less if you want to for a smaller child and more for a bigger child.

1-YARD SOLID FLEECE FABRIC
If you want to double layer your poncho (for extra warmth), you’ll need 1 yard of solid fleece fabric for the under part of the poncho.

RIB CUFFING FABRIC
You’ll need some rib cuffing for the neckline of the poncho.

CHILD’S SHIRT
You’ll need a current shirt of your child’s to measure for the neckline.

THREAD
Grab some colored thread that matches your rib cuffing fabric and/or the fabric. This is for sewing the cuffing to the fabric.

TISSUE PAPER
One piece of tissue paper. This is for ease while sewing the rib cuffing.

PINS
You’ll need fabric pins to hold the fabric in place for sewing.

SEWING MACHINE
For sewing everything together.

CUTTING TOOLS
You’ll need all your preferred items for cutting fabric.
1) A cutting board or table
2) Scissors or a rotary cutter
3) Measuring tools such as a measuring mat, ruler, etc.
4) A fabric pen or pencil to mark the fabric if you use one

Let’s Get Started

STEP #1
Trim the selvage edges off of the pattern fleece fabric. Or cut fabric to 1 yard/the desired length.

STEP #2
Fold the pattern fleece fabric in half and use a bowl/round object to trace the bottom fabric corners. Cut edges along trace lines to round edges.

STEP #3
Keep pattern fleece fabric folded in half with edges lined up. Measure on the folded side and mark the middle of the fabric.

STEP #4
Lay your child’s current shirt on top of the fabric, lining up the middle of the neck hole with the middle of the fabric. Trace the neckline of the shirt hole onto the fleece fabric.

STEP #5
Test the fleece neck hole on your child to make sure it’s big enough. Cut it bigger, if needed.

STEP #6
Repeat steps 1-5 with the solid fleece fabric.

STEP #7
Measure around the whole neck hole circle on the fleece fabric.

STEP #8
Cut the rib cuffing to the length of the neck hole you just measured + add a little extra for your seam allowance.

STEP #9
Cut the rib cuffing to the height of how tall you want it to be x2. For example, I did 2 inches in height, so it would be about 1 inch on the finished product. My rib cuffing was already pre-cut to that length, so I left it, but normally I would also add a little extra for seam allowance.

STEP #10
Fold the rib cuffing in half lengthwise and pin the opening.

STEP #11
Sew the pinned part of the rib cuffing together.

STEP #12
Fold the rib cuffing in half lengthwise, and pin it together.

STEP #13
Sew the rib cuffing together where it’s pinned. The rib cuffing can jam the sewing machine, so I sewed the cuffing to a piece of tissue paper. Then pull the tissue paper off afterward.

STEP #14
Line up the neckline holes of the solid fleece fabric with the pattern fleece fabric on the top right side up.

STEP #15
Mark the middle of the front and back and two sides of the rib cuffing neckline with a pin.

STEP #16
Mark the middles and sides of the neckline holes with pins.

STEP #17
Line up the rib cuffing and fleece fabric pin markers in the same places, with edges lining up. The rib cuffing won’t lay flat on the fleece because it’s smaller and supposed to stretch.

STEP #18

Sew the rib cuffing to both pieces of fleece fabric starting at one of the pins. As you sew, pull the rib cuffing to stretch so it ends up lying flat between each pin. Do not pull the fleece because it will stretch.

STEP #19

Sew just below the rib cuffing on the fleece fabric, including the seam you just sewed into the back of it to help hold it in place.

STEP #20 (OPTIONAL)
Fleece does not need to be hemmed as it doesn’t fray. But you can sew your two pieces of fleece fabric together if you wish. You could also tie them together like with the no-sew fleece blanket. I used what fabric I had at home for our solid pieces, so they were slightly smaller than the top pieces. Because of this, I left them free and didn’t sew the two pieces together.

And ta-da, you have your own child car seat poncho! If you live in a warmer area or don’t want the poncho to be as thick, you can simply follow these steps with one layer of fleece fabric instead of two. Have fun with it and keep your little ones safe at the same time! Happy creating!

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Ever since I saw the “Dolphin Tale” movies, I have wanted to visit and see Winter the dolphin (the star of the movies) in person. For our first family trip to Florida in 2019, I made sure to plan a day to spend at Winter’s home, Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). It is located in Clearwater, FL, which is about a 35-minute drive from Tampa, FL, and about a 2-hour drive from Orlando, FL. So if you are visiting Disney (like we did), it is a quick day trip to the Aquarium.

We recently went back to visit CMA in May 2021, and I am so glad that we did. After 16 years, Winter passed away after fighting an infection on November 11, 2021. I’m so thankful we got to see her twice and so recently. I had been wanting to write a blog post to document our two visits, and now it seemed like the perfect time to honor Winter’s memory.

Remembering Winter the Dolphin

For those who don’t know, Winter is a bottlenose dolphin who was rescued as a baby off the coast of Flordia after being caught in a crab trap. Her tail was so badly injured from the entanglement she eventually lost it. No one thought she’d survive, but she did. She had to relearn how to swim in a side-to-side motion as opposed to the up and down tail motion that is normal for dolphins and she eventually got a prosthetic tail and became an inspiration to amputees and people with disabilities across the country.

September 2019 Visit

At the time of our first visit in 2019, CMA was still in its original building – the same location where the two Dolphin Tale movies were filmed. They were in the process of construction to expand. After parking in the parking structure, we had to purchase tickets in a small area at the bottom of the parking garage and were given stickers for entry. We walked around outside of the parking garage to reach the small Aquarium side entrance.

There were a lot of construction areas around the building; the restaurant was closed at the time, and the bathrooms were small trailer buildings outside. We got some photos taken upon entering and got to hold one of Winter’s prosthetic tails. We got a schedule of the shows, etc. for the aquarium that day and then set off to explore the aquarium.

The original dolphin pool for Winter, Hope, and PJ was inside a small area with minimal seating. Most of the walkways were small and hard to navigate through with a stroller – which we had for our 2-year-old and 1-year-old kids in tow. On their outside deck, resident male bottlenose dolphin Nicolas lived.

Despite the small walkways, we all had an absolute blast! We got to watch a demonstration with Nicolas outside and watch Winter exercise with her prosthetic tail. We got to see some of the filming locations and props, shop in the gift shop, pet stingrays, see many kinds of marine life, and learn all about CMA’s Rescue, Rehab, Release mission to help marine animals.

My favorite memory of this trip was watching the female dolphins swim in the underwater window. The windows were small (and there were only three), so you had to take turns with other visitors – but we had an amazing encounter with the dolphin Hope. While I stood at an underwater window holding my just-turned 1-year-old son, Hope swam by and hung out, watching us. She would go up for air and come back and just stay by our window over and over. She did this for at least 10-15 minutes. She never stopped to visit any other guests at the other windows while we were there, only us. My son loved watching her, and I was in awe (dolphins are my favorite animal). I could have stayed there all day. We took many photos and videos to document the special moments with Hope.

Every team member we encountered went above and beyond. They answered any questions we had about CMA’s animals, and they were so friendly and helpful! After this amazing visit, my kids fell in love with Winter and Hope (as much as I did), and I just knew that whenever we visited again, we would have to stop by CMA again to see them and check out the renovations.

May 2021 Visit

With my love of dolphins, my kids’ obsession with Winter and Hope, CMA’s newly renovated building, and their new resident dolphins since our last visit – there was no way we weren’t going to make CMA a stop on our May 2021 family trip to Florida! The kids were so excited to visit the dolphins. The CMA renovations are just amazing!

CMA still has its original building and areas we visited in 2019. The outside Rescue dolphin deck that used to house Nicolas now houses two male rough-toothed dolphins, Rudy & Rex. There are only two aquariums in the US that are home to rough-toothed dolphins, and CMA is one of them. All of the bottlenose dolphins are now in a new addition to the aquarium in giant tanks with huge underwater windows. Nicolas also now has another male companion, Hemy.

The new additions to CMA are bigger, roomier, and open. When you park in the parking structure, you enter through the garage and make your way to the big-ticket booths. There are cool displays of the animals and props from the Dolphin Tale movies. I noticed how much bigger everything was right away. The original small shop is still there, but they also have a bigger main store upon entering. There is also a restaurant and indoor restrooms. There is a top floor where they have different displays. When we visited, they had a whale display and giant inflatables. It was really neat.

There is an outdoor deck area you can sit and eat on, as well as an indoor eating area. On the outdoor deck, you can get a look at all of the new dolphin pools from the top/above the water. The walkways are bigger and more accommodating for strollers, wheelchairs, etc. now. There are stairs and elevators to move from floor to floor.

There are giant underwater viewing windows and areas for the dolphin pools. There are also really cool educational exhibits and games along the walkway around the dolphin tanks underwater. You can hear and see each dolphin’s unique sounds up close on one of the sound machines. There is an educational board that shows you where the dolphin’s organs, etc are on their body.

CMA also offers special packages and experiences for you to get up close with some of their animals. We haven’t done any yet, mainly because my kids are too young, but I definitely plan to one day because they have so many cool options. They also have daily boat tours. I wanted to do a boat tour on our last visit, but they were sold out. So I would recommend booking boat tours ahead of time because they have limited seating and they only do a certain number per day.

The restaurant was good, and all of the employees we encountered were so helpful. I have loved interacting with everyone working at this aquarium each visit we’ve had. It doesn’t matter if they are working in the gift shop, the photo center, the service desk, or one of the animal trainers – they are all very helpful and willing to take the time to talk and answer any questions we had. They also had trainers stationed at the underwater dolphin windows to help tell guests which pools the dolphins were in/which windows you could see them at all day. This was so helpful!

Both of our visits were so much fun, and I’m definitely planning on going again on our next Florida trip. CMA has also partnered with a hotel on Clearwater Beach and renovated it to feature Winter and her CMA pals. The hotel is called Winter the Dolphin’s Beach Club. The photos are gorgeous, and it is on my to-do list to stay there on our next trip.

  

CMA is definitely a bucket list stop! Even though Winter is gone, her memory lives on; her friends are still there, and CMA is still a must-see aquarium. The staff is phenomenal, and the memories will last a lifetime. I encourage you to visit for yourself; you won’t regret it!