This is a simple and cheap way to make a weighted lap pillow. Children on the spectrum often require more tactile stimulation to keep them grounded and focused. This can help them in many contexts including: when sitting down to read, when completing homework, while in class, while watching a movie, playing a videogame, etc. The pillow evenly distributes weight across the lap, providing a soothing sensory experience.

When I asked my clients to describe how the weighted lap pillow felt, they shared the following: “my feet feel stuck to the ground (grounded in place)”, “my legs are cool (temperature)”, “it feels good”. There bodies spoke more than their words. They were able to remain in one place, while checking in about their day, when they had the weighted pillow resting across their laps. 

Materials You’ll need:

1. Old Pillow case (relatively thick, on the soft side).

2. Needle and thread.

3. 5 lbs of Rice (cheap and effective – but not for the wash or dryer) or Polypropelene Pellets (sold pretty much any craft store – about $2.50/pound – washer and dryer safe). I think that 5 lbs is usually plenty.  

How to make?

1.Take an old pillow case and sew it in half (longways).

2. Dump a standard size mug of rice/pellets into the opening (just make sure you use the same cup/mug each time).

3. Now just sew across (about  3.5-4 inches from the bottom) so that the rice is contained in this small 3.5x 8 inch pocket.

4. Do this all the way up one side of the pillow case. It should be about five sewn pockets of rice/pellets.  

5. Cut the unused half of the pillow case off.

 Here’s wha I came up with (I sewed the other half of the case over the first…just for reinforcement).