Homemade Gift for Kids: Sheet Pan Roads

With just a few minutes and a handful of simple supplies, you can create this Homemade Gift for Kids: Sheet Pan Roads!

Do you know a little one who loves playing with cars and trucks, or who can get immersed in an imaginary world? This quick and easy homemade gift project is sure to be a hit!

All 3 of my boys have enjoyed Matchbox cars during their toddler years, but Spencer is truly obsessed! He can spend hours pushing his vehicles along the floor, developing involved conversations between trucks, or perfecting his engine revving sound effects. But his absolute favorite thing to do is drive his cars along roads. He will sometimes find an illustrated picture in a book and use that as his road, but more often he’s bugging me, Keith, or his older brothers to draw little roads and maps on paper so that he has new routes for his vehicles. That’s what prompted this craft!

Instead of spending time each day to draft a new city on paper because his other ones got ripped, crumbled, or thrown away, I decided to come up with a more permanent solution. I actually tried a couple of different designs with a variety of supplies, but this has been the ultimate success…and so I’m sharing it with you today! After a few months of playing with these Sheet Pan Roads on a daily basis, I can honestly say that they still look as good as new! And with a two-year-old little boy as my target audience, DURABILITY is key!

Here’s what I used to create our homemade gift (note: some affiliate links are included below at no extra cost to you):

• An extra-large rimmed baking sheet (I picked mine up at Walmart);
• Green spray paint;
• Wide black duct tape;
• Narrow yellow tape;
• Super Glue;
• Plastic trees;
• Plastic farm set;
• Some extra signs and buildings that we already had from a train set (like this one).

The good news is that once you have your supplies, you’re basically DONE! All you need to do is spray the baking sheet with the green spray paint and set it aside to dry for a few hours. Then you can use the black tape to lay down your roads, placing the thin yellow tape on top for a dotted line. I used Super Glue to attach the trees and signs to the baking sheet so that they wouldn’t get knocked over every time Spence bumped them or picked up the tray to move it. You can also glue down the buildings and animals, but I left them free so that Spencer can rearrange his city on his own.

The rimmed edge of the baking sheet keeps any stray pieces from rolling away and it makes for very easy clean-up! Best of all, Spencer has spent hours and hours playing with his cars, trucks, and tractors on this board. I seriously could not have purchased a toy in the store that would have entertained him more…and THAT is worth its weight in gold!

Looking for other easy homemade gift ideas? Try these:

DIY Father’s Day Gift: Building Memories with Dad

Indoor Fairy Garden

5-Minute 3-Ingredient DIY Lip Balm