I have wanted one of those kid carrying backpacks for a while, but I’m also not about to drop $200 on something that I might only use a handful of times. So being the cheapskate that I am I made a kid carrier for our most recent trip.

I used an ALICE pack frame and packboard shelf as the base.

First I cut a piece of 1/4″ plywood and then traced the holes from the shelf onto it.

After some sanding and drilling I painted it with some leftover paint.
Then used some 1/4″ bolts and washers to attach the board to the shelf.
The back 2 holes are left open for zip ties to keep the shelf from bouncing loose.

I attached the foam with Velcro strips.

For the back pad I used paracord.

For straps I have the crotch one hooked to the shelf and slotted through the board. The waist strap is just pass over the center bar then behind the outer bars. There is a loop in the crotch strap that it passed through.
For shoulder straps I use some snap hooks tri-glides and ladder locks to put together. The top of the straps are secured with the alice shoulder strap. A bit loose but it works.

And the finished product

The contraption actually worked out but the nature of our trip changed and we only got to use it for a few minutes. Now if you don’t already have the frame and straps I wouldn’t recommend this project. I had the majority of this lying around already so there wasn’t much investment. If you tried to do it from scratch you would end up spending close to the cost of just buying an actual carrier.