It's made of plastic and it seems quite sturdy for little ones even though it says from 4 year old. We are going on a long long plane journey (about 24 hours door to door) and I need to decide if this is worth it. Or should I just get a portable DVD player? (I'm afraid that the battery of the portable DVD won't last more than one movie, but I could take loads of aa batteris for the the leapster..??)