Ask parents what the most difficult stage of parenthood is, and they will tell you it’s the newborn stage. No one gets enough sleep. You’d think it stops there, but wait until your newborn becomes a toddler and starts crawling. Then, you’ll discover that all stages of raising a child have their challenges.
To ensure your child’s safety as they roam around, we suggest getting a baby floor mat foam. Let us help you if this is your first time buying or you do not know what the market now offers after a long time.
The Top 10 Foam Play Mat Characteristics
As a parent, being meticulous about the things your child uses is only natural. You surely check every detail about any product you buy. So here are the ten things you should look for in baby mats.
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Nontoxic play mat
You must have heard of toys that contain the following toxic chemicals for kids:
- Phthalates
- BPA
- Latex
- Formaldehyde
- Lead
- Flame retardant
- PVC
These chemicals can cause irreversible damages to a child’s brain, motor skills, and behaviors. At their age, kids are also more prone to liver, lung, and kidney diseases when they ingest these chemicals, especially since they love biting or licking their toys.
Check the baby play mat label and look for signs such as a strong chemical smell. Buy only the mat with a safety label, ensuring it’s free from all the chemicals mentioned above.
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Hypoallergenic
Still in connection with chemicals, choosing a chemical-safe play mat ensures that your child’s skin will not end up having rashes, itching, or even burning. Find the labels that show it is hypoallergenic, aside from those indicating the mat is free from chemicals.
The particular chemical you should be wary of is formaldehyde, which causes skin allergy and can even trigger respiratory illnesses like asthma. If the product has no warning label but has a strong smell or you notice an allergic reaction on your kid, it’s better not to use the product anymore.
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Soft and cushioned
One of the most common injuries among toddlers and kids is lumps on the head or the body. They are prone to falling from a chair, bed, or shelf they try climbing. Thus, having a play mat that has cushions provides an extra soft layer for your toddler to land on. This way, you can ensure your child’s safety and comfort at the same time.
Despite having a cushion, a foam mat should still be lightweight. This characteristic sets a good baby floor mat foam apart from rugs or beds that are bulky and heavy.
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Not noisy
Have you ever experienced leaving your little one in their playpen, and you suddenly realize an unusual silence has descended? Then, when you check what your child is up to, you see them sleeping.
A baby’s play mat is more than just a cushion and comfortable bedding. To ensure a peaceful sleep, the mat you should buy should not be noisy.
You can hear the sound of plastic being crumpled whenever you move some mats. Don’t get these products; instead, choose a baby foam play mat that does not make squeaky noise.
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Waterproof surface
You surely won’t let your child miss any excitement from different toddler activities. Some projects are even more exciting when they involve water or liquids.
- Painting
- Colored water mixing experiment
- Creating boats from recycled boxes and paper
- Fishing games
- Transferring water to another container through a funnel
These activities help develop their motor skills, get their imaginations working, and excite their social skills, especially when playing with others.
With a waterproof and easy-to-clean mat, you can just let your child be and allow them to enjoy the activities even if they spill some liquid.
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Foldable and portable
Getting a foldable and portable baby mat has many advantages, such as the following:
- You can easily clean the mat and the floor underneath it.
- You can move the play area to the living room, playroom, bedroom, or even outdoors.
- If you are going out for a picnic, you can fold the mat and put it inside your car.
- You can fix it quickly after a day’s play to keep everything spick-and-span.
For a parent like you, products that are convenient to clean and pack are necessary to make your lives easier. Good thing mats with this design type exist.
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Nonslip
The mat must be nonslip on both the bottom and the surface. Some mats are soft, yet they are not nonslip. Having a mat that stays in place is important to avoid accidents while your child plays, crawls, walks, or lies.
Choose a mat that does not need adhesives to stay in place. The bond may be effective in keeping the mat still. However, once the stick is gone, the continuous replacement of adhesives may damage the outer covering of the mat and eventually make it look dirty.
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Reversible
Let’s say you are going to the department store to look for some baby stuff, and there you face two choices. One product has a traditional design. The other has a reversible design, meaning you can have one item, reverse it, and have a different design. For sure, you’ll get the latter.
You have the choice to get a reversible mat today, so make sure to pick this design. With this, your child won’t get bored with one design only. Instead, they will get two.
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With child-friendly prints
When you have babies and children at home, you change your interior design from casual to super child-friendly like the following:
- Cute baby animals
- Princess theme
- Superheroes
- Pastel or rainbow colors
- Patterns and shapes
- Different fruits
Picking designs like these for your child’s things, even for the play mat, is not only visually pleasing, but they are also educational. As you and your child play, you can introduce new characters, colors, animals, and shapes printed on the mat. It will also be visually attractive if you pick a mat that matches your nursery room’s overall interior design theme.
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Made with durable materials
There are surely moments when you find yourself thinking how strong your child is for breaking a couple of toys, some of them you’ve just bought. Knowing this unbelievable capability of your kid, pick toys and baby things made of durable materials.
For the play mat, check what rubber the manufacturer used. Aside from being free from hazardous chemicals, ensure that the material can make the mat last for a long time such that you can pass it on from one child to the next.
Ashtonbee’s Baby Foam Play Mat
With plenty of brands and choices in the market, it won’t be hard to look for play mats. However, it’s challenging to find the mat with all the characteristics mentioned above.
Search no more! We have it here at Ashtonbee!
Design
The Ashtonbee mat design has a pastel green color on one side, with baby animals, numbers, letters, and shapes. The other side has a warm white color designed with baby animals too, like bears, deers, foxes, dogs, and rabbits, which also have light pastel colors.
You and your child will have fun naming the animals and learning letters, numbers, and shapes. Just reverse the mat if your child already knows the names of the characters on one side!
The light color also allows you to see foreign objects or insects and remove them right away.
Materials
You do not have to worry about your child inhaling or ingesting chemicals harmful to their health. The Ashtonbee mat does not have BPA, latex, formaldehyde, and phthalates. Thus, upon receiving this mat, you won’t be welcomed by a strong smell suggesting a chemical-filled product.
The cushion that ensures your child is safe and enjoys playing is made of cross-linked polyethylene foam, a nontoxic type of foam also used for yoga mats and surfboards. Aside from being soft, it is moisture-resistant, ensuring the mat stays dry from any liquid source, be it your child’s toys or baby pee. Thus, you can easily wipe them off and disinfect them afterward.
Usability
The Ashtonbee mat is child-friendly and safe. Thus, it has become a prime choice for parents looking for play mats they can use at home and outdoors and carry around when visiting another place. You can position it anywhere in the house to ensure their safety in the following places:
- Inside a playpen
- Inside the nursery room and around the crib to have extra cushioning in case your child climbs out
- In an outdoor play area
- While having a picnic
- When doing different activities like painting, building blocks, or playing with liquid
The mat can also serve as an extra cushion for an afternoon nap.
When to Start Using the Baby Activity Mat by Ashtonbee?
You can include our Ashtonbee play mat on your list of stuff to buy before the baby comes out so that you can baby-proof your nursery room. By buying early, you can skip the hassle of rushing to look for a mat once your baby starts crawling and learning how to walk.
Remember to check this guide for the characteristics to look for play mats. Shop at Ashtonbee for play mats and other playtime essentials!
