Baby
The Best Play Mats for Babies To Explore and Practice Tummy Time
Many experts recommend babies start practicing tummy time in their first week of life. Baby play mats give them a soft place to hang out while they begin the hard work of growing, strengthening their muscles, and learning about the world.
- Written By
- Alicia Betz
If you have a newborn in your home, you have inevitably heard about tummy time. It’s an essential activity for babies, as it helps them develop the strength they’ll eventually need to accomplish some of their first and most exciting milestones: holding up their head, rolling, sitting up, and crawling. Tummy time can also help prevent flat spots on babies’ heads, which is known as plagiocephaly.
Of course, they’ll need a comfy place to lie down during tummy time. Baby play mats and activity gyms give them a comfortable and entertaining space to grow and develop.
Baby play mats run the gamut from interactive mats with all the bells and whistles to mats that simply give baby a comfy place to hang out on the floor. Here, we rounded up some of the best baby play mats Maisonette has to offer. Discover the best play mats in every category, from thick foam mats to aesthetically pleasing neutral-colored mats
The Best Foam Play Mat: Wander & Roam Reversible Mat
This baby play mat is designed to look nice in your home while simultaneously giving babies a comfy place to practice tummy time or crawling. At 6.5ft x 4.5ft, it’s a nice size that can grow with your kids, too. This is great because it gives it some longevity, but it’s a large size for a tummy time mat, so it wouldn’t be ideal for small spaces. It’s non-toxic and BPA, formamide, and PVC-free.
Shop
The Best Neutral Play Mat: Toddlekind The Earth Series
A light beige, this neutral play mat will fit in nicely with the decor in your home. Of course, neutral tones aren’t the most exciting for babies, which means you’ll need to stock up on items that will catch baby’s attention, like high-contrast cards and toys. The mat is made of nontoxic EVA foam, and you assemble it via several interlocking pieces. Easily adjust the mat to fit your living space or to grow with your baby.
Shop
The Coziest Play Mat: Pehr Rocketman Play Mat
This round play mat is just the right size for tummy time, and it will look dreamy and cozy in your baby’s nursery. It’s reversible, 100% cotton, and screen printed by hand. It has a quilted pattern and an outer fringe that gives it a homey feel; it almost looks like it were homemade. It’s a small and round mat, so it won’t be long until baby starts rolling off and exploring far beyond the mat’s borders.
Shop
The Best Reversible Play Mat Wee Gallery Wildlife Reversible Mat
Full of whimsical black and white images, this reversible play mat will really catch baby’s eye. It has a poly-fiber stuffing, creating a soft cushion for baby. It’s also machine washable, so spit up stains don’t stand a chance. The mat comes with a reusable canvas carry strap to roll it up and take it on the go. It’s about three feet by three feet, which is a good size for a baby. If you want a mat that is practical once baby is mobile, though, you might want to look elsewhere.
Shop
The Best (Vegan) Leather Play Mat Gathre Padded Mini Mat
At 1.5 inches thick, this mat will really create a comfy and soft space for baby, and it’s ideal if you have hard floors in your home. It’s made of memory foam covered in wipeable faux leather, and the mat is available as a square or a circle. There is a zipper to remove the cover, but you can’t throw the cover in the wash; spot clean it with a wet rag and soapy water. With all the messes babies make, it will be nice to have an easily wipeable mat.
Shop
The Best Foldable Play Mat: Blabla Kids
Blabla Kids play mats are available in four fun shapes: a lily pad, a pear, a leaf, and a flower. Once your baby is no longer spending extended periods of time on a mat, it can become a fun imaginative toy. Pretend it’s a real lily pad on a pond or pretend to dream in a field of flowers. It’s soft and plush but not too thick with a polyfill blend padding. A foldable mat is a great option to have so you can always have a clean and comfy space for baby to lie down, whether you’re at home or on the go.
Shop
The Best Washable Play Mat: Asweets Color Form and Feeling Baby Mat
From spit up to blowouts, tiny babies are known for making big messes. A washable play mat can make life much easier for parents and caregivers of newborns. This play mat also has shapes, colors, and textures for baby to explore, giving this mat a bit more longevity than some of the other top picks. The toys and flaps attached to the mat might make it a bit less comfortable than some of the others, so this one would be more ideal for playing than lounging.
Shop
The Best High Contrast Play Mat Wimmer-Ferguston Mat
Neutral-colored and aesthetically pleasing play mats make a great addition to a nursery, but this boldly colored play mat is even more visually appealing and fun for baby. Newborns have vision that is still developing, and they see black and white as well as bold patterns best, so this mat will really catch their attention. Note that it’s a very small mat, so it’s intended more to intellectually and visually stimulate baby than it is to be a soft place to lie down.
Shop
The Most Versatile Play Mat: Mon Ami Dax Dragon Plush Play Mat
This dragon-shaped playmat is a cozy spot for tummy time, but it can be a friend and plaything well into the preschool and toddler years, too. It’s head can act as a soft pillow for toddler naps, the mat can roll up to become a soft plush plaything, and preschoolers can drape it over themselves to transform into a dragon during pretend play. The plush mat (which also comes as a deer, unicorn, or polar bear) is fuzzy and cozy, making it an ideal companion for babies and young kids.
Shop
Alicia Betz
Alicia is a freelance writer, wife, and mom to three. She has a bachelor's degree in education from Penn State and a master's degree in education from Michigan State. Her work has been featured by Scholastic, Forbes, AARP, Insider, MSN, Yahoo, Motherly, Cubby, and more. You can see more of her work on her website.