REVIEW: Play Mats -- Time for Some Fun

The play mat is a MUST HAVE! Well at least if you live in my house! I have two dogs, an old carpet and not enough time on my hands to keep everything clean. When the Little Love Bug was in the blob phase (the phase where they just lie around all day and can't sit on their own) I liked placing her on her play mat for some solitary time.

We had a great Baby Einstein mat that had all sort of underwater wonders. She thoroughly enjoyed the mat. In the early days tummy time almost always caused her to cry, but with the help of the water animals and the little tummy time pillow on this mat she adjusted. The pillow was perfect for supporting her head off the mat and really seemed to make her more comfortable.

As she got older though this mat became a little too small for her, so I was SUPER EXCITED when I found out about Tiny Love's ActiviTot Developmental Gym! It's a bigger surface and allowed my little peanut some real crawling and rolling around space. It has arches that can be placed in multiple positions and tons of places to hook toys. The fabric is plush and soft and I even dragged it along on outside excursions as a place to play in the outdoors!

LLB at 1 Month Old (Baby Einstein Mat)

LLB at 4 Months Old (Baby Einstein Mat)


LLB at 8 Months Old (Tiny Love Mat)

Product Information
ActiviTot Developmental Gym
Made by Tiny Love
Baby-activated nature music mirror
Tummy time pillow
Two safe, bendable arches
Priced at approximately $80
Find yours at Google

Buying Tip: A play mat is a play mat. Like I said I like this one because it offered a large play surface and lots of customizable options, but for some a smaller, simpler mat will do. In the end go for the one that attracts you! Your baby will likely be enthralled with anything that you like, too!

Tummy Time for All,
Bronwyn

*this is a reposting of a review originally posted 10/25/06