Best Puzzle Mats For Babies & Toddlers

Puzzle Mat Picks for Play, Learning & Comfort

Puzzle mats for babies are real all-rounders: they serve as a baby mat, as a toy or also as a learning aid (for the ABCs, for example). They often consist of several pieces that your baby can playfully put together.

Other puzzle mats have a hole structure into which certain shapes can be puzzled. At the same time, the puzzle mat can also simply serve as a cushioning floor mat for your baby if he or she is still too small for puzzles. With our guide and comparison, you will receive tips and assistance with which you can quickly find the right puzzle mat for your baby and you.

Best Puzzle Play Mat

This large baby floor mat is great for tummy time and includes a portable kid’s play mat case to easily stow or take with you when traveling. Kids playmate features a reversible design of a town scene and a jungle scene to inspire the baby with interactive play and colorful illustrations.

Best Puzzle Mats For Babies & Toddlers Review

Best Puzzle Play Mats For Kids

• Puzzle mats usually consist of individual squares that are repeatedly placed together.
• Some mats also have removable puzzle pieces.
• For younger children, the puzzle mat must not contain small parts.
• Most are suitable for children 3 years and older.
• Because of the foam, puzzle mats are sound absorbing and heat insulating.
• A puzzle mat should be slip and tear-resistant.
• For some puzzle mats, there are borders, additional motif sets, or transport bags.
• Puzzle mats promote eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, and logical thinking.
• A mat with numbers and letters playfully promotes up to elementary school age.
• Puzzle rugs should be PAH and form amide free.

Best Puzzle Play Mats For Babies & Toddlers Review

Baby Care Play Mat for Infants

The Baby Care Play Mat provides a safe and hygienic place for babies and children to play. The cushioned mat protects against hard falls when kids do what they do best: crawl, tumble, and topple over when learning to sit and stand.

Prince Lionheart Develop Baby Mat Shapes

Clean-cut shapes provide a simple escape for Baby in a new world filled with over-stimulation. High contrast means that the baby can clearly see the shapes on the MAT, stimulating cognitive and spatial development from birth on. Easy to clean.

Tadpoles Soft EVA Foam 36 Piece ABC Playmat Set for Babies

Great for early learning! Bright and colorful letters & numbers spark your child’s imagination and creativity while playing. It also improves child Visual Sensory Development & Hand-Eye Coordination.

Puzzle rugs can be long-lasting playmates. They serve as a floor mat when your child plays on the floor, cushioning it much better than a simple rug. With this, a puzzle mat can also be a great rug for furniture that your child slides or tips off of every now and then. Thus, it can also replace a carpet in the children’s room in the long term.

A puzzle rug can also be an insulating carpet pad for a cold floor. Even if your neighbors complain about the noise from the children’s room, or it is sometimes too loud for you yourself, it can be a good idea for the children’s room, because puzzle mats have a sound-absorbing effect.

Many puzzle mats can be strung together in completely different ways to create many different shapes. So the puzzle rug for your baby will never be boring. Some puzzle mats also have educational value and can help your baby learn. In addition, some puzzle mats can also be put together to form houses or other structures.

With a puzzle mat, however, it is especially important that you pay attention to good quality. There are many models on the market that do not guarantee your baby’s safety. So before you buy a baby puzzle mat, be sure to find out about any dangers and the quality of the product you want.

• Advantages:

1. Many years of playing fun.
2. Cushions when playing on the floor.
3. Absorbs minor falls.
4. Heat insulating against the cold floor.
5. Sound absorbing property.
6. Wide range of play possibilities.
7. Pedagogically valuable toy.

• Disadvantages:

1. Possibly polluted or not tear-resistant – you should look for quality seals when buying!

Puzzle mats come in numerous colors and designs, sizes, and features. Some puzzle mats consist only of printed mat pieces that can be placed together as desired. Others have an additional puzzle function through removable inserts in the mat pieces.

Many puzzle mats can be expanded by purchasing additional sets. Thus, the play world can grow with your baby and the puzzle mat can become more interesting again with new incentives. Other foam puzzles can be supplemented with additional parts around a border, so that your baby or his toys can not easily roll off the mat.

The common puzzle mats today are mostly made of EVA foams. EVA is an abbreviation and stands for ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and is nothing more than foamed plastic. It is often referred to as foam rubber, which is not entirely correct. EVA’s foam is characterized, for example, by its heat-insulating properties.

The material itself is completely unproblematic in terms of health. However, solvents or blowing agents that are hazardous to health may be used in the production of plastic. When choosing the right puzzle mat for your baby, it is important to make sure that no solvent was used in the manufacturing process.

By the way, the EVA foam itself can smell a bit strong when unpacked. Extensive airing should make the annoying smell disappear permanently. Some manufacturers now use polyethylene instead of the common EVA foam.

The solvent form amide is particularly harmful to health. It is one of the so-called CMR substances, which are considered carcinogenic, mutagenic, or harmful to embryos. Form amide is often used because, unlike other solvents, it is odorless. Unfortunately, formamide has not been banned for use in the manufacture of toys to date. If it was used in the manufacture of a foam rubber mat, the substance may be released over time. The good news is that many manufacturers are now eliminating the use of formamide.

PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) have also been repeatedly detected in sponge rubber mats. PAHs are considered hazardous to health because they are classified as carcinogenic.

Many manufacturers release their products for children from 3 years. This is because many puzzle mats contain small parts due to the removable elements. It is best to make sure that the new foam puzzle does not contain small parts when you buy it. If in doubt, you can also remove the parts as a precaution if they seem too dangerous.

Also, make sure that your child cannot bite the mat parts. Children under the age of three still put a lot of things in their mouths. Babies generally like to examine things with their sensitive mouths. This could lead to unpleasant incidents if they get a piece of mat out and swallow it.

How does a puzzle mat help my child?

When assembling the individual pieces, your baby’s eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills are challenged. In addition, a puzzle play mat in the nursery also promotes logical thinking. Your child must now first find out which shape fits into which recess!

For this purpose, the puzzle mat offers numerous possibilities, how it can be reassembled again and again. This encourages your baby’s creativity. Some mats also have different surface textures, which further educate your child’s senses.

A letter mat introduces your little one to the shapes of numbers and letters at an early age and thus encourages playful handling. By placing them on the mat, the shapes of the letters are visualized and become tactile. If the letters then also play hide-and-seek, play and learning fun is guaranteed.

Cleaning and care of a puzzle mat for babies.

Foam mats are usually not machine washable. In most cases, you can simply clean them with a damp cloth and some washing-up liquid. In any case, you should follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning the puzzle mat, because some manufacturers specify only dry cleaning for their product. With careful cleaning, nothing stands in the way of many years of use of the baby’s puzzle mat.

Baby Crawling on ABC puzzle mat – Video