It’s finally happening! Your baby is becoming mobile! This is exciting, but are you ready? I wasn’t, but I did a ton of research and I recovered quickly. And once I had her all set up with a safe and fun environment, I got a lot of positive feedback from other moms. This type of set-up is great if you don’t have a dedicated playroom space, and may be great even if you do. It is also great as an alternative playspace to a playroom, perhaps in a different area of the house. Our play area was set up visible from the kitchen allowing our daughter to play independently while we prepared meals.
I started off by noticing there was a need for a play mat. I tend to overthink purchases that I make, and this was no exception (but I am glad I did):
- It had to be big. Big enough for her to be able to roll and not roll off every time. Big enough for her to be able to play.
- It had to be thick enough so to cushion her head if she fell.
- It had to be leak resistant and easy to clean. I didn’t want to have to get the puzzle piece mats if I didn’t have to because I had read stories of drinks leaking between the crack and hardwood floors like mine being ruined. I also heard from moms I know that they are a pain to keep sanitized.
- Not ugly.
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This Skip Hop Activity Mat was the only one that really fit the bill, and more. One large mat that you can roll up, but still thick enough to protect her head during a fall. The size would be perfect for rollers, crawlers and walkers. Oh and it’s cute! It had a decorative side that fit right into our home decor, and a fun side! Relatively easy to clean (does take some elbow grease), and waterproof! It is also an excellent option to use in the nursery instead of a rug and would certainly help to break the fall of a crib-diver.
It didn’t take me long to realize my crawler wouldn’t stay on the mat unless there were some barriers in place. I wanted something that:
- Had a nice large play area.
- Something versatile that we could arrange multiple different ways.
- Something strong enough that my baby could pull herself up.
- It needed to be fun looking and not feel or look like a jail.
- It needed walls tall enough to keep her in, and the dog out.
I finally found this baby play pen on Amazon that actually met my requirements. I was hesitant by its no-name style of marketing (you will see what I mean), but after reading a bunch of reviews and comparing it to the competition, I gave it a try. Thank goodness it worked out and I can now say it was worth the money. It worked great, and was able to stand up nice and stable on our hardwood floors. It also had some non-skid feet that worked well. I bought 2 extra panels to make the space that much bigger.
Initially we set the playpen up around the play mat. We were able to create a large playspace in rooms that were otherwise not suitable to be used as playrooms (fireplace, winerack, etc). We have since used the fencing to block a step up in our living room. We have broken it up into smaller sections that we use to block our TV console table shelving, a wine rack, and we have used it to prevent our toddler from running through the screens on our screen porch. I hope if you choose to buy it that you will get as much bang for your buck as we did.
