Best baby gyms & playmats for newborns and toddlers
Our selection of baby play mats for newborns
Our selection of play mats & gyms for toddlers
Your baby’s development relies on the various awakening activities they do. It’s all about stimulating his brain so that one is able to make connections and draw conclusions from an early age. It has been proven that most children who have had an activity gym as a baby have a more open mind. So, it is quite normal that so many parents and nurseries are interested in this accessory.
What should you be looking for in a play mat? One that is safe, practical, easy to transport and why not, evolutive to keep your baby entertained for months, or even years!
We have gathered the best baby gyms from each price point and for every ages to ensure you find the play equipment that works for you and your baby.
Best baby gym for newborns
To rest or to develop their senses, from the first few weeks of their life, your little one will appreciate a soft comfortable baby mat. A nice addition to the mat is a baby gym. Your baby will love reaching up for its hanging toys. Here are our to pick baby playmats.
Our favourite newborn play mats
Skip Hop Silver Lining Cloud Activity Gym
For your first baby gym, this option is cute and affordable. With light colors, and soft material, cushions for multiple positions, things that light up, and music too! This baby play gym also comes with a mirror, rattle, and propping pillow to engage your newborn’s curiosity.
Tiny Love Dynamic Gymini Activity Gym
This colorful mat has all the lights, music, noises and textures to awake your baby’s curiosity. It even have an electronic bird toy that records voice
On a practical level it’s a good small size mat (100 x 90 cm) that will fit anywhere with adjustable arches for more play modes.
Best budget baby gym
MiniDream Baby Musical Jumbo Playmat
This mat doesn’t have as much bling or padding as the Skip Hop play mat but it’s half the price and it’s equally cute and soft. It comes with 3 detachable hanging toys that you can hang on your car seat and pram. It also comes with a bag and can be easily dismantled and transported, making it a great versatile budget mat.
Best crawling mat for young babies
Tiny Love Black and White Super Mat
A simpler mat that the options above, but a great choice if you want a bigger mat to allow your little one to start crawling. The high contrast design and activities (mirror, fringes) will capture your baby’s attention and keep them entertained.
Pros
- Medium size: 150 x 100 cm
- Machine washable
- Foldable with a button system to carry it easily
- Grows with your baby, it will last longer than other newborn play mats.
Cons
- Not as many activities as the other baby mats in this selection
A great addition to this bigger mat, is a sit-me-up seat to encourage baby to sit up. Take a look at our best tips and favourite baby floor seats to help little ones sit up by themselves.
Best playmats for toddlers
If your little one is starting to crawl, a playmat is the perfect accessory to make sure they can play and explore safely. We’ve selected bigger play mats than the newborns ones so your baby have all the space they need to crawl around and have more toys around.
Best activity mat
Bright Starts 5-in-1 Your Way Ball Play
Lots or bright colours and various sounds to catch your baby’s attention. There are ten different toys to grab, rattle, suck and squeeze. The gym is well made and the mat is machine washable. The great thing is that this mat is evolutive. It has five different setups depending on your baby’s age. So you’ll ba able to use it for years.
Best large play mat
Bammax Baby Playmat
This is the ultimate space saver if you want a large mat but you don’t want it to take all the space in your house all the time. Nicely padded, it will transform any hard floors into super soft play area for your little one. and when you’re done with it you simply fold it and tuck it away.
It comes in four designs each of them offering two sides with two different illustrations.
Pros
- Waterproof
- Easy to clean
- Reversible
- Foldable
- Extra large
- Thick foam padding
Best budget play mat
Winthome Baby Play Mat
It’s a good size machine washable mat with a lovely design. It has a non slip coating on the bottom so you can use it safely on hard flooring. The best feature is the toggles at the edge to bundle it up with toys inside is brilliant. It makes it so easy to pack it up to store it or move baby’s play area with all their toys around the house. At that price, it’s a steal!
Baobë Large Crawling Mat
For a large baby playmat, this one is too cute to pass up. With its elegant colours, cute animal design and soft cushy cotton fabric, this one is sure to look amazing in your baby’s room.
Great for use under a wooden baby gym, or as a soft landing place for a cruising babe. You can choose among 3 super cute animal designs.
Pros
- Super Large Size: 145cm*195cm
- Nice thick padding (1.5cm)
- High quality cotton, very soft on your baby’s skin
- Non toxic
- Non slippery
Cons
- Maybe too big for some washing machines
Special mention for elegant design
Hakuna Play Mat
If you’re looking for the most “Pinteresty” play mat, look no more. With it’s black and white elegant design this play mat will look amazing in any nursery.
Extra large, extra thick, waterproof and easy to clean. This mat is an excellent choice for your little crawler.
Extra suggestions for toddlers play mats
We’ve selected quite versatile mat for crawlers that can also be used for older toddlers. However we wanted to show you some more original additions that could make your baby play area even more entertaining.
Soft flooring
Alphabet Foam Play Mat
In order to cover a large floor space for free-roaming toddlers, foam play mat tiles are ideal. The bright primary colours of most baby foam tiles can be overstimulating for small children. The contrast of these grey play mat tiles is stylish and just stimulating enough. The plus is in the educational dimension with the letters and numbers. Use one set for a play pen, or buy two or three to fill an entire playroom floor!
Farm mat
Le Toy Van Farm Play Mat
For a great indoor or outdoor play mat, the Le Toy Van farm play mat is a winner. The imagery on this mat shows a beautiful field of growing crops, pens for animals, rolling hills, a plot for a build-it-yourself farmhouse, and a twisting country road. Easy to roll up and store, and non-slip for safe toddler, this activity play mat is super convenient. What really sets this mat apart is the high-quality, highly detailed Le Toy Van plastic animals and toy vehicle sets that are sold separately.
Accessories for adventurous babies
Implay Soft Play Activity Set
For the active baby, this foam gym equipment is perfect! Finally, something safe for your baby to climb all over. This foam play gym comes in two pieces, that can be used seperately or pieced together. Baby will spend hours navigating the slope and stairs of this awesome baby play gym!
So which one is your favourite? Did you go for a stylish grey one or for a more colourful one?
Now that you know where your baby will be playing, you may be interested in checking out one of our other article, the best sensory toys for baby. It will help you figure out which toys are best for helping baby build their motor and language skills.