Developing mat for a child with their own hands - patterns, interesting ideas and recommendations

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 12:45

At present, a developing baby mat can be purchased at specialized children's stores. A lot of companies, different variations of its patterns, elements for development, color schemes tempt young parents to buy. But many mothers think about a do-it-yourself developmental rug, because this is an opportunity to choose natural materials, decorative elements for development, a manifestation of their imagination. And most importantly - the love invested in the creation of a unique and one-of-a-kind developmental rug for your baby.

What is a baby development mat

This is a knitted or textile fabric, which is decorated with many bright appliqués and moving elements for play. For newborns, the rug is supplemented with a special frame on which various bright toys are hung, made of different materials with squeakers, reflective surfaces,rustling elements. The stores offer square or rectangular models, often with buttons for raising the sides along the edge of the main canvas. On sale you can find round-shaped rugs, designed according to the same principle.

Why do we need a developmental mat for children from 0 months and beyond

Did you know that a newborn's brain is not fully developed by the time it is born? Namely, in the first years of his life there is a particularly active development of neural connections in the brain. The number of connections created, and in general, the whole process is significantly influenced by the environment and the time spent on activities with the baby.

Thanks to the developing mat, the child will be able to:

• Learn the color palette.
• Learn to identify objects by their shape and distinguish them by size.
• Train fine motor skills of hands.
• Distinguish textures.
• Learn to focus on different subjects.
• Train your logic and memory.
• Improve movement coordination.
• Develop imagination.
• Learn to count.
• Develop speech through role play on the mat.
• Learn the alphabet.
• Develop mental abilities.
• Memorize and learn new concepts and words.
• Learn elementary actions - with laces, zipper.

The developmental mat for a child is a favorite toy for several years, from 0 to 3, matpreferably used with simple elements. For children over 3 years old, it is interesting to create more complex details, where the child will need to perform some actions to get the result (fasten the zipper, unbutton the button, attach an object to the Velcro, etc.). A do-it-yourself developing mat for children can be upgraded over time, and supplemented with various elements that especially attract your baby.

Prices and reviews for development mats

In stores you can find educational mats for children, the prices of which vary from 800 to 8000 rubles. The difference lies in the size, decorative elements for games, the material from which the rug is made, and, accordingly, in the country of origin. It is important to note that, despite the difference in the price of developing mats for children, the reviews of parents are almost identical. Of course, this is a useful thing for the development of a child up to three years. Most models have their own minor drawbacks: some details turn out to be superfluous, others, on the contrary, are missing, and therefore parents are forced to buy additional educational books and cubes.

The benefits of a DIY rug

Of course, everything that is done by one's own hands is considered more reliable and suitable. Let's break down the main benefits:

• Savings.

  In specialized stores there are a large number of educational mats for children, the price of which varies from inexpensive, but simple, to brighter and more interesting ones for a significant amount. By creating a rug yourself, you cansave a lot, as various pieces of fabric and other items that are available in every home are used for its manufacture.

• Material.

  Developing rug for children from 0 months old should be made only from natural materials, especially the canvas itself, on which the child will lie or sit. The choice of fabric for tailoring is a very important point. In addition, many of the decorative elements that will be placed on the play mat can be picked up by yourself and fixed as it should be, without relying on the manufacturer when buying in a store.

• Size.

  Great opportunity to make a rug with a margin or the shape that you like the most (circle, square, rectangle). Tip - it is better to make a larger rug so that as the child grows, more elements can be added, and at the same time interest in it does not disappear.

• Educational elements.

  A selection of all the necessary material for creating game elements and scenery is completely in your hands. This will allow not only to realize your own ideas, but also to repeat any design.

  

• Process.

  You will get great pleasure when making your own developing mat for a child. This is a great opportunity to show your imagination, embody interesting creative ideas, based on the interests of your baby. Love and care will be invested in this product, and this is very important for a child.

• Uniqueness.

  This product will be one of a kind. An original approach and full compliance with the needs of your child will be an invaluable result.

Advice to parents

Before you start sewing a developing rug for children with your own hands, you should pay attention to the nuances that play an important role:

• Details should be medium in size, not too small and not too large.
• Each element consisting of images or drawings must be clear, this is important for the correct perception of the picture by the child.
• You should not make bright details large, it is better to make them smaller, and make delicate pastel or dark colors larger. A flashy bright palette will not cause much joy in the baby, but on the contrary, he will get tired very quickly on the rug, because the eyes will get a lot of stress.
• Don't leave the mat on the floor if the baby is just learning to walk, because it can catch on the decorative elements and tear them off, or fall.

• For a better orientation to the subjects and objects on the rug, it is best to accompany them with certain illustrations. And to consolidate the result when walking on the street, show images in reality, for example, a tree, or a car, or a cat.

  

From what to make a developing mat for children with your own hands

First of all, you need to decide how exactly the rug should look, and whatdecorative elements for the game will be located on it. Best of all, try to sketch a sketch on a sheet of paper for a clearer understanding.

Developing mats for children from 0 months old should be made from natural fabrics, in extreme cases, high-quality semi-synthetic ones, in order to exclude possible allergic reactions in babies to the material. So, let's prepare the material.

Main canvas

For him, it is best to choose a dense plain fabric. An excellent option would be a thin drape or fleece, you can use a flannelette baby blanket. The size of the fabric cuts for the base completely depends on your own imagination and wishes, you can do it right away with a margin, or you can make a small compact rug.

Fabrics such as linen, chintz, gabardine or suit fabrics with natural wool fibers are well suited for the front side. For lining, do not use satin or satin, as it will slip very much, it is better to take cotton jersey, chintz, velveteen or linen. It is best to lay a synthetic winterizer between the fabrics so that the rug is soft and warm.

Decorative elements

For decorative elements and applications, any flaps or things that you don’t mind cutting are suitable. It is very important to select materials of different textures so that the child develops tactile functions. For decor, materials such as buttons, Velcro, zippers, hooks, various fasteners, pockets, plastic bottle caps, laces, ribbons, pads filled with various cereals or beans, pasta, musical,thundering, beeping and rustling elements.

The main thing - remember that you should not use those toys with small parts that are impossible or very difficult to fix on the rug, babies, especially those under one year old, like to put everything in their mouths and can swallow a poorly attached part. Also, do not use materials that break, crumble, or come off. A do-it-yourself developmental rug for children who are 3 years old can be further supplemented with more complex elements for games.

Rug design ideas

Don't be upset if it's hard to decide what is better to use and sew on the rug so that the child would be interested in playing on it. A developing mat for children up to a year old, which has a simply chaotic placement of different elements, will arouse the baby's interest in touching and pulling them. But if the child is older, then it is better to use more complex elements, where you need to open something, stick it, move it, etc.

The following are a few rug design ideas:

1. The simplest plot is a landscape. Elements such as the sun, clouds, trees, grass, houses, cars, road, etc. are placed on the developing mat for the child.
2. You can make a rug that resembles a roadway - here you can place houses, roads, traffic lights, a garage, a gas station and other elements. On such a rug, the baby will be happy to play with cars.
3. It's very interesting if you make a rug on the theme "seasons", for this it is enough to divide the base into four parts, in each ofwhich the corresponding application will be located.
4. The same plan can create a rug on the theme of "weather", it already depends on the imagination, what weather conditions are best depicted (rain, sun, snow, wind, night, day).
5. For an older age, it will be interesting to play with a rug, which is a large castle or a house with many doors and windows, locks and other decorative elements.
6. You can make a rug with the image of the animal world, where domestic and wild animals, birds and insects will be located in different parts of the base.

A do-it-yourself developmental rug for children (3 years old) will be no less interesting, as it can be supplemented with a huge number of complex elements - laces, zippers, locks, hooks, Velcro and more.

Decoration Ideas

Developing mat for a child should be presented with a variety of elements that it would be interesting for the baby to play with. Let's look at interesting ideas for a possible implementation of a number of details:

• A butterfly that can fly. The wings are sewn only to the body of the butterfly, you can add the wings with buttons to fix them, or leave them in free action.
• Ships or cars that can move on a specially fixed cord.
• Opening windows and doors in houses, castles, cars, etc.
• Different in color palette and size buttons or beads, or plastic bottle caps,or plastic eggs from kinder surprises that can be moved around with laces.
• Pockets of various sizes and geometric figures inserted into them with laces.
• The bee that hid behind the flower can be supplemented with the ability to sit on the flower using Velcro.
• Lace-up tent.
• Moving curtains on the windows.
• Hedgehog with leaves and apples, which are fixed with Velcro or buttons.
• Ladybug with long beaded lace legs.
• Shoe with lacing that can be untied and tied.
• Zip pocket.
• Numbers and letters on Velcro or laces.
• Decorative mirror. A piece of foil cut to size can be glued onto the plastic cover.
• Shuttering plastic eggs from Kinder, which can be filled with different cereals, you can make bags of dense fabric of this kind.

There are many decorative elements that you can create very easily with your own hands. Try, experiment and fantasize.

Sew the playing field and decorative elements

Making a rug is actually not that difficult with at least basic sewing skills. In order to make the base, we make a pattern from the prepared fabric cuts, after which we sew it around the edges, after putting the insulation inside. Several patterns of developing rugs for children are presented in the pictures below.

After that, the invented plot of the rug, drawn on a sheet of paper in the form of a sketch, is translated into reality, gradually placing elements on it. It is important not to get confused and place elements from the background to the foreground - the tree is in the back, the grass is in the front.

Decorative elements of the developing rug are first created separately, after which they are sewn individually to the main fabric. Details are best hemmed first by hand, then on a sewing machine.

Developing mat is a great toy with many elements for the comprehensive development of the child. Making it yourself, there is a great opportunity to show your imagination, approach tailoring from the creative side. Your child deserves only the very best, and a toy made by mom's favorite hands is priceless.