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15 Plus uses other than being sat on for the puzzle ABC or Number foam mats!
Anyone who has ever had one of these brilliant foam floor mats will tell you that its just that, a foam floor mat. Today I want to share and show you that there are so many creative, free play and educational ideas to use these mats for!
Besides using these as the floor in our kids area at our house to protect from the titled floor, our first obvious ideas are to use these mats to teach the ABC and numbers by using them as puzzles. Further uses in the classroom or homeschooling include using the foam mat puzzle squares for circle time.
We have used the squares to make a box for picking up toys as well as stacking blocks while watching the balls fall through the holes in the side. Or for playing cars inside a tunnel castle that you can make together.
I have even had moms tell me to stick the letters and numbers on the nursery walls as decor.
When my 2nd was around 7 or 8 months old he commandeered the “1” from the numbers set as a teething toy to help get the front teeth out. I was constantly removing it from his grasp and washing all the drool off!
Here is what our blog friends have been doing with their ABC puzzle foam mats.
For your convenience all links will open in a new window / tab for further reading.
Mamas like me has a lovely learning game for Learning Lower-Case Letters, I also love the ideas for variations on this activity.
The Chirping Moms list their play mat as one of the many things that Help Teach the ABC’s and it also doubles as a gymnastics mat! I have very much been pondering using mine as a temporary Yoga mat until I can get my hands on a proper one.
Momma’s Fun World likes to play I spy letters with her foam mat, which I think is just brilliant.
The Outlaw Mom has Eight Indoor Hopscotch Activities you can play with your foam mats. Doesn’t it look like so much fun!
Hands on as We Grow has not one but 4 activities you can do with your foam mat for fun and learning. Including Bean Bag Toss as a Sight Word Game, Counting Blocks, Building Towers and Letter Learning Activity with the ABC Mat!
8FootSix turned her mat over and painted a road on it, very cool for the car happy little ones indeed.
Use your mats like We Can Do All Things and color sort with blocks or basically anything else colorful.
1plus1plus1equals1 uses the lettering for spelling visuals in her Batman Preschool Pack.
And Next Comes L has a picture summary of So Much More Than a Foam Mat, ranging from forts, costumes, obstacle course, a maze and more!
Learners in Bloom has 15 more Activities with an Alphabet Puzzle Mat, I very much like the idea of playing twister.
Deztiny says
Thanks for all the great ideas! I got these for my toddler few months ago and I also have the issue of her taking them all out and all the squares apart and they end up everywhere. I put them back together a few times a day. Anyone have any tips for keeping them together so she can’t get them apart? I prefer to be able to get them apart at a later time tho- when the letters are not in them she looses her footing (learner) thanks again
Nicolette Roux says
How about trying some simple white school glue? When you want to get it off all you have to do is soak the mats with water. I would do a test first though 😉
Joi says
Anyone have any tips for cleaning these?
Nicolette Roux says
I use soapy water and a sponge then rinse and lean them up against each other to dry in the sun.
Melissa says
Hello I was just wondering for taping them or keeping the mats together permanently how to do that as mine always come apart also for cleaning JOI I use fantastic spray with a cloth it cleans them and disinfects them ! Also I have used a mop and mr clean and works like charm just stand up to let dry or lay flat and tell no one to go on them for bout hr ! Hope this helps 😉 ?
Anna@The Measured Mom says
Great round up! I have to admit those puzzle mats drive me crazy — we have one at our church’s playgroup and my boys like to take all the letters up and stack them. Yay to these moms for seeing past that and finding the learning opportunities : ) Thanks for sharing at After School!
Kelly Anne says
is that a wall…. of floor mats? GENIUS!
Powerful Mothering says
No wall, but that is a genius idea too! <3
Powerful Mothering says
15 plus ideas…
Emma says
Thanks for this great compilation! I was wondering if I should get these for my daughter for X-Mas and now I know I will. So many fun things we can do with them!
Nicolette Roux says
Pleasure Emma! I am sure there are even more things one can think up too!
Have fun!