Every caring parent should know how to help their child improve. For example, he can make a developmental mat for him with his own hands. This children's carpet is not only playful, but also useful in terms of improving intellectual abilities baby. You can sew many such rugs. Best ideas Such works are described in this article.

The developmental mat can be used even for newborns. From 0 to one year, it can be a lying-crawling mat; it can be assembled from bright scraps, colored appliqués, tactile paths for fingers can be made to develop fine motor skills. For older kids, you can place figures of animals and insects, leaves and flowers, and letters on it. Such a rug will become not only a useful toy, but also a decoration for a child’s room and a convenient accessory for walking. You can easily find patterns on the Internet.

A developmental mat is useful in improving a child’s intellectual abilities

Child psychologists believe that such a product must be present in the house where the baby lives. There are many reasons for this, the main one is that such a carpet helps a small child develop tactile sensations.

You can find a developmental carpet in children's store or make it yourself for your children. In addition, there are quite a lot of ideas for such works. Here are some of them:

• Didactic children's carpet.
• Sensory children's carpet.
• Pompom flooring.
• Puzzle mat.
• Mosaic rug, etc.

One of the components happy child, is its development. Well, who, other than parents, is most interested in their child growing and developing? The key to parental love is care. It is the caring parent who must ensure that his child develops harmoniously.

By making a developmental mat for a child, a parent will help him with this.

Gallery: DIY educational mat (25 photos)

How to make an educational mat with your own hands (video)

Why is it needed?

Specialists such as pediatricians and child psychologists have not yet agreed on the single functional purpose of such children's carpets. However, they all believe that their use at home has a beneficial effect on both the cognitive and mental properties of the baby’s personality.

In order for such a product to really help the baby develop, it is important that he devotes quite a lot of the time he allocates for play activities to the mat. However, parents should make sure that their child does not give preference exclusively to the carpet among all his toys. It is important to follow this rule, because otherwise, the child may grow up to be a pronounced introvert. This means that he will be fixated exclusively on his own inner world.

In order for such a product to really help the baby develop, it is important that he devotes quite a lot of the time he allocates for play activities to the mat

There is no need to hope that such a rug will replace the baby’s parents. However, it can make their task much easier. For example, while the baby’s mother is preparing food, her child will be busy playing with a developmental mat. It is especially useful for kindergarten teachers.

Therefore, answering the question: “Is it necessary to use such a rug?”, one can answer unequivocally, yes, it is necessary.

How to sew a developmental mat with your own hands for kindergarten?

Such a rug will not only bring practical benefits to children, but will also decorate the nursery.

You need to do it like this:

1. For this work you will need cotton fabric. It is better to use fabric of different colors. Small pieces are cut out and sewn together. It is recommended to use a sewing machine. The shape of the carpet should resemble a cover.
2. Then pieces of drape are cut out. The drape is inserted into a sewn cover.
3. This method of creating a rug must use many buttons of different colors and different sizes. Button “islands” will be created. For example, on the bottom left side of the product you need to embroider a butterfly with buttons. To do this, you need to draw its silhouette on the fabric with a pencil in advance.
4. A little to the right you can embroider a hedgehog, and below - a house.
5. Make each item a different size and color to help young children identify it more easily.

Such a rug will not only bring practical benefits to children, but will also decorate the nursery.

Advice: all objects on such a product should be depicted as positive, for example, a hedgehog needs to embroider a smile with red thread.

Sensory developmental mat for baby

A child’s sensory perception is formed at the moment of his contact with sensory objects. Therefore, creating such a carpet will be of great practical value for a small child.

Master Class:

1. You will need a lot of fabric scraps to sew individual elements. It is also worth considering the fabric surface, which will become the basis of the product. Cotton fabric is perfect.
2. You need to prepare two square pieces of fabric of the same color and sew them. The seam should be on the wrong side.
3. Then you should think about what elements will be on the rug. It could be a Christmas tree, a hedgehog, a strawberry, a lion, a penguin, etc. To sew each of these elements you need to select a fabric of the appropriate color. Each of the parts should be large enough so that the baby can see it well.

A child’s sensory perception is formed at the moment of his contact with sensory objects

How to make a teaching mat?

From childhood, young children should be able to establish simple cause-and-effect relationships. A teaching mat is the best assistant in this matter. It is important to do it in such a way that the child can follow the logical chain.

So, the way to create such a product:

1. You need to prepare a base carpet. A fabric folded in half and stitched in this way is suitable as a base. It is important that the seam is on the wrong side.
2. Now we need to do some didactic design to turn an ordinary rug into a developmental one.
3. You need to sew a house from several pieces of fabric. It should be as simple as possible, consisting of a square base, a triangular roof, two rectangular windows and a door.
4. All elements are sewn into the rug by hand. It is recommended to use thread that matches the fabric. The stitches should not be too large.
5. Now you need to sew a road going from the house somewhere, for example, to the kindergarten. The road should be curved.
6. Next, another road is made, leading to another object, for example, to a store. You need to make the elements in such a way that the baby understands exactly what they mean. For example, if a hospital is depicted, then a house with a red cross in the center is made.

Young children should be able to establish simple cause-and-effect relationships from childhood

Tip: It will be difficult for a child to independently identify all the objects on such a developmental mat, so it is important that parents explain to him all the symbols.

• The detailing should be not too large, but not too small. Each element must be clear so that the baby can clearly see what exactly is depicted in front of him.
• Bright details should be smaller than dark or dull ones. A flashy color scheme will not please your baby. Therefore, if the rug is too bright, the child will quickly get tired of playing with it. It's all about the excessive strain on his eyes.
• If a child walks around the house on stilts, it is better to remove the rug from the floor, since if he runs over it, he can tear off some parts, for example, buttons. Also, the baby may fall, catching on the edge of the carpet.

So let's get started.

The dimensions of the rug are 1m by 1m.
1. Required materials:
- base fabric with a children's pattern. Calico, 2 m
- plastic hoop, diameter 90cm
- plain fabric, 4 colors (let’s call it background), 30 cm each. The ideal option is a raincoat fabric with fleece.
- padding polyester 1.5 m
- Velcro tape (Velcro) white and black
- laces, elastic bands, ribbons, fabrics of different textures, etc.
- rustling candy wrappers :))))

2. Cut the fabric- base and plain fabrics.

Those. we get:

Two pieces of base fabric: 1m by 1m and 63cm by 63cm

Two pieces of plain fabrics 21.5 cm by 1 m
- two pieces of plain fabrics 21.5 cm by 63 cm

The remains of plain fabrics are used to sew developmental elements.
This cutting is the most convenient in terms of assembling the rug, so in this master class we will consider it. I make allowances with a good margin - as much as one and a half cm, just in case.

3. Sew developmental elements onto the background.
There are several rules here (we focus on ages from 3-5 months):
- large
- contrasting
- It's clear
- reliable and safe
- ban on small details
You shouldn’t puff and overload the mat with development tools; a child at this age will not appreciate it. It’s also better to save all sorts of locks, zippers, etc. for a later age.

We take into account that children love to fiddle with strings, pull rustling leaves, ears, wings, open and close, find something that is not immediately visible, and touch different textures. Don’t forget that what we are depicting will need to be named to the child and told something.
Here, for example: House. There are flowers on the window, clothes are drying on a line nearby (we call it with an older child).

We open the rustling door (fastening is Velcro)... And it turns out that a girl lives in the house! I like to make the eyes from black Velcro, the soft half. I just cut it out and sew it tightly by hand. I sewed the second half of Velcro onto the palms - with hooks, so you can play the favorite children's game "peek-a-boo" with your palms. The girl's arms are like one cord: you pull one arm, the other becomes shorter. The hair is tightly sewn yarn.

And a girl can giggle at a frog that catches butterflies with a net))))).

And so on. Other examples of developmental elements can be found in my posts about rugs: http://happynata.blogspot.ru/2014/03 and http://happynata.blogspot.ru/2014/02

4. We assemble the front part of the rug from pieces.

First we sew the short pieces to the central part. It is imperative to maintain an allowance of exactly 1.5 cm! Now we sew on the long pieces. Same with allowance.

All developmental elements should be directed towards the center so that the child can, after twisting and turning, choose for himself what interests him or crawl from one element to another. The central part, in fact, is needed for this, to lie down and crawl comfortably, so we don’t attach anything here!

5. Making arcs.

We saw off two arcs from the hoop, 125 cm and 132 cm long.

We cut the padding polyester - two cuts of 1.5 m in length and approximately along the circumference of the arc (with a margin) in width, i.e. about 10-15 cm. Accuracy is not important here.

Now we need to wrap the arcs with this padding polyester. We wrap and strengthen well with threads:

This is what you should end up with:

Now we cover the arcs with fabric.

Hoops can be thin or thick, so I can’t give the exact dimensions of the parts. We wrap a measuring tape around the resulting arc (not tightly) and add allowances. This will be the width of the fabric cut, take the length to be 1.5 m - we will cut off the excess on the spot. Naturally, we cut off two of these))).

Fold the fabric with the right side inward, stitch it, sewing on loops and ties along the way, if necessary. Below I’ll write how to sew a clever thing that makes these ties unnecessary. We turn it inside out and insert the arcs there. And for now we put it aside.

6. Sew the rug and quilt it with padding polyester.

Don't turn it out yet. We cut the padding polyester 1m by 1m and put it on top. We grab it in the corners and in the middle of the sides to the rug. Now he won’t move or get lost anywhere.

Turn it inside out. Sew it up.

We quilt along the connecting lines of the fabrics and somewhere else, if we are not too lazy))). The main thing is to baste it first, because when sewing, the padding polyester will absolutely pull the fabric to the side.

7. Attaching the arches to the mat.

Of all the options I considered, I liked this one. The arcs are threaded through the holes and secured with inside with wide Velcro. Firstly, it is fast (and when a child cries, minutes count), and secondly, it is reliable - tested over several months of daily use.

So. we make four slits (through and through) in the four corners - not far from the junctions of the background and the central part. And we sheathe it as best we can))). I used bias tape.

We sew the Velcro on the back side - near the cut, closer to the outer corner.

We sew the second halves of the Velcro to the arches, having first cut off the excess and folded it in. Velcro should be located on the front surface, i.e. the center seam of the arc will be at the back. In general, try it on seven times before you start sewing.

Insert the arcs crosswise. We sew fasteners for the arcs to the bottom arc (the one that is shorter) in the middle. I like to use thick webbing and Velcro. Here's what happens:

Educational mats appeared quite recently, but immediately gained wide popularity, and for good reason: this useful thing can replace early age a whole set of toys, without taking up useful space in the room. The stores have a huge selection of models for the most different ages and taste, but sometimes their prices are just off the charts. But making a developmental mat with your own hands is not so difficult. It does not require large financial costs - you just need to invest your time, a little skill, a flight of imagination, a drop of magic and wisdom, as well as every little thing that is in every home - pieces of old materials, buttons lying around idle, beads, etc. lightning, etc. Now we will teach you how to easily create such a toy for your beloved child.

Why do you need a development mat?

Before we talk about how to make a developmental mat for a child with your own hands, let's find out whether it is needed. Maybe you shouldn’t waste your time on it, but rather do something more useful?

So, what is a developmental mat for?

• Such a soft playground develops the baby's coordination of movements. Small children are laid out on a mat and their favorite toys are hung over them. Your baby will learn to feel space and grab toys with his hands.
• If you make such a product as diverse as possible, you can design a lot on it. interesting applications using colorful fabrics, this will improve your baby’s perception of the world.
• A large number of convex elements, accompanied, moreover, by sound effects, will contribute to the development of the baby’s sensory perception, and therefore his memory, hearing and logical thinking.
• For older children, this will be a favorite place to play; it will help them learn numbers, counting, the alphabet, colors and other tricks.

Games on an educational mat

Psychiatrists and pediatricians unanimously advise all mothers not to leave their beloved child just to lie down, but to play educational games with him. What can you play with your child on such a rug? Of course, games are usually limited by the capabilities of the product itself, but you can always add something to your miracle rug, and it will grow and develop with your baby:

• While the child is very small, simply stroke the mat first with your hand, then with the baby’s hand. This will allow him to feel the softness of the fabric and develop tactile sensations.
• When he gets a little older, show him the stripes - he'll probably be interested in them. Show him the noisy and sounding elements, let him touch them with his pen.
• Make secret places on the rug and hide surprises there for your little one to find. This game develops imagination and the ability to analyze.
• Sew patches of different sizes onto the product. Find small and large applications with your child, analyze which are larger and which are smaller.
• Sew on the sun, clouds, flowers, find out what color they are.

Important! You can make a farm and study animals, or make a pond and put colored fish there. Repeat during classes the name of each animal and what it says. This way the child will start speaking faster.

• It’s good if the mat has a lot of zippers and detachable elements, which perfectly develop hand motor skills. Encourage your child to independently fasten and unfasten zippers, Velcro, lacing, and move removable figures.
• As your child gets older, you can learn numbers and letters. You will be surprised how quickly your baby will master the alphabet and counting with the help of such a wonderful assistant.

What materials are best to use for a rug?

Most do-it-yourself educational children's rugs are quilted blankets covered with a variety of appliqués, pockets, flaps, zippers and other elements interesting to the child.

Here's what you need to consider here:

• It is best to make the base from natural hypoallergenic materials such as satin, felt, calico, flannel or jeans.

Important! It is better to avoid wool - it can cause allergic reactions. Silk is also undesirable for such purposes, since it is easily electrified and highly shiny, which is very harmful to the eyes. It is better not to use synthetics.

• Synthetic winterizer is perfect for filling. This material does not cause allergies and does not accumulate static electricity.
• It is best to take propylene threads, as they are durable and strong.
• Buttons of different shapes and colors.
• Colored zippers, just make sure that the zipper dog is not sharp and the child will not get hurt when playing with it.
• Various ropes, elastic bands, Velcro.
• Musical elements and other objects that produce sound - rustling paper, bells and bells.

Common mistakes when sewing a children's rug

Often, inexperienced craftswomen make mistakes when sewing a rug for children with their own hands. Let's look at the most common of them:

• There is no need to sew a mirror onto such a product. Not because the baby might see his reflection and get scared. The reason is that light is reflected from the mirror, which is very harmful to the fragile eyes of your babies.
• Another one common mistake- monotonous objects to feel on the product. The tactile sense must develop comprehensively, so such elements must be made varied.
• A uniform shiny background is also not a good idea. This is also harmful to the baby's eyes.

Stages of creating a developmental mat with your own hands

So, how to make a developmental mat for a child with your own hands, let’s look at the whole process step by step:

• First you need to create a sketch. This needs to be done on paper. Draw your end result as you imagine it.
• Now we need to make the base. It is usually made from large pieces of material onto which they are sewn additional elements. Sew the fabric on all sides. For softness, the base is filled with foam rubber or padding polyester. From below it is better to use a material that does not slip.

Important! Colored leftover materials are used to create the background. For the sky - blue, for the sun - yellow, for the grass - green. The more colored elements, the more interesting it will be for your baby.

• On the background you need to attach, sew or glue game elements - rattles, toys, pockets, zippers, fasteners, etc. This is the most difficult part of the work: selecting, sewing, and assembling the necessary elements into a single picture. Here you will have to use your imagination or use ideas from the Internet. Some toys can be secured movably - with laces or ribbons, Velcro or buttons.

Important! When making such a rug without help sewing machine You won’t be able to do it, but you’ll also have to work with your hands—the game elements will have to be sewn on by hand. Check that small parts are securely sewn and fastened so that a child does not accidentally tear them off.

Let's look at, as an example, several master classes on making a children's rug with your own hands.

Children's rug for boys

This kids rug any young car enthusiast will like:

1. Choose a thick fabric and draw a road map with a pencil. Cover the remaining fields with masking tape to prevent stains.
2. Divorce acrylic paint. We will paint the roads grey colour. If you don't have gray, just mix it up with black and white.
3. Paint the roads using a brush or roller.
4. When everything is dry, mark the roads.
5. Paint your home different colors. You can cut them out of multi-colored felt.
6. When the paint is dry, remove the tape.

Important! You can decorate your rug with cars, animals, lakes and other interesting elements to suit your taste.

Educational mat for children: “In the forest”

The main material for this product is felt. All toys are made from it. It can be made in any size - it all depends on your taste:

1. We take fabric for the base, onto which we sew the background, and then all the animals.
2. For the sky you will need blue felt. For grass - green. For the chanterelle you will need red, white and gray material. For the tree you need white and brown felt.
3. To make a design on a birch trunk, fold a white piece of felt in half and cut out a thin piece, then bend it a little more, then a little less, and cut out 1-2 pieces each time. Place the white felt strip on top of the brown one and sew one to the other.
4. We sew an owl to the top of the tree.
5. We make animals from felt. Patterns can be found on the Internet. Each animal has several details - nose, eyes, ears, tail. We cut out all the details separately, overcast them and sew them to the body.
6. It is best to start work from the top of the mat. We sew on the sky and grass, then the fox and trees. On top of all layers we sew a birch and an owl.
7. We'll use bias tape around the perimeter.

Important! TO back side It is best to sew on some rubberized fabric so that the product does not slip.

If there are many elements on the rug, they are bright and musical, then the child will not get bored with playing with them for a long time. You can make such a useful toy for your baby with your own hands. On the one hand, this will help you save money, but on the other hand, who, if not a mother, knows what will be interesting and exciting for her child? A homemade educational mat for children has several advantages over a purchased one:

• you know exactly what materials the toy is made of;
• the number of game elements is limited only by your imagination;
• the size of the hand-made rug will be as convenient for you;
• The developmental mat will be maximally adapted to your baby.

For a child up to nine months old, it will be interesting fun to study various details by touch. With an older child, you can play “travel”, while the toys will walk around the houses and clearings that are depicted on the rug. They can “swim” in the lake, hide in a train, and lie down in a crib.

A children's educational mat should contain elements that will help the child master the world. It could be different vegetables and fruits, trees and flowers, the sun and clouds, a lake with a boat or Railway with a train. A handmade rug can also have a musical element: a bell needs to be sewn into one of the details for this.

Where to start making a developmental mat for a child

Even if you have never sewn anything, try making an educational rug for children with your own hands. You'll see, you'll like the process. And the result will definitely interest your baby.

Let's take a closer look at creating an educational rug for children using the appliqué technique. Almost all materials can be found at home. The only thing you will need to go to the store for is the base for the rug, onto which we will sew all the appliqué elements. So, to create a developmental mat for a baby with our own hands, we need:

1. two large flaps of dense natural fabric;
2. a piece of filler of the same size (you can use padding polyester or foam rubber);
3. beads of different sizes, preferably wooden ones;
4. scraps of fabric of different textures, small pieces of leather;
5. buttons of different colors and sizes;
6. pieces of elastic thread;
7. Velcro tape;
8. zippers;
9. and everything else that your imagination tells you.

Small ones can be used Stuffed Toys, crocheted beads, applique toys. By the way, if you know how to crochet, make flower petals, a cute bee, a fish or a mushroom cap out of threads.

How to make a developmental mat useful for your baby

First of all, we need the mat itself. To do this, we sew together two large flaps and insert padding polyester or foam rubber inside (depending on what you bought). The base is ready. Now let's choose a plot for the rug. For example, it could be a “map of the area” with various elements - a house, a lake with a sailboat, flowers, trees, a train. Above this whole picture you can place the sky with clouds and the sun at the top.

Here are some examples of wonderful DIY educational rugs.

You can draw a sketch of the product on paper, and only then cut it out. You can knit or otherwise make parts that will be interesting to the child. Next, let's look at examples of applique elements for a rug.

Element for the rug “Ladybug”

For such a detail we need small patches of red, black and white, as well as a zipper. For the eyes and antennae you will need several beads. Inside like this ladybug you can hide another toy. This is a great visual aid for your child to learn how to fasten and unzip a zipper.

"Ship"

Make the deck of such a ship in the form of pockets. Then you can “put” toys in the boat. For the applique you need: a piece of white fabric for the sail and a colored piece for the deck. Sew the sail only along the center line so that the baby can bend it back, look and find out what is behind it. And hide the image of a small fish behind the sail.

"Fly agaric mushroom"

You will need a few white buttons, a piece of red and white fabric, a piece of green fringe to imitate grass, and a piece of lace. The mushroom cap can be crocheted. Beads, beads or a rustling plastic bag are suitable as a filler for fly agaric.

"House"

For the house you need several scraps of fabric and Velcro (or buttons). You can accommodate a cheerful resident in it. The front wall of the house will open and the baby will be able to look inside. Make the resident with Velcro. Then it can be “relocated” to any place on the rug. And make the opening wall with buttons. This will be an additional “trainer” for the child.

"Teddy bear in the crib"

A resident of the house could also be this wonderful velcro bear. He can be put to sleep in his crib. It will be doubly interesting for a child if he can open the house and then “wake up” the bear by taking it out of the crib. Instead of a bear, you can use any other character, even some small soft toy.

"Garden with vegetables"

Using this application you can learn the names of vegetables. The elements are cut out from felt scraps. We will attach them to the dark base of the garden using Velcro. Then the child will be able to tear off the vegetables and change their places.

"Locomotive"

We make train wheels from buttons. It's better when they are different sizes and colors. Then it will be more interesting for the baby. The trailers are in the form of pockets so that toys can “travel” in them. You can put any character in the driver's cab; it is advisable to leave a slot at the top so that it is easy to change him.

"Berry"

This is a musical element. You need to sew a small container into the berry, for example, from old toy"Kinder Surprise". You can hide jewelry bells in this container. Or add beads. But the bells will sound brighter. You can secure the berry with a loop so that the baby can pull it in different directions and hear a musical sound. The berry itself can be crocheted or covered with pink fabric.

"The flower that dives into a cloud"

A flower is an element that is attached with braid. Thanks to its mobility, the flower can hide in a cloud and appear back. A cloud and a flower are easy to make from felt.

"Bee in a Tulip"

The Bee is also a musical element, just like “Berry”. It is made according to the same principle and is attached with a stretchy elastic band. The bee can be hidden in a tulip and taken out from there. In the photo, the toy is made using a crochet hook, but you can sew a striped worker from yellow and black scraps. And instead of a bee, a butterfly looks great in a flower.

What else interesting things can you do with a developmental mat?

The number of play elements for the rug is unlimited. Come up with a hedgehog that will carry apples and mushrooms using Velcro, attach the elements with buttons so that the child can independently change their places. You can sew beepers into some applications, and when you press them, interesting sounds will be heard. You can make several caterpillars from beads in different places on your homemade rug. Hide the rain in clouds with sewn lightning. And the rain is low blue beads that can be pulled out of the cloud at any time.

A musical rug for the youngest children (from 6 to 9 months) is made using arcs to which various rattles, rustles and squeaks are attached. You can also hang it on the arches using a long mount and your favorite teether. The child will lie on his back and reach for toys, hear interesting sounds and see bright colors. Also, the baby can hold on to the arches and try to rise, leaning on them. The basis for the toy is a small soft mat, because the baby cannot yet actively move.

For older children, larger rugs are needed. After all, the child grows, begins to crawl and more actively explore the world around him. The more different elements on the rug, the better for the baby. Parts that come loose or are removed can be replaced with new ones over time. If the applications are bright, then with their help the child will be able to learn colors. The main thing is not to forget that all elements must be safe for the baby.

Finally

Creating something new is always enjoyable and exciting process. And if this is a toy for children that you want to make with your own hands, then the result of such a process will delight your child for a long time. Therefore, we wish you good luck and inspiration!

Sewing a developmental mat with your own hands can be a very pleasant and exciting activity for a mother during pregnancy or in the first months after the birth of the baby.

Of course, you can simply buy a rug, but by making it yourself, you not only save, but also invest your soul in the development of your baby.

It may be quite simple, but it contains different elements to understand the world around you, or you will put a lot of effort and imagination into creating it - it all depends on your desire.

In this article, we have collected the basic principles for creating elements of a developmental mat and ideas for using improvised means for the development of a child.

As a rule, such a mat is used for babies from 1-2 months. The child is placed there on his back (if the mat has curves) or on his tummy. The main requirement for a rug is that it should be warm and cozy and have many different textured elements that the baby can touch, kick, catch, press, and put in his mouth.

The woven material and elements should be varied to the touch - smooth, rough, fur, fleecy, cold, with pimples, etc.

General idea and materials

First, come up with a general idea – color scheme, mood. Will the rug depict a whole story, or represent various phenomena (elements, seasons), or will it simply be sewn from squares or triangles of different fabrics? Draw a sketch.

The colors should not be very flashy, but also not too pale. Small child distinguishes only contrasting colors well, so sew the entire rug in different shades pink is a bad idea. And fabrics and various elements should not pose a danger to the baby.

Think about what you have- scraps of fabric, buttons, ribbons, fringe, braid, zippers, Velcro, appliques, images of animals on fabric, something instead of an arc. Everything can become elements of a developmental rug, the main thing is to sew it securely.

And do not forget that the rug will need to be washed, so the fabrics and all elements must withstand washing, or be attached in such a way that they can be removed before washing.

To sew a developmental mat with your own hands, we suggest using an old blanket or padding polyester as a base to make the baby warm and soft. The blanket can be square 1x1 m or 1.5x1.5 m, or any other shape and size.

You will cover the blanket with the main material with already sewn elements in the form of some kind of pattern, or sew the outer surface of the rug using the patchwork technique from pieces of fabric of various textures and colors.

Arcs for a developmental mat can be made from a hoop, which is cut to length depending on the size of the mat. How to attach them is clearly shown in the video at the end of the article. The arcs are covered with fabric, then you can hang toys on them - store-bought or homemade (for example,).

There is another option than replacing the arcs for the rug:

Design themes and elements of the educational rug

The design of the rug can be dedicated to the theme of animals, flowers, fruits, fairy tales. It could be some kind of story or a town with houses, cars, a river and trees. Try dividing the playing surface of the rug into sectors dedicated to the seasons, time of day or elements - water, earth, air, etc.

If you just sew a rug from different fabrics, then take a variety of colors and textures, polka dot and striped prints. Fabrics with patterns are also available, you can choose a suitable theme and sew everything from one fabric, the main thing is that it washes well.

Sew rustling polyethylene or candy wrappers into some game elements. Use satin, tulle, artificial fur for the baby's sensory development.

Let some elements be convex and soft; fill them with padding polyester or holofiber. Sew different buttons tightly, you can make a pattern out of them, use buttons of different shapes.

Rain or rays of the sun can be depicted using fringe, or sew on multi-colored ribbons in the shape of a rainbow. Somewhere you can sew lacing and a zipper so that the child can train his fine motor skills and learned to use them when he grew up.

Let some elements of the rug be attached with Velcro - for example, this is how doors in a house can open and close. Hide some surprises in your pockets; your baby will be interested in how they are hidden and found again. Sew some toys with elastic bands into the pocket.

Come up with sound effects. In addition to the rustling candy wrappers sewn into the elements of the rug, you can hang a bell or musical toys on the arcs. Try taking out a music block from old toys and sewing it into a rug.

And now a video that will clearly show how, from a technical point of view, to make a developmental mat with arcs with your own hands, how to make and attach toys: