Padded play mat for toddler??

[riverofjordan]

Ftm if it's not obvious :)
I'm buying a pikler triangle for DS 1st birthday, I'm thinking I really ought to have a padded mat underneath? Obviously he may not be climbing right up for a while yet, but even when he's 2 or 3 I don't want him falling from the top on to wood floor do I? Or am I fussing too much? Our floors are hardwood everywhere and I've been wanting a rug for the playroom/living room for a while anyway, but now wondering if I should get a proper padded thing, Totter & Tumble and the likes are so expensive tho!? I think he'd just pull up and eat the cheap foam click together ones...

Am I worrying too much? Any recommendations on mats if you think they are needed?

We have all hardwood floors so we got a Totter & Tumble for the living room and one for my son's room when he turned one. We also have a pikler triangle and slide. We love the mats. So much better than a rug as they can just be wiped up. They are so comfortable for sitting and playing on the floor with them and have been one of our absolute best buys. Son is 3 now and these will be invaluable for years to come while he's still interested in playing with toys on the floor.

Hi Op, I got the same for my LO. I made the mistake of falling for the marketing of an expensive floor mat brand (won’t name them but the influencers all push them) cost me a fortune and was absolute rubbish.

the best choice is to just get some gym floor matting (same thing just not paying for influencers to get it for free!)

they’re not as ‘aesthetic’ but that doesn’t really matter.

here’s some that would do the trick:

https://www.gym-flooring.com/products/foam-play-mats-7-colours-13mm

https://softfloor.co.uk/product/cork30-pk16/

https://softfloor.co.uk/category/classic/

hope this helps.

Totter and tumble are excellent we’ve had 2. Only problem is expensive and ours tore a little bit from eldest dragging a chair across but can’t tell because of the pattern

Totter and tumble! We had the click together mats which are fine but not very nice looking if that’s what you want!

Another Totter and Tumble fan here - definitely worth the money. Still use ours with my 4 and 2 year old and the resale value is good on FB Marketplace when you do decide to get rid.

Stuff like this definitely gets the job done. But we have a small home so there's no hiding multicoloured foam mats away in a playroom. The Totter & Tumble looks beautiful in our living room so can accommodate our child playing but means we still have a nice looking adult space when the toys are tidied away.

2 years in and we still love ours. Durable, nice to look at, and comfortable for adults to sit on. I've been to friends houses where they have those foam jigsaw mats and they've all been picked at by kids. Ours gets mistaken for a rug at first glance by guests. Brilliant play mats.

We had a pikler triangle and got a full size gymnastics mat to use under it. We've had so much use out of it - very thick padding, wipe clean, it can be used as a couch when folded or a den. I've used it for yoga at home, a floor bed for sleepovers and dcs still use it for gymnastics practice aged 6 and 8.

We had one like this
www.cannonsuk.com/products/cannons-uk-foldable-double-gymnastics-mat-10ft-x-4ft-x-50mm-1

Horses for courses. I haven’t had T&T but one of their rivals, it was awful. Would never buy influencer type stuff again. Doesn’t have to be multicoloured, the cork mats look great too. But each to their own and hopefully the OP just buys what makes her happy, also happy birthday to her DC :)

Also just to say, we’ve never had a padded mat under ours and also on wooden floor. I never really thought to tbh. Had it for 5 years across two children and no big falls! Also if you were considering a more expensive mat like a totter and tumble, I wouldn’t get one to put under the climbing frame as it will dent it if you then wanted to use it somewhere else.

Thank you all. Looks like totter & tumble are mostly worth it especially with resell....

@soksandfox that may be a good option.

@Blamalma I don't really want the click together unfortunately, this room doubles as where we would do any entertaining with friends or chill out in the evening and there's nowhere to store it, I really want an 'adult' space as much as possible... Hard with toddlers I know tho!

@Haaaaappyyynewyear thanks hadn't thought about it getting damaged
Perhaps we'll start using it and if there are a couple of bumps look into a mat!

I would just buy kids gym mats from ikea. Much thicker than tot and tumbler