Playmats and baby gyms - where to begin the thought process?

[MrsMcJnr]

So - which ones do you have and why and do you use it a lot? does anyone have pets (cats) and how does it work out with them around? Thanks

when i went to see them in JL, the tiny love and the einstein one I found that the Einstein one is very small and overly enclosed with meshing. Also not as fun when you look at it.

Looked at tiy love, seemed quite nice, a little bigger than the einstein but not much padding

The ladybird one (same as our friends) is lovely and padded, loads of touchy feely things, nice and big too. LOts of play value imo.

We'd the ladybird and it was useless. It looks nice but the toys were out of reach for most of the time so more of a baby frustration device than for playing! When she finally could reach them, the toys were attached by velcro so came off the minute she pulled at them. We've now bought the Tiny Love for No 2.

oo i didnt know that as our friends have attached other toys to the ladybird too. So their dd can reach. Also has light up stuff and music and activity on the actual playmat.

As the original skinflint, I used a(borrowed) moses basket stand to hang toys on and lay him under it. We did have a playmat though - a Fisher Price Link-a-Doos one with a house thing that attaches to the corner and plays music etc. I think the playmats that come with arches are generally pretty small so the baby will grow out of it fairly soon.

I should say, the playmat was from Ebay - I don't think they make them any more, which is a shame as it's really good.