Last Christmas I made so many handmade gifts, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to watch everyone open them. One of my favorites was this DIY felt play mat I made for my girls. At the time, we were deep into creative play with animal figurines, fairies, and dinosaurs. I’d been making little “playscapes” out of everyday items—our rug, pillows, scarves, even stacks of books. But my three-year-old wasn’t quite ready to imagine that a blue scarf was a river or that a pillow was a mountain. She needed something more concrete to believe what we were playing. That’s when I decided to make this felt play mat, and it’s been such a staple toy for us. I’d recommend it for any kids around age two and up.

Make Your Own:

Supplies needed:

• Sturdy thick felt (the kind that’s so stiff you can’t fold it) – I would pick green for this and get a big piece ( like the size of a coffee table if you have the room)
• Blue thick felt – you don’t need much more, maybe the size of a cookie sheet
• Softer pieces of felt in colors you enjoy
• Acrylic paint or paint pens
• Scissors
• Needle and thread (or sewing machine) – you could also use fabric glue instead!

*I found all the felt at my local fabric store. The thick and sturdy felt was at the back and I had to ask for it.

Instructions:

1. The Base: Use the green sturdy felt as your base. Then sew or glue on some blue felt at one end. This is your ‘water’ play area. Optional: I sewed on some beige between the blue and green to make a beach, this is up to you if you want a beach area.
2. Paths: Take some grey felt (can be soft or firm) and cut it into path shaped pieces. Some wavy, some straight, and some with a turn. I used some of my daughters figurines to check if the paths were wide enough.
3. Rivers: Take some blue felt (I used some leftover material from the water base) and cut it into similar path shapes pieces. I added some round pieces as small ponds or puddles.
4. Rocks and Trees: Grab some grey felt and cut out some round shapes for rocks. I cut mine big so they were boulders. Then grab some green felt and cut out simple Christmas Tree shapes for your forest areas.
5. Campfire: Take some brown felt and cut mini rectangles (logs and sticks) and some orange, red and yellow flame shapes. Stack the flame shapes on top of each other and sew them together with one little middle stitch and knot. Now your child can ‘make’ a campfire!
6. Tents: Make tents using three pieces of a bright felt color. Cut three rectangles and sew or glue them together into a tent shape (you are making an open triangular prism).
7. Cave: Take a larger piece of grey felt and a smaller piece of black felt. Cut out a round shape with one flat edge in both colors. Then sew the smaller black piece on top of the grey piece. You can do a really simply hand stitch here or glue it with fabric glue!
8. Berry Bushes: Cut out some green cloud shaped pieces. Then dab a bit of paint on them to create berries. I did larger red dots for the strawberry bush, larger purple dots for the blackberry bush, tiny red dots for huckleberries and so on.
9. Snow: Finally, cut out some large white blob shapes as your ‘snow’. You can also cut out triangles to match the tops of your trees to create snowy tops. Then, take some light blue felt and cut out some round shapes for mini icebergs in the water area. This creates a winter playscape!

5 Ways We Use It (Play Scenario Ideas)

1. Fairies and Berries

My 3yo loves her fairy figurines. We often play with her different fairies from the Tinkerbell series and pretend that they need to get ‘magic’ from a magic flower.

We pull out the tents and pretend they need to sleep after using their magic.

The fairies get hungry and they go hunting for berries from the berry bushes placed around the mat.

They make a campfire by ‘flying around’ and finding sticks for the fire, then they cook their berries into a sauce.

They each have their own ‘power‘ (such as making it rain for the berries to grow back the next morning).

They help save lost bunnies that they find in the forest and bring them home to give them medicine and food.

2. Unicorns and Dinosaurs

My daughter loves Unicorn Academy right now and so we play out different unicorn scenarios. I use ideas I get from the episodes to get the ball rolling. Then we usually add in dinosaurs for some conflict.

Baby unicorns need our help! The big unicorns find them and bring them home to bed.

A unicorn is sick and needs a special medicine from the forest.

The unicorns practice their jumping over different things and running. Then a group of bad dinos crawl out of the ‘cave’ and they chase the unicorns. The unicorns use their special powers to fight them off.

The mischievous dinosaurs make a big mess of everything and the unicorns have to rebuild. (I take a dinosaur and ‘tornado’ around the mat and scramble up all the paths). It’s important to remind your kid that this is only okay if you make sure the other kids you are playing with are comfortable with un-doing their hard work! I use this play scenario whenever my 1yo wants to play, since she plays a good ‘tornado‘ hehe.

The unicorns find their riders and bond with them. We use little people figurines for this!

The unicorns get dressed by their riders (wear bracelets as necklaces and stickers as tattoos). Also we do their hair.

3. Cats and Water

We use her big jungle cats and place rivers and ice everywhere on the mat for this one. This play scenario is great for problem solving skills. We play on the ‘cats hate water’ stereotype for this scenario.

A tiger needs to get to the forest to scratch his claws on the tree. He needs to find a way past the river to get there. We often grab rocks or sticks and build a bridge for the tiger to get over.

A leopard needs to hop across the ice blocks on the water to collect different items (toys or food).

Mr. Lion gets help from a dolphin friend and rides him back home.

4. Train Ride

We have a little train that sticks together magnetically (pretty classic) and we build paths around the mat so that the train drives along the path.

We pick up different figurines and friends as we go.

We drop off our friends where they live (the dinosaurs in the cave, the fairies at their campsite, the animals in the forest, etc.)

We go sight seeing and take ‘pictures’ of the different things we see (cave, river, pond, berries)

5. Wild Robot Winter Scene

My daughter is obsessed with the scene in the “Wild Robot” movie where the robot saves all the animals in the winter storm and brings them back to her house to keep them all safe.

We disperse our toy animal figurines all over the mat in different areas, and we place snow everywhere… even on top of the figures!

Then we take our wild robot character (usually a random toy) and take turns saving the animals and bringing them to her house.

We line up the animal in a big circle around the campfire. Give them little blankets.

We make a big soup for them all to taste and share. Grab a spoon and make it extra special by having them all take a sip from the spoon (one at a time).

Wait until the storm is over and have them all hop/run/slither back to their homes.

Tips and Tricks

Storage: We have a little drawer organizer for all the accessories and we keep the mat itself rolled up for easy storage.

Creative Play: If your child doesn’t have a sibling that they can play with, play with them! They only need a seed of an idea, no matter how silly. Then they will surprise you with what they come up with next. Soon you’ll be bouncing ideas and funny dialogue off of each other. I feel SO GOOD after playing with my daughter in this way, similar to a fresh walk outside or a good talk with a friend.

Other Ideas: If you have a hard time being imaginative and playing pretend, start with an episode of a show they’re watching. Or play out a kids book you enjoy reading. They are great seeds to a game!

Why You Should Make One!

This is a toy that will truly grow with your child. My plan is to keep making accessories for it as the years go by to keep it exciting and relevant for her. It is a very unique and inexpensive gift for any child in your life (niece, nephew, grandkid, etc.), and it was probably the easiest handmade gift I have ever put together. Any new toys that we get as gifts, or as prizes are usually able to be incorporated somehow into a play mat scenario. It allows so much creativity since they are able to make infinite maps and settings for their toys to play. The set-up really is my daughter’s favorite part!

Warmly,

Ellen