So Ava’s third Christmas gift was meant to be a felt play mat. However, this little elf did not finish in time, despite my very best effort! Daddy saved the day with his personal gift of a pink princess hat and magic wand!!!
I was surprised to find that play mats are so limited in the market place. They are wonderful tools for imaginative pretend play! The only type I could seem to readily find were road rugs for car play. With Ava’s love for animals I wanted to create play mats that could be used for zoo play or farm play. Once I began this project I discovered just why even Etsy does not have a selection. THEY TAKE FOREVER, you could never turn a profit!
Last Christmas my mom gave Ava the Melissa and Doug Wood Farm Set which I complemented with the Anamalz farm animals. This year I planned to give her the Amamalz zoo set along with a two-sided play mat. It looks like perhaps now a birthday present. It is not a project I would repeat! It was WAY more work than expected but I LOVE the results. I hope it will be well loved and used by the imaginations of both my girls!
I included a ribbon to make storage easy!
THE ZOO although I could not get a picture that captured the entire mat
a few of Anamalz wonderful creations
THE FARM
How fabulous is this!!! Too bad it took so long, I can see many orders coming your way. LOVE IT!!!
Mom
OMG (again!). This mat blows my mind. Your creativity and productivity is simply inspiring!!
Wow, this was awesome. Way to go!
Vickie
[...] and car mat. If you remember last year I spent countless hours hand stitching a felt zoo and farm play mat. I LOVE it but this time I decided to save time and order this very cool fabric on Etsy (which I [...]
I have been looking for one of these for AGES. I’d never thought of making in double sided but that is such a great idea. I was planning to use textures fabric eg corduroy and satin to add a field that had been ploughed and a pond, am waiting for some brown corduroy to come my way. I love what you’ve done here – brilliant. What are the approximate dimensions?
Oh So sorry Lizzy I have not be blogging in ages. It is about 4′ X 3′ good luck. My kids LOVE it!!!