The Bubba Mat is one of the very best things we’ve bought.
We’re not being paid to say this. We’ve just found it to be very useful and our 1-year-old loves it.
What is it?
A Bubba Mat is simply a soft, durable mat filled with educational material on both sides. There is a range of mats for sale, featuring combinations of letters, words, numbers, shapes, animals and more.
What’s so good about it?
Our Bubba Mat
Durable: After about a year ours still looks new. We’ve only used it indoors but it can be taken outside too. And it’s extremely easy to clean.
Educational: Here’s what our one looks like. It contains all the letters of the alphabet, drawings and words of two simple objects starting with each letter, numbers 1-20 and simple shapes.
Attractive and fascinating: The bright colors and cute images draw your eye to the mat. And the bubbles, planes, trains, balloons, birds and more which are interspersed with the core educational material mean it’s a source of fascination and delight for babies.
Safe: It’s nice and soft for your baby to crawl on and there are no loose parts or anything else that could be of safety concern.
Appropriate for many ages: In the early days we used the mat just for our baby to have ‘tummy time’. As she’s grown she’s taken an interest in the pictures and has started pointing to them for us to tell her their names. And she’s now able to point to a few of her favorites when we name then.
The mat works nicely in conjunction with real life objects too – our daughter squeals with delight when we point to the dog on the mat while also showing her a toy dog. And as she gets older we expect the mat will help her develop an affinity with and love for letters and numbers.
The flip side of our mat
Reversible: On the flip side of out mat we simply have pretty, colorful patterns – this was ideal for the early months. There are a number of other choices for the reverse side too.
Where can I get one?
Check out the Bubba Mat website here. As at May 2015 a mat costs $199 in Australian dollars (roughly $160 American) plus shipping. The dimensions of the mat are 1.9m x 1.3m x 12mm – roughly 6 feet by 4 feet, with a thickness of half an inch.
Final word
We figured that given we were going to need a mat for our baby, why not get an educational one? We’ve been delighted with the Bubba Mat and are excited to see the benefits our baby gets from it as she gets older.