Kids love playing with toy cars. As a kindergarten teacher, whenever I bring out any type of car center it is always popular. I had some play mats in the past, but they tend to be bulky, expensive and not the best for larger groups of kids. So, I created this easy DIY Car Play Mat.
It was under $5, and took less than an hour, for me to create and has provided endless hours of play. The yoga mat is perfect for creating classroom, or home activities. The mats are thin, inexpensive, easy to use and store.
This is a unique use for a yoga mat, but it works very well as a play mat. The mat is long so more children can play on it at once. You can also create any path or design you wish. My students always love little parking lots for their cars, so I added a few to the mat.
I have started using these yoga mats in new and different ways in my classroom and they have been very popular and successful. Add them to your classroom, or home today!
Hands-on play is always popular and valuable for young children. Check out Play Learn Inspires collection of 20 Best Sensory Tray Ideas and a DIY Small World Play Mat.
DIY Car Play Mat Materials
There are only two things you need to create your play mat.
- Yoga Mat
- Paint
The Dollar Stores where I live sell yoga mats, so I can buy them for a few dollars. However, if you can’t buy them for this inexpensive, you can use the cheapest you can find.
Your yoga mat doesn’t need to be particularly thick or strong. Since it is simply being used for play you don’t need ones that provide non stick or other features for yoga.
I always use acrylic paint and find that it works well, dries quickly and stays in place. When you are done creating your road you can use a non toxic spray to help protect your road, but it is optional.
The toys you use for your DIY car play mat is up to you. Use what you already have. I provided children with lots of toy cars, play buildings, trees and mini (bird) houses. Any collection you have will work well. Kids will love driving the cars on the roads, but also setting up a little town.
Creating Your DIY Car Play Mat
To create your play mat, start with a simple sketch of what you want your roads to look like. If you want to create perfect roads, you can use tape to make straight lines. I used a roller that was the size I wanted for my roads. It made creating quick and easy.
Use black paint and paint your roads. Make sure to create intersections and curves in your path. Add rectangles for parking lots and open spaces for kids to add houses and trees etc.
Once your roads have been created, use white paint to create lines for pavement markings. It’s up to you how much you add. You can also add more detail and things like stop signs.
Once you have created all of your lines, let everything dry and your DIY car play mat is ready to be played with! It’s that simple.
Once dry, the mat can be rolled up and stored without taking up much room.
Sensory Play Mat
Once you have created your mat. Provide children with as many toys as you have available. If you have lots of cars, make sure to include them.
It always adds to the fun to also include other toys and mini figures, such as trees, wooden people, buildings, signs and houses. This allows children to create their own town on the mat.
Give kids the freedom to create, play and design their town however they want. It’s always wonderful to see what they will come up with.
DIY Car Play Mat – Extension Ideas
My plan with the mat is to create three more mats that can all be connected together. This will create one large play mat where lots of kids can sit and play.
You can create the roads to connect from one mat to another and either place four mats to make a square, or set them out to make one really long path. I love this idea for a classroom where all children could sit around the mat and play together.
If you have several yoga mats to work with you can also create a few of the mats to connect with the toy car one, but paint a different design. If you have students who would rather play and explore with animals, you can make a farm mat where instead of roads, it has dirt paths.
Sensory Play Mat
The possibilities with yoga mats are endless. I first created a sensory path with yoga mats and my students loved it so much I knew I needed to create more. Check out the DIY Sensory Path.
The sensory path used several yoga mats to create one long path that had foot prints and paths painted for children to follow. I used the back of these sensory path mats for my DIY car play mats.
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