Living without a yard means getting creative with indoor play space. When I found our EZ play Koala Jungle Gym (picture below) I was giddy with excitement! I imaged the kids spending hours honing their climbing skills and getting out extra energy in the comfort of our own home.
The only problem? We’ve got tile floors. Thinking about a fall from the monkey bars was a hard stop on my indoor playset dreams.
I needed a play mat! But not just any mat, I needed one that would meet multiple needs:
- Thick enough to protect from a decent fall
- Synthetic chemical free/No off-gassing (for us)
- Petroleum free materials (for the earth)
I’ve spent *hours* looking up non toxic play mats in the past, searching for an option that could replace the popular foam tiles. I knew my options were slim, but growing, so I dove back in to see what else I could find. Here’s the best I came up with (and one clear winner!)
Non Toxic Play Mats:
Toki Mats
I wish Toki Mats were around when I had new babies! They are made with natural Dunlop latex and cotton covers. They are flexible, soft, natural, and not treated with flame retardants. I could see these being a great little mat for placing baby down for tunny time in those early not-yet-moving stages.
For us, the 1″ thick mat didn’t have enough cushion to support a good fall, and the small size (40″ x 40″) also wouldn’t work to cover the space we needed.
CreamHaus Mats
CreamHaus mats are OEKO-TEX certified and available in both foldable and modular (moveable squares) versions. They are thicker, at 1.6″, and offer multiple sizes including a large 55″ x 83″.
While they are certified non-toxic, they are made with synthetic leather (plastic) and filled with polyethylene (petroleum based) foam. And again, not sure 1.6″ of PE would be enough to protect from the tile.
WINNER: The Futon Shop
I love The Futon Shop. They are a family owned, family run, USA made (San Fransisco), focus on natural and sustainable materials, have organic options, and simply do what they say they’re going to do–which is a pretty good quality in a company if you ask me!
We purchased our non-toxic couch from them a few years ago and plan to upgrade to one of their organic sofas in the near future (yes, seriously…USA made, organic, non-toxic sofas at better prices than I’ve seen anywhere else–go check them out!).
Anywayyyy, back to the mat!
I knew that The Futon Shop offered a variety of sleeping and lounging surfaces, and had remembered seeing Japanese style folding mats at one of my visits to the store. I reached out to them to see what they would recommend for our unique needs and they reminded me that they
do custom work. We took the kiddos into the store to bounce around on a few samples and settled on a wool-wrapped-latex 3″ thick custom sized shikibuton. The best part is that it IS a sleeping surface (unlike the other two mats listed) so it can double as a bed for my son.
With tons of filling and covering options + custom work, I feel confident that they could make a play mat for just about any need.
To natural play in every way,
