Play mat

[Julie]

My husband & I recently purchased the Little Tikes 8-in-1 adjustable playground set for our daughter. We plan on setting it up in our basement during the fall & winter so she can still play with it. Since our basement is unfinished, we're looking for some type of cushioned play mat that would be big enough to put the playground set on (plus extra room for running/tumbling space). I located 50 & 60 piece mat sets on the Toys R Us web site that would probably work, but I was curious to see if anyone has this mat or if you have any other recommendations.

[brubeck]

Are you talking about the mats with letter and number pieces? The problem with these is that if a child steps near the letters they 'pop' out a bit. I bought one of these and my daughter had the entire thing disassembled in 10 minutes.

I think you might be better off getting some cheap carpet 'remnants' if this is just a play surface for your basement.

[Roni]

I agree that the alphabet mat sets wouldn't be the best option, but we bought similar inter-locking mats at Home Depot that don't have any designs on them. I believe there are four to a package: red, yellow, green, & blue; you can buy however many you need. It might be best to get expert advice on how much cushion you need for safety reasons (I certainly can't guarantee that!), but I would go this route instead of carpeting.