Advantages: Loads! Durable, useful, bright, baby loves it, Mummy loves it!
Disadvantages: Can't think of a single one!

...Having ripped up the carpets to lay lovely wood flooring in lounge and dining room, we found ourselves with a growing baby wanting to roll about, sit and play and now start to crawl. The rug had been long since been retired to the garage due to the amount of baby sick etc (!) on it so I decided to buy a padded playmat. I bought the Taf Toys padded playmat from Blooming Marvellous at £26.99 and it has been worth every penny! It is quite a size at 100 x 150cm and is just great for plonking baby on, surrounded by toys. It is a brightly coloured, quilted affair with a variety of built-in attractions in a few of the padded squares - a baby mirror, a bee with stand-up crinkly wings, a squeaky circle (which lots of adults have sat on!!) and a mouse head dangly rattle. My daughter used to get bored in the playring, just desperate to roll... Read review

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Advantages: bright and colourful, amuses Scarlett
Disadvantages: none

...Insect island is what we call Scarlett’ lotty ladybird playmat, because when shes playing on there it seems like shes in the centre of a big island populated by insects. Of course an actual island or any space populated by slugs, ants and spiders isn’t sweet in fact its quite gross. However, it’s a name that has stuck in our household and to us it conjures up lovely images of our little baby playing on her playmat. PLAYMAT I’m sure that you can see from the picture that the playmat is a mixture of bright, primary colours and is extremely sweet. The actual playmat area that the baby lies on is 60*70*180cm in dimension. The material is brushed velour and is incrediblely soft. The only downside is that it can get a bit dusty. The front of the ladybird has a big ladybird face on with a huge smiley face. Smiley faces are a big feature... Read review

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Advantages: Bright and colourful
Disadvantages: need a lot of puff!!

...This aws a present for my brother last year. It is 1x1 meters and is made of vinyl. It's bright and colourful with blow-up 3d effects such as: volcano rocks trees 3 dinosaurs popping out of the water When deflated it folds in half and half again. The idea of this 3d playmat it great, BUT the down side is that 1. it takes 10 years to blow up 2. you have to lay down for half an hour before you can move again because your so light headed 3.the valves that you blow up are rubbish when you blow it up before you can get the stoppers in they are half way deflated 4. in order to fold it up you need to let every single scrap of air out and this can be a challenge. Also you can get other models which are roads and jungle safari. Over all they are nice colourful toys for children but you will be well advised to get a pump!!!!... Read review

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Advantages: Exciting, colourful easy to put together
Disadvantages: Expensive, music can get annoying

...I got hold of this gym second hand throught an NCT sale. I think its quite wonderful. My baby has a couple of other gyms too, but this one keeps him happy and content for the longest!! The gym consists of a playmat with a removalbe electronic bit which has flashing lights and plays music - mozart and nursery rhymes. There are two arches that go over the top and toys hang off the holes. The playmat is colurly decorated with safari animals and you get little animals to hang off the arches. Each of the animals does something different like a squeek, vibrates, crinkles etc. Also you get a mirror that connects to one of the arches. Its at floor level so that your baby can look at themself, which is good to encourage social development!!! My baby is quite a cliggy baby but will play on the gym for up to half a hour. He often laughs... Read review

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Advantages: easy to assemble/dismantle. Hardwearing
Disadvantages: only seen them in blue.

...... Read review

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Advantages: looks lovely, lots to do and hear!
Disadvantages: not so easy to clean due to music player inside

...Tinylove toys are great- FACT! this is my 2nd of their playmats, i loved my first one (noarhs ark design) so much i decided to splash out on another one for my second child. It develops hearing with the 10 minutes of music by Mozart, and a variety of nursery tunes, as well as the other sounds found on the mat and toys. Sight is stimulated by the double-sided mat with its images adapted to baby’s developing sight, flashing lights on the mat, a mirror and colorful toys hanging from the arches. there is also a good range of d ifferent fabrics and textures to stimulate your baby too. The other thing that i think makes the Tinylove playmats so much better than other brands is that they toys are low enough for the baby to actually grab at and pull! This is often not the case with others. You can also buy extra toys and links to put on the gym... Read review

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Advantages: promotes stimulation / coordination for little one
Disadvantages: there isn't much variety on there to keep baby interested

...I was bought this as a gift for my little boy because like many others i love winnie the pooh and the characters involved with the whole 100 acre wood series. The playmat consists of the following Soft padded play mat featuring Pooh, Eeyore with tail and Piglet.. Eeyore has a rattle in the tail and a squeaky nose. Winnie holds a balloon that has a mirror in it for when baby has tummy time. Poor piglet has nothing..Apart from his 2 tiny ears having the crinkle material in them they are that small a small child could not grip them . There isn't a lot in my opinion on there to keep baby stimulated. There is not enough stimulation on the mat for my liking. Activity arch comes with detachable soft toys of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Tigger , also has additional loops for attaching favorite toys. The mat is suitable from birth. Totally... Read review

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Advantages: Great toy and lasts for ages
Disadvantages: New borns can't reach the toys

...***LOTTY LADYBIRD PLAYMAT*** We had one of these in the nursery for the very young children who could not yet sit up mainly. However those who could sit up also used the mat to play with the toys. All the children used to love the playmat. I completely forgot about this toy until I went to visit my friend who has a ten week old child. At the moment they don't have many toys but this one is the number one favourite with the baby and the parents. And I have to completely agree not only does it interest babies but adults can be amused too! ~~~The Playmat~~~ The playmat is quite big for a baby therefore giving them a lot of room for the baby to roll without getting hurt. The playmat is 60cm high, 70cm wide and 108cm deep. The mat is very colourful and the main mat is mainly red with seven spots on. The spots differ slightly such as some... Read review

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Advantages: none
Disadvantages: none

...If you have bought this product, please return it to Tesco immediately. The product has been deemed unsafe and is being recalled. I noticed the recall poster whilst standing in the que at Tesco and believe it to be highly important, which is why I am posting the announcement here. The Feature Creature Activity Playmat is Tesco's own brand and carries the Tesco label. It is a baby playmat retailing at £8.99. Made from cotton it is lightly padded throughout and measures 28x28inches. The back of the mat is bright yellow as is the border on the front. The front design comprises of 4 large lilac, green, yellow and blue squares. I'm not sure if the colours vary in this product. Each square features a picture of an animal. A cow, duck, rooster and a pig. Cow - Black and white with a black woollen patch on its back and a crnkly sewn on tail... Read review

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Advantages: Long lasting, good range of activities
Disadvantages: Toys can be removed by infant, mat not wipe-clean

...After scouring shops and catalogues for the ideal playmat when we were expecting our daughter, we eventually settled on this fantastic playmat made by Tiny Love. The jungle design is instantly attractive and suitable for both sexes (so ideal if you're buying in advance and you're in the dark as to whether you're having a boy or a girl!) The arch is a huge bonus if you're buying for a younger baby, as very small babies are unable to lift their heads and look at the activities on the mat itself - dangling toys, however, can prove very entertaining! The toys themselves have a variety of colours, textures and materials, with different sounds or actions on each - very interesting for little people! Even the material covering the bars of the arch is attractive to infants. The playmat features two musical options - Mozart or well known... Read review

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