Homemade car play road mat.

We had a fantastic holiday with lots of lovely memories and even pleasant experiences on the plane. One of the best things about returning home from a holiday is "rediscovering" toys that haven't been seen for a while.  Both kids loved playing with kinetic sand today (click here for more on Kinetic Sand) and Mr 3 couldn't wait to pull out his road mat.

What do you need?
* A large cardboard box  (I used the box from Mr 3's bed when it came flatpacked last year).
* Marker
* Vehicles to drive

What do you do?
* Draw a road with some intersections, dead ends and various feature locations (I included a park, school, row of shops, church, zoo, construction site, houses belonging to various family members).

Note: Older children may like to draw features themselves or colour in some of the locations.

* Use other toys to enhance the road mat (We have used blocks, lego, cardboard tunnels, a farm, etc.)

Homemade car play road mat.

Homemade car play road mat.

Mr 3 loves driving and creating stories with his road mat.  Every now and again we will add an extra feature that he comes up with.  Today we added a petrol station as one his cars had run out of petrol.  

You don't need great drawing skills (my pictures are very simple) to create this fun road mat.

Many boys (and girls) love to play with toy cars.  Driving along a road is a simple way for children to develop eye-hand coordination.  Through pretend play, children can create stories and use their imaginations.  This road mat is large enough for Mr 3 to play with a friend (or a beloved cousin) and this is great for the development of social skills.

Our road mat stores neatly under Mr 3's bed so there is no problem with storage for us.  This is usually the first toy Mr 3 pulls out when he wakes up in the morning to have "quiet" play before waking up mummy!  Win-Win!

Do you have a little one who would love a homemade car mat? It is so easy to make, give it a try and let me know if you do. Safe driving...