Isaac is a 3.5-year-old that loves his trains and cars. He drives them around, making up stories and narratives for hours on end, having a grand time. (“Help! Thomas is stuck in the mud! I’m coming, said Percy, here I am! Pullll! Ughh! You’re free! Let’s go to the station to get a wash-down…”)
I had seen the idea on Pinterest for making masking tape roads on your carpet for the kids to drive cars on. But the idea didn’t quite appeal to me, knowing that I’d have to take all that tape and hard work apart and throw it away eventually. Thus, this little idea was born. Off to the dollar store I went, in search of a cheap shower curtain liner. The shower curtain liners at our “dollar” store were priced at $9.50, so I grabbed this tablecloth liner for $1.50 instead. I taped it down to the dining room floor on the four corners, and drew with a thick black permanent marker a bunch of roads and train tracks, plus a few extras. It’s nothing fancy, artistically speaking, since I had a 19-month-old climbing all over me while drawing. But he loves it.
We added the essentials – a train station, a library, a grocery store, and our house. There are spots for the car to park and for the trains to rest. Plenty of winding roads and a few trees and flowers.
I had hoped to be able to fold it up when they were finished playing, and save it for another day, but it turned out the plastic was too thin and ripped in several places from some of the crazier drivers 😉 I plan to find a cheap vinyl shower curtain liner (I’ll get that one I first saw if I have to), and make a more permanent version of the same thing.
Come back and let me know if you make one, and if your kids love it as much as mine do!
Have a happy long weekend (it’s Family Day on Monday for us).
Tracy
I had the idea for a diy play mat for my grandson (5 yr) and have bounced several ideas around my head 🙂
For inspiration, a few web searches I finally decided on vinyl also, but had not considered the shower curtain. Knowing I wanted reusable, easy to lay out and store, sturdy for a ruff tuff little boy LOL my JoAnn’s Fabric popped in my head! Why not buy Rolled Vinyl??????? the kind you see as table cloths, or furniture covers. There are a verity of weight to choose from, thinking I would buy the thickest I was willing to budget for. 1st I thought, just paint the roads, grass, ponds, etc. Then I thought as active as he is the paint would ware off 🙁 Cover it in a sealant????? Umm, just wasn’t what I thought I wanted. Ahhh ha! paint it upside down and as the bottom. With it being see through, the play area would not be affected! But wait, the moving and sliding would cause the paint to ware also??? Ahhh HA one last time! Why not take 2 pieces?? Paint the desired design and seal it between two pieces of vinyl!!!! I’m planning on it being a Christmas Gift, so I need to get working on it. Researching the cost, in comparison to a Heavy Weight Shower Curtin which is 10 gauge, at 72″ x 72″, for $10.32, I can get two yards of vinyl to layer, equaling 16 gauge, for a total of max $12, possibly 1/2 that with a coupon! That will make a 54″ w x 72″ play mat! Heavy duty to with stand use, storage, and time! I will try to remember to come back to share my final project, incase it would help someone else trying to decide too 😀
Beth
Tracy, this is genius! I hope it works out perfectly for you! xo
Courtnay
ikea (dunno if you have one close) has cheap liners that are PVC free too!
Beth
thanks for the tip!
hippie4ever
Have you considered using a canvas drop cloth, like a painter’s drop cloth and paint on the city, roads and tracks? You can get a 4×5 cloth for about $7 and fabric paints from hobby lobby. I’m thinking of doing that for my son (3yrs) he also loves Thomas.
Beth
That’s a great idea… it would probably be much longer-lasting than plastic!
Jessica
The magic of the internet brought me to your blog. My mom did this very same thing for me and my brother when we were young. She would bring us canvas sheets, which I’m sure were originally intended to be heavy duty drop cloths. We would draw the buildings, roads, and parking spots for our matchbox cars. I’m almost 30 and still remember how much fun we had. I love this!
Beth
Thanks for commenting, Jessica. How fun that you loved it so much as a kid. I hope my kiddos have the same happy memories of this kind of thing!
Marissa
I saw the masking tape idea and thought the same thing, so much work for such a short time. This is a great idea! I want to do a hop scotch mat on a drop cloth, maybe I will do this on the other side!
Ps. Hi from Halifax!
Beth
Good idea to do it on a drop cloth… then it would be way less likely to rip. Hope you guys had a grand time in Hali!