Baby gyms, sometimes referred to as baby universities or baby play mats, are one of the few toys that can be used for babies as young as a few days old. Knowing what to do with young babies can be hard. They can’t sit up on their own, they can’t crawl and until 3-5 months they don’t like to spend long periods of time on their tummy. So, how do you entertain such a young baby?

Gyms and Playmats for Babies

Also read:

Baby Toys And Activity

Baby Toys

Bouncers And Swings

Walkers And Jumpers

Baby Gym Play

Baby gyms provide the perfect place for a young baby to play while at the same time helping them to develop their sensory motor skills, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect abilities, and auditory stimulation. They also are a great place to encourage your baby to enjoy tummy time, an essential activity for developing your baby’s ability to hold up his/her head and for building upper body strength, both skills needed to help your baby eventually learn to crawl.
Baby gyms are usually cloth play mats (often with some sort of interesting pattern or design and added texture to make tummy time more fun) that have bars with hanging toys above. Babies can be entertained by looking at these toys and eventually develop the skills to reach up and grab the toys. Many play mats also come with battery operated music to further entertain your baby and some also come with lights and/or mirrors.
Most baby gyms can be easily broken down and folded up making them easy to travel with. The floor mat part of baby gyms is also usually machine washable, which is great since your baby will surely, at some time or other, spit up on it. Floor mats with texture and mirrors are great for when your baby begins to spend time playing on his/her tummy.

Play mats

Regular baby play mats are floor mats that can come with texture and/or toys or are plain and are used as padded areas for your baby to play on the floor. Even parents with carpeting often want to invest in some sort of play mat as the floor can be hard place for your baby to lie. Also, play mats can be easily washed or wiped clean (depending on the material) and this makes it much easier to clean spit up, or any other mess your baby makes.