How to make an easy reversible felt playmat

Level of difficulty: Quick and easy Age range: This one goes out to you, parents The takeaway: We made this playmat to fit inside a plastic bin that also stores all the planes, trains and automobiles that come with the tiny humans. It creates an instant play zone that neatly tucks away when your kid is ready to move on to the next thing.

You’ll need: craft felt (you'll need larger pieces sold by the meter or yard from fabric and craft stores as well as smaller pieces of colourful scraps) hot glue scissors a ruler

Step 1 Decide on the size you want to make your mat. (We measured ours to 20-inches x 28-inches to fit the lid of the Ikea Samla box.)

Step 2 Measure and cut two large pieces of felt to your determined size (we did black on one side and green on the other). Carefully hot glue the felt pieces together.

Step 3 Be imaginative and make each side different. We made a city parking lot on one side and a country scene on the other. For the parking lot, we used the Ikea Lillabo train set as a template to trace a grey race track. Cut the template and glue it on to the large piece of felt. Add yellow strips for the parking spaces and as yellow paint marks on the race track. For the country side, cut out a blue lake for the bottom edge and then freehand trees and rocks. Glue them all down.

Ta-Da! Easy, right? This playmat is ready for action.

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