What are the best baby playmats and play gyms in 2023?
Playmats and play gyms are excellent activity centers to keep your baby busy, entertained, and engaged for hours!
While you don’t technically need a playmat, it will come in really handy. You can use playmats and play gyms effectively from day one but experts advise that babies between 3 months to 1 year old benefit most from these activity mats.
Baby play gyms has been found to help babies improve their hand – eye coordination and their motor skills. As they play with the hanging toys trying to reach them, they exercise their neck and body muscles and learn to engage and interact with their surroundings.
Given the fact that playmats and pay gyms are quite affordable and will last you for a long time, they are definitely a worthy investment.
5 Best playmats and play gyms
Read on to discover the top baby play gyms and playmats on the market currently:
- Play Gym by Lovevery
- Baby Care Play Mat – Haute Collection
- Skip Hop Activity Gym
- Fisher-Price Rainforest Play Gym
- Tiny Love Lights and Music Gymini Activity Gym
1) Play Gym by Lovevery
Pros
- Modular (grows with your baby)
- Easy setup
- Playmat is machine washable
- Lifetime lost parts replacement
- Baby safe (FSC-certified materials)
Cons
- N/A
Lovevery’s activity gym is the best all around playmat and play gym on the market. It’s a complete activity center that will keep your baby entertained for years.
Its strong suit? It has a modular design. It features 5 different development zones which you can hide whenever you want so that you don’t overstimulate your baby. The idea behind this “modular” design is to slowly reveal new activity zones as your baby grows older and masters the current development zone.
The play gym comes with a guide which will walk you through the ideal activities for your baby as it grows older to promote motor and brain skills development.
It’s made from baby-safe materials so you don’t have to worry about the health of your baby and the part we really liked is that Lovevery offers a lifetime promise for replacing lost parts.
Lovevery Play Gym specifications
| Weight | 7.6 pounds |
| Dimensions | 44 x 38 x 24 inches |
2) Baby Care Play Mat – Haute Collection
Pros
- Reversible
- Waterproof
- Non-toxic (BPA, EVA, Lead and Phthalate-free)
- Various designs available
- Non-slippery surface
Cons
- N/A
If you’re looking for a quality and good playmat then look no further than the Haute Collection by Baby Care — it offers everything you could want from a playmat and more.
BabyCare’s playmats are inspired by the Korean way of living where floor-based living is an integral part of their culture.
This playmat from the Haute Collection is non-toxic as it’s BPA, EV, lead, phthalate and mercury-free so it’s completely safe for your baby.
the Haute Collection offers various different designs — their playmats are full of visually stimulating elements: numbers, letters, animals, shapes and things for your baby to engage with.
It’s also reversible so that you can introduce new visuals when your baby is bored of one side and it’s waterproof and very easy to clean (just use a damp wipe).
Baby Care Play Mat specifications
| Weight | 20 pounds |
| Dimensions | 82.7 x 0.5 x 55.1 inches |
3) Skip Hop Activity Gym
Pros
- Playmat and play gym in 1
- LED lights
- BPA, PVC and phthalate-free
- Interactive toys
Cons
- The playmat could feature more elements/colors
The Skip Hop Activity Gym is our second choice for the best play gym currently available on the market.
It features a soft color palette with vibrant visual accents to stimulate your baby’s brain activity development and sight. It comes with five plush, celestial-themed hanging ornaments that your baby can reach up to grab and interact with.
The play gym is also equipped with colorful LED lights and the sheep ornament plays cheerful music.
Skip Hop Silver Lining Play Gym specifications
| Weight | 1.95 pounds |
| Dimensions | 36 x 36 x 19 inches |
4) Fisher-Price Rainforest Play Gym
Pros
- 10 different toys
- Music and lights
- Colorful, visually stimulating design
Cons
- Suited more for newborns, slightly older babies will find it small
Fisher-Price’s play gym offering is a great budget option for newborn babies. It features more than 10 different toys your baby an interact with with music, sound and lights.
The purple toucan that’s on top of the of the canopy will play music once it’s pressed helping your baby learn how its actions affect their surroundings. The music can play up to 20 minutes (when set to long-play) keeping your baby amused and entertained.
Fisher-Price Deluxe Gym specifications
| Weight | 4.34 pounds |
| Dimensions | 30.5 x 32.51 x 27.5 inches |
5) Tiny Love Lights and Music Gymini Activity Gym
Pros
- 18 developmental activities
- Fetures music and lights
- Playmat is easy to fold and store away
Cons
- N/A
The Tiny Love activity gym comes with 18 different developmental activities specially designed to help your baby develop their gross and fine motor skills, visual, auditory and tactile senses.
The play mat is quite spacious so your baby has a large activity space and it’s filled with stimulating, vibrant colors and designs. There is a touchpad that your baby can interact with to start playing music and set off the built-in lights.
The play mat is super easy to fold and store away when you don’t need it or if you want to take it with you when traveling.
Tiny Love Activity Gym specifications
| Weight | 2.66 pounds |
| Dimensions | 30.51 x 23.23 x 2.17 inches |
What is a baby play gym or playmat?
A baby play gym or playmat is an activity center for babies and newborns that stimulates their brain, visual, auditory and motion activity in a playful and fun way.
Play gyms usually feature a set of arches with toys hanging from them for your baby to interact with. Sometimes these toys may set off lights or start playing music, depending on the features of the play gym.
Playmats are simpler, in the sense that they provide a safe and fun surface area for your baby to play on Usually they feature visually stimulating designs and patterns to boost your baby’s visual and brain activity. Playmats are made from soft and plush materials that are easy to clean.
Sandra has over 13 years of experience as a child psychologist, both as a practitioner and researcher. She has a Bachelor's in child psychology from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and then she did her master's in Psychology in Education (focused on Children & Families) at Columbia University, NY. She has been writing for health and child-related publications for over 5 years now.
