U-Play Mat

For over a year Little Music Man has been getting speech and occupational therapy.  The therapists would give us suggestions on things we could do outside of therapy sessions to help him develop his speech and other skills, but most of the suggestions were not effective or Little Music Man just didn’t enjoy them.  Now, thanks to Play this Way, we have the U-Play Mat, a product that helps to develop Little Music Man’s speech that’s not only effective, but he actually loves to play with!

It was an “aha!” moment for Dr. Jen, pediatrician and mother of two sets of twins, while watching her son with his speech therapist. He was focused and engaged playing a simple interactive floor game involving a large paper poster and picture cards. As a typical toddler would, he crawled on top of the paper poster during the game, nearly ripping it and causing the cards to fall off. He became frustrated, and Jennifer thought, is there some way to replicate this easy and wonderful play in a more toddler-friendly manner?

Immediately, the light bulb went off! Dr. Jen thought, “We should have the mat curve around the child – rather than the child sitting on the mat!”

We were fortunate to receive the U-Play Mat Professional Edition (ARV $84.00), which comes with the U-Mat, tote, and U-Animals, U-Foods, U-Fruits and Vegetables, U-Go, U-Home, U-Dress, U-Outside, and U-Play Card Decks.

I immediately put in the fruits and vegetables cards to play some games with Little Music Man, since he loves his fruits and most veggies.  Right now his favorite games to play are matching games and games in which I ask various questions, such as “What color is a banana?”  He also has fun identifying things, as I’ll often ask him to do tasks like “point to all the green vegetables,” or “name all the fruits.”

With so many cards, and the ability to play up to 10 different games per deck, you can play a new game every day to keep things interesting!

What I also like about the mat is that you can even insert 4×6 photos!  You can insert photos of family members and favorite places for even more learning fun!

Not only is the U-Play Mat wonderful for helping develop speech, but it’s also great in helping to build a child’s core strength.  When Little Music Man was going through occupational therapy, the therapist often made him sit, turn, and reach for objects to his side.  The U-Mat is perfect for this, as I can encourage him to reach, twist, and turn for cards that are on either side of him.

The U-Play Mat is a wonderful tool to assist Little Music Man with developing all sorts of skills, including speech, cognitive, and fine motor skills.

And Smiley Boy has already taken a liking to the U-Play Mat too!

We have already gotten good use out of the U-Play Mat.  I only wish we had it a lot earlier, but now that we do have it, I know Little Music Man’s skills will only get stronger.

Shop:  You can purchase the U-Play Mat on the Play this Way website

Thank you to Play this Way for the review product!