When I was a boy, pretty much only girls even wanted to learn how to do a cartwheel; and there surely were no such things as cartwheel mats, like the one you see here!   But then again, when I was a kid, there weren’t much in the way of children’s play mats or tumbling mats of any kind.

But take a look at the mats pictured here.   You can clearly see the pink mat has a diagram for where a kid (or even adult, when your kids aren’t looking) should place his or her feet to successfully complete a cartwheel.   The blue side of the mat has a stripe the exact size of a balance beam, so as to practice those cartwheels or back hand springs in preparation to execute such maneuvers on a real balance beam [which should be done only over large gymnastics mats stacked together, along with a spotter!

The mats are 2 feet wide and 6 feet long, weigh about 10 pounds, are easy to clean, and are made with 5/8” crosslink foam filler, not low-density, soft, sponge foam, and are available in pink, blue, or red, all with white markings.

If you are an administrator for a school or youth facility, then you surely have some experience in procuring decent gymnastics equipment.  It’s no small undertaking to find the right kind of mats, bars, and other equipment—especially for active kids—that will truly suit purposes of those using your facility.

The range of sizes of gym equipment runs the spectrum from items such as the mini bar and mini bar mat, pictured here, as well various tumbling mats, seamless flooring, jump ropes, and so forth. For instance, would you know where to look to find a vault pad for vaulting, or uneven floor bars?  Don’t feel bad, if you don’t: most us wouldn’t have a clue where to find such things, first time around!

When you say you are looking for children’s play mats, you might have to be a bit more specific. You see…kids play mats and play carpets are often grouped together, categorically-speaking. If you mean padded, folding mats like the one pictured here, you’ll love the phthalate-free tumbling mats made by Soft Play, which are a blast for little ones to tumble on, flip on, flop on, and even fall asleep on when they get tired.

But if you’re thinking of carpet play mats or play rugs for kids, then you’ll want to make sure there are plenty of Hot Wheels, blocks, or other toys to use for igniting active, young imaginations. And if you don’t want to take any chances of your young ones—whether they’re your own kids or students you teach or administer over—you would do well to investigate the advantages of playroom flooring so individual mats aren’t such a concern.