The Holidays are approaching once again, which means it’s time to start thinking about all those Holiday gifts like a children’s play mats for your niece. This is a busy time of year for business’ in general, but for internet companies like ours, it’s even more chaotic. I know online shopping is quick and convenient, but there are still things that can go wrong. As somebody that’s been in sales for a few years and been through my share of Holiday seasons here’s some tips to ensure you get your kids play rugs as quick and correct as possible. I can’t say for sure all companies are the same, but I’m sure it’s pretty similar:

#1- Place your order for your daughters tumbling mats as far in advance as you can. With high volumes of people ordering, stock can go quickly and many products have to be produced; especially custom items. There’s also the added stress on Delivery Services during this time of the year… especially as Holidays get closer. The mass amount of packages being shipped definitely causes delays.

#2 Call and ask questions. One of the biggest problems with online ordering is sometimes a picture doesn’t due the item justice.. or it looks better than it is. Give your sales people a call and pick their brain. You’re paying your hard earned money on something, it should be exactly what you want. I know all of our sales representative would never sell something to you that doesn’t work for you and we’re very educated in our products so we can probably give you a good suggestion.

#3- Make sure to check your Order Confirmation/ Receipt. You may think the person helping you listens correctly but sometimes there is miscommunication and your address could easily be a letter or number off which can delay your package. Also take a look at Quantity and color to make sure it’s correct.

#4- Bug Customer Service – Maybe not everyday, but depending on how long your lead time is, check in once or twice. And I know I said to “bug” them.. but in reality it’s their job. Don’t feel bad, but be patient. Keep in mind there’s probably 2 people for every 200 callers.

That’s literally 4 little things you can do to make sure your gifts get to where they’re supposed to be, in time to brighten somebody’s day.

A few weeks ago I found myself hanging around with my little almost nephew.  I say almost, since I am technically not blood related.  He is the son of one of my friends sisters, however being like family that we are; I am his uncle.  Now that we have that cleared up; there I was sitting around with the little man and wondering what to do.  This guy loves his video games, and don’t we all? Boys and their toys, right? I thought however that I needed to get this guy up and moving, give him a little visceral interaction, he is a little dude and he should be running a bit wild at this point.  So I called my friend who works at a local kids gym.  Seeing as though he was working that day, I decided to take the little tike over to the gym and let him play and move and jump and what have you with the other wee ones this day.

Now if you have never seen a kid’s gym, you’re definitely in for a surprise.  It’s like the veritable playground that you would have dreamt of as a child; or at least I know that I did.   A whole wall of climbing rope all the way to the ceiling.  Gigantic exercise ball with kids rolling, and bouncing all over the place.  Even incline mats for rolling, and a whole floor of tumbling mats and crash pads for the little folks to jump and throw themselves around on…and for safety of course.

But it is not just all play, the kids do learn quite a bit while they are there.  My friend that works there is a coach. He groups the kids together and supervises them in exercises and even games, teaching them as they play. It great for many reasons,  it gets the little guys moving and learning about their health and bodies as well as giving you a little time to breath and take some time for yourself. Needless to say my nephew had a great time and he has certainly asked to go back again. So if you have a little gymnast or just want to have your little ones play and exercise is a good environment, definitely check out your local kid’s gyms…They’re loaded with many different types of kids exercise equipment.

Phthalates. The deadly, evil, plasticizers. These chemicals are industrial compounds used to soften plastics and were shown to be commonly found in a wide array of children’s toys and products.

As of February 10th of the year 2009, the Consumer Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) required that all products a child could potentially put in their mouth must be phthalate free and contain lower levels of lead and other heavy metals. This would apply to just about all toys or kids products that are generally used in daycares and pre-schools such as nap mats for kids, cots, and certain toys.

Since the CPSIA was enacted, MatsMatsMats.com has made a concerted effort to phase out all kids products that contained lead or phthalates and replace them with equivalent products that meet or exceed this new requirement. Everything from cots, nap and rest mats, tumbling mats, and bean bag chairs can be found in our kids daycare supplies section. If you are a parent or daycare provider, be sure to educate yourself and protect your children from products that may contain excessive amounts of these harmful chemicals. You can also view additional information regarding the CPSIA at http://www.matsmatsmats.com/kids/daycare_article_cpsia_2008.asp.

It’s not totally uncommon for us to get feedback from our customers via email.  Since we deal with all matters of mats whether it’s for yoga, martial arts, gymnastics, or industrial kitchens, it’s always a exciting when customers attach a couple of pictures of what they actually did with their mats… especially on slightly more complicated, custom orders. 

One of my customers, (Tamara from Brookline, MA) got a little more creative than most of our customers.  We offer wall padding –  Conventional Wainscot Panels which are 2″ thick wooden-backed crosslink foam panels that mount on a wall.  You’ve probably seen them in high school gyms or sports facilitates.  The cost of these can add up quickly when covering larger wall areas since they are produced in 2′ widths and as a result, are generally not the best option for projects on a budget.  However, we also offer gymnastics folding mats that can be customized with velcro connectors on specific sides, but most importantly (in this case) we can add grommets which allow these tumbling mats to be hung on walls.

Tamara came to us with a particular project that required folding mats, wall padding, and column wraps for a kids play area in a basement.  After going back and forth for a couple of weeks, we designed custom floor mats as alternatives to the conventional wainscot panels and the results were quite honestly surprising, since I generally recommend the slightly pricier interlocking foam squares for kids floors and wooden backed wall panels.  Tamara’s ingenuity and shopping savvy paid off in a big way for her little one as she now has a large area to play in that is both colorful, safe, aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly, did not break the bank.

With the Olympics over and the girls gymnastics team dominating the sport we have had a lot of parents calling to ask for tumbling mats and gymnastics equipment for home that can be used for practicing different moves. It’s kind of a start-up kit. You first start with the floor which most everyone orders a gymnastics folding mat, which can be used for different tumbling routines. They are also really easy to store when folded.

From there you add a couple of training aids to help in back & front handsprings as well as more advanced tumbling exercises. One of the hottest items is our Smarter Spotter, something I wish I had when I took classes. It has a great shape to it that really helps learning different exercises while keeping your child more protested. This product is usually used in combination with the folding mat.  Being put on top for even more protection. Our Incline Mats (also known as cheese mats or wedges) work in a similar way. They have been around for a long time and are the favorite of lots of coaches. They also come in a folding style to help in storage.

I think the most important thing about gymnastics is that it helps train your child to have great balance, awareness, strength and versatility. It also lasts throughout there lifetime as I still find that I still have strengths and agility that I learned in gymnastics, especially balance and how to take a fall. Also, it’s a great way to get your child in shape and make some new friends. If you haven’t already, give it a try, in my opinion it’s one of the best sports for children to be involved in.

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.