Jack and the Beanstalk (Beanstalk Lion Mat Gym)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Beanstalk Lion Mat Gym
Date:	14/11/08 (270 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be used with or without arches. Washable.

Disadvantages: Plastic rings for arches could be stronger

When my first child was born we were given a baby play mat, the gym style with archways that stood over baby with various different toys dangling down for the little ones enjoyment. It was quite an expensive mat with lights and music and a whole range of accessories but it had one big flaw, the dye in the fabric wasn't fixed and when it came time to wipe it clean, after a post-dinnertime dribble, it was left with unsightly black streaks where the stripes of the Zebra smeared across the rest of the design. We kept the mat and used it again for our 2nd child but after another 2 years in storage it needed a good wash before I would let our 3rd child play on it, I knew though it was not machine washable and could not wipe it clean because of the previous disaster, we decided to abandon the mat and purchase a new one. With 3 children budget dictated what kind of play mats we could buy but I was more then happy with the cute looking Beanstalk Lion play mat exclusive from Argos.

The Beanstalk Lion play mat is of the traditional play gym design with a soft mat base and 2 arch ways which stand over baby with a selection of dangling toys, Lion differs from many designs though in that he is lion shaped rather than a simple square. His head makes a soft pillow for older babies to prop their heads on, his mane is made from different textured materials which create different sounds when they are touched and his nose contains a little squeezer which when pressed makes a little squeaking sound, much like that of an animals squeaky toy. The main body of lion is the major part of the mat which your little one will lie on, it's made from soft, almost fleece like, yellow fabric and his feet are made from 2 different coloured fabric which, like the mane, make different crinkle sounds when touched, lion also has a little tail made from the same fabric as the body.

The 2 archways of the gym come separate from the mat giving you the option to use it as a basic mat with no arches or with an alternative form of entertainment centre, or you can use it by attaching the archways using the circular clips under each of lions 4 paws. The bars themselves are padded and fabric covered and come with a series of loops for the toys to hang from, you get a central flower or sun (depending on your imagination) shaped ball which contains a bell, a giraffe and monkey which contains squeakers and an elephant and lion which rattle but have holes through their bodies for baby the grab hold of in order to shake them. Each animal toy hangs from a long strip of fabric which fixes with Velcro and threads through any of the loops on the archways, being fixed by Velcro like this means you can take them off, swap them around, hang totally different toys from the loops and even wash the toys if needed.

Jack has used his mat from the very early days, at first spending time on his back looking up at the toys above him and being stimulated by the pastel colours and smiling faces of the animals, now he's older and more mobile he spends quite a bit of time each day on the mat desperately trying to roll over but getting stuck on his side, you can see how determined he is to complete the roll but he hasn't quite managed it yet. He'll also spend time lying on his tummy, strengthening his muscles, he can push himself part way up now but tends to try and push forward with his feet, being only 4 months old he's a little too young to be co-ordinated enough to crawl and so ends up nose first in the play mat, tummy time therefore is strictly monitored so he doesn't spend too much time bumping his head!

Jack seems very comfortable on the mat even though it is not the thickest of bases, I do like to lay a blanket underneath just to provide an extra little softness but he's happy to use it either way. He'll lie for ages batting at the toys above his head, grabbing and shaking them, trying to pull them into his mouth.......he seems to have a lot of fun. The central ball frustrates him a little though as he tries to grab hold of it and it rolls around his hand, he'll chase it desperately trying to grab hold of it and with a little patience he usually manages to. He doesn't seem particularly interested in the different textured areas as yet but then he is still very young, when he's old enough to move around more and crawl I think he'll love playing with the textures and sounds, partly because he'll actually be able to deliberately get to them himself, he does seem entertained when an older person makes the sounds on his behalf though and becomes quite fixated by the noise from lions squeaky nose.

The play mat may not be a designer name and may not have lots of fancy electronic features but that, in my opinion, is it's greatest asset, you can detach the archways, roll lion up and pop him in the washing machine to give him a good clean with no worry that any electronics will get damaged, any extra parts may get broke or any colours from fancy patterns running. Jack gets just as much entertainment from his more basic play mat as my other children did from their top of the range one, they never really used the lights and the music wasn't all that pleasant either, the batteries were expensive to replace and in the long run the whole thing seemed like poor value for money, the exact opposite of the Beanstalk mat which at £19.99 is a really good price. It's well made and a good size for a growing baby, you don't need to think you're restricted to the toys that can be used with the mat as any toy that comes with it's own clip can be hung from it, being able to remove the arches also means that you can build up towers of sponge bricks, place favourite teddies around the mat......all sorts of different things for baby to look at and maybe even reach for, and means it's even suitable for babies able to sit unaided as the arches wont be stuck there getting in their way.

I only have one complaint about the mat and that is that after a few weeks use, and an over enthusiastic 2 year old deciding she wanted a go, one of the rings that fixes the archway snapped, fortunately though a piece of string, ribbon or a plastic ring clip from many toy ranges including Baby Einstein and Tiny Love will fit through and hold the arches in place.

For a lower priced play mat it's right there at the top of the class and I would certainly recommend it.

A range of rattles and other toys are also available from Argos matching the Beanstalk Lions design.

Summary: An affordable play mat that provides as much entertainment as an expensive one.