These Mats Are Made By The Devil!

[NightOwl]

I have these mats and I am soooooo tired of scrubbing them by hand every single night!! There are 20 of them and they are such a pain in the a$$! It takes about an hour to clean each one.

I take them outside on the weekends to pressure wash them down, but they take forever to dry when they get totally soaked like that. So I can only do it that way on the weekends. Does anyone have any recommendations for a better way to clean these? I would be forever in your debt!!

And yes, I feel like I have to use them. I have all hardwood floors and I can't even begin to count how many times they've saved a baby from a giant goose egg. It will be at least another year before my youngest is skilled enough at walking to where I would feel comfortable not using them.

[ihop]

I used to sweep and mop mine daily then Friday wash them in the tub and stacked to dry over the weekend. Huge pain but doable. I have hardwood and finally put the mats up, too much work to clean the twice. Once under the mat and once for the mats. 12 months later only one goose egg and 1 fat lip. The way I figure it, they don't have far to fall and it helps then learn to be careful

[jenboo]

I have never found a good way to clean them
I have tile. I just have area rugs. So far, so good!
I do have a few of them outside under a rug on the concrete. I dont wash them though. Maybe you could do the same thing inside...put a rug over them. That way you have the protection but they aren't exposed??

[JoseyJo]

I use magic eraser on mine. I fill a little bucket with warm soapy water and dip the ME in pretty often so it says pretty wet. After I wipe each mat down w/ the ME I wipe with a dry cotton washcloth. The ME and soap seems to loosen the dirt and the dry cloth picks it up. I usually have to change my dry cloth 3-4 times and they are always black w/ dirt by the time I am done. Yuck!

[LysesKids]

I don't use those mats (or anything like them) and all I have are tinies learning to crawl & walk.

Once they are learning to stand, I require parents to provide a pair or two of the grippy socks. I do have area rugs in some areas which keeps bumps to a minimum too. I'm an eco childcare so I don't use foam anything as it goes against the reason I do certain things.

[Meyou]

I have all hardwood and I took my mats out years ago because of the cleaning. I haven't had one goose egg in all that time. Sure, there is the occasional tumble but they really don't get hurt because of the hardwood. Most of my 'serious" injuries seem to happen outside on the sidewalk during walks. Rubber boots and sidewalks do not get along.

[taylorw1210]

I would not have the patience to be cleaning those things everyday! If you feel like you need something on the floor, can you break up the hardwood with some fun rugs?

[Blackcat31]

Let me preface this by saying I am not trying to be rude .... but HOW are they getting so dirty?

I have some and use them under a ton of things and as rugs in certain areas but mine don't really get all that dirty.

I sweep and vacuum them off but only get down and scrub them if I see dirty spots. Then is just scrub them with warm soapy water and a sponge or brush (depending) and if it's really dirty...I break out the Mr Clean eraser.

Otherwise, just a sweep or vacuum daily (or more if necessary) does the trick.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I would ditch them.

All I use are area rugs on hard tile. My infant is the youngest here (9.5 months, crawling and pulling up on items) and while she has fallen pulling up on items since they move she hasn't gotten a goose egg. The hard tile is EVERYWHERE in my business, too. Nothing more than a red mark when she has fallen and the area rugs don't even cover 50% of the tile.

[spinnymarie]

Are you letting kids wear shoes? I'd immediately enforce a no shoes rule, they do collect dirt.
Add a few rugs on top, esp under where they eat, if you have them there.
That should help a LOT.

[CraftyMom]

Let me preface this by saying I am not trying to be rude .... but HOW are they getting so dirty?

I have some and use them under a ton of things and as rugs in certain areas but mine don't really get all that dirty.

I sweep and vacuum them off but only get down and scrub them if I see dirty spots. Then is just scrub them with warm soapy water and a sponge or brush (depending) and if it's really dirty...I break out the Mr Clean eraser.

Otherwise, just a sweep or vacuum daily (or more if necessary) does the trick.

I was thinking this too, not in a rude way, just wondering.

We don't wear shoes in the house and there is no eating anywhere except the kitchen. Those little crevices can be a pain, but I can't see scrubbing them daily (here, for our purposes)

I can see if kids are eating in that area and they make messes or if they get walked on with shoes. Or baby spit up or drool

I stopped using mine because they were the ones with letters and the kids were constantly taking the letters out, it became a pain. I may get a set like yours for my infants to play on, but the other kids are fine.

We have tile and hardwood, no major bumps or bruises ever. Not from the floors at least. They get their bumps from falling on toys or bumping heads with each other or falling outside.

[Blackcat31]

I stopped using mine because they were the ones with letters and the kids were constantly taking the letters out, it became a pain.

:: I have a set of those too but I have them stacked in the corner because I hate taking them out because of the letters. The kids like them but they chew on them or bend the letters to the point that they don't fit anymore and then are a tripping hazard.

I can't bring myself to get rid of them yet because they are so cute but GRRRRR!

[SignMeUp]

I have the letter foam tiles too. No shoes in the house, and we only use the tiles in the preschool area, which is gated off from the younger ones who like to chew on them.
I don't mind if the preschoolers take the letters out. They each sit on their initial for our circle time, and they figure out which letter is "next" for our show-n-tell bucket by using the foam letters.
I don't clean them often, except to vacuum over them and wipe them once a week with bleach solution. Once in a while, something gets in a dimple on them and I clean them all more thoroughly then.

[NightOwl]

Lol. Valid question.
My front room is the daycare room and the front door lets straight into it.
I live in the country and my driveway is gravel.
I have huge trees that are constantly dropping leaves.
Parents do wear their shoes inside.
I also have 5 littles that use sippy cups. And we all know there is no such thing as a truly spill proof cup!
The playground is grass covered.

So I'm guessing the combination of those things is why they are so dirty by the end of the day. Maybe I should ban shoes? Only give sippies at the table?

[Blackcat31]

Lol. Valid question.
My front room is the daycare room and the front door lets straight into it.
I live in the country and my driveway is gravel.
I have huge trees that are constantly dropping leaves.
Parents do wear their shoes inside.
I also have 5 littles that use sippy cups. And we all know there is no such thing as a truly spill proof cup!
The playground is grass covered.

So I'm guessing the combination of those things is why they are so dirty by the end of the day. Maybe I should ban shoes? Only give sippies at the table?

Yes! NO SHOES in the house ...or put a rug down where you allow shoes but only on the rug.

NO sippy cups allowed anywhere but the table.

I have my kids sit down to drink water even. NO food or drink ANYWHERE but the table.

Those changes will affect the dirt factor for sure and those changes seem easier than the weekly cleaning process you have going on now.