Make a No-Sew Play Mat From a Drop Cloth

This simple and affordable DIY play mat makes a special and fun gift for the little ones in your life.  Because it is made from a drop cloth, the play mat easily folds or rolls for convenient storage.  

Cut strips of chalk-cloth for the roads and or train track. For two-lane road or freeway, cut the strips at least 3-1/2” wide. For smaller roads, cut strips at least 1-3/4” wide. Also, cut a few curved pieces. The easiest way to do this is to trace curved pieces of toy train track. If you want to create a parking lot, cut a large rectangle or square.

Use hot glue to adhere the road pieces to the mat. Cut and align the road strips until you have created a fun pattern that goes all around the mat.

Use the space between your roads as a guide to create the city elements. Houses can be created with a large rectangle, a triangle roof, a small rectangle for a door, and a square for the window. Use hot glue to assemble them. Repeat in different colors to create as many houses as you’d like.

For city buildings, simply cut high-rise shapes out of felt and add windows and doors.

Trees can be created by cutting trunks from brown felt and leaves from green felt. The simplest tree is just a green triangle.

Mountains can be made by cutting jagged triangles of gray felt and topping them with small triangles of white felt snow.

A playground can be created by cutting shapes for a slide, seesaw and sandbox.

You might have room for more design elements. We made a crane for construction in the city and a soccer field by the park. A large piece of blue felt can be cut to create an ocean or lake.

Lay out all of your elements on the play mat and use hot glue to attach them to the drop cloth.

Use chalk to draw lines on the roads or turn them into train track.