Behind the Scenes: Designing Our Baby Sensory Play Mats

Mum life to Mat life. Our journey to creating our "Touch 'n Go Play Mat" began in 2023.

Like many great ideas, ours was born during a casual hangout between two sleep-deprived, uncertain first-time mums. We were deep in the trenches of early motherhood-navigating nappies, nap schedules, and all the newness that comes with babies. But amid the chaos, we also shared a mutual love for something simple but powerful: sensory play.

We noticed our two little ones were always on the ground, exploring the world with their hands, eyes, and mouths. That’s when we had our light bulb moment; what if we created a play mat designed especially for this kind of learning? One that wasn’t just soft and safe, but also interactive, beautiful, and full of sensory magic.

Inspired by Our Roots

We knew we wanted something unique, something that identified it was kiwi (New Zealand) made and showed children some iconic things that can be found in Aotearoa. Based on this we decided to design a Kiwiana-inspired sensory play mat, show casing New Zealand’s native beauty through interactive and tactile sensory squares. Our natural brown colour palette was also important as we wanted to make sure we were creating a modern, neutral-toned play mat that would suit any home.

Our design had to feel natural, earthy, and timeless—but most importantly, it had to engage little minds and hands. We could see how much our own two little ones were attracted to and enjoyed engaging in sensory play and activities, and therefore wanted other little ones to have that similar experience, all in one thoughtfully designed space.

On top of this we knew of the many benefits sensory play has for their learning and brain development, and could see this through first hand expereince with our two babies and from our previous jobs of being a Registered Nurse and Social Worker and both being early childhood relieve teachers.

From Sketches to Stitches

Neither of us were professional designers, but we had something even better; high school learned sewing skills, lots of enthusiasm, and a shared vision to create something that would benefit every baby. We did some research, couldn't find anything in the New Zealand market that matched with what we wanted to create.

So, we started by discussing and drawing up some design ideas, collecting and shopping for different fabrics and textures, and sewing our very first prototype by hand.

It wasn’t quick or easy process, as we were juggling nap times which were sometimes in the front pack, teething, and just the chaos of being a first time mum—but a few months (and many late nights) later, plus some unstitching and resewing, we had our first self made play mat. And we loved it!.

Turning a Prototype into a Product

We knew we were creating something special, so we started to look for a suitable manufacturer that could bring our vision to life safely and sustainably. After a lot of research (and a few rejections), we finally heard back from an incredible OEKO-TEX® certified manufacturer who was willing to give it a go and undertake the making of our custom design and begin by making a prototype.

Once the first prototype arrived we tested it with our own babies, but had to make some tweaks to improve the design-changing up some materials, refining a couple of sensory features, and softening the colour palette. Our manufacturer was amazing keeping us up to date while they began making the second protoype. Due to some material shortages there were some delays but when the second prototype arrived, we both knew: this was it! It was very unreal seeing our very own design and creation right in front of us.

We got our product safety tested to ensure it was absolutely safe for little ones, after receiving safety certification, we then went ahead with placing our first order! So many emotions for us, excited to be able to share this with other parents and babies, terrified it may not be successful, impatient on our stock arriving. However by mid January the wait was over and our stock arrived yay!!! Our sensory play mats are everything we dreamed of: safe, sensory-rich, beautifully designed, and proudly inspired by our Kiwi roots. We believe our "Touch 'n Go Play Mat" is more than just a baby play mat, it’s a space for little ones to explore, grow, and discover their world from the ground up.

Thank you so much for all the support and love so far and being part of our journey.

The Nosey Toesie team 💛