Hepworth Play Mats – Early Years | Set of 4 Small World Road Mats

The Hepworth Play Mats – Early Years bring roads, buildings and imaginative destinations into children’s small world play. Supplied as a set of four, these illustrated play mats give young explorers a starting point for driving toy vehicles, building a town and making up stories together. Two mats include buildings and roads, with a train track and a carriage carrying cows among the details. The other two provide open road layouts with room for children to add their own buildings, vehicles, figures and accessories. Every mat measures 75 × 100 cm, offering a generous play surface for individual exploration or shared activities.

A different story every time

Some children will head straight for the printed buildings and decide who lives there. Others might follow the road, pause at a junction or create a journey for a toy car. The illustrated train and its cow-carrying carriage can spark a trip to a farm, a delivery to town or an entirely new adventure. The graphics provide recognisable cues without prescribing what must happen next so that children can take an idea in their own direction.

The two more open road mats are particularly useful when children want to make a setting their own. Add familiar small world resources such as vehicles, figures or play buildings and the same road network can become a neighbourhood, a busy shopping street or a route between imaginary destinations. Children can rearrange their accessories and start again as often as they like. Vehicles, buildings and figures are suggested additions; they are not included in the four-mat set.

Across all four designs, the printed roads offer a clear place to begin. A practitioner might invite children to plan how a vehicle gets from one building to another. A child might decide that a bridge is needed, invent a new stop along the way or explain why a car must take a different route. Small details in the scenes can prompt questions, conversation and fresh play ideas without turning the activity into a fixed task.

Small world play with room to share

These early years road mats create space for children to play alongside one another. A group can decide where their town begins, which routes lead to each place and what happens when their characters meet. One child may drive, another may arrange buildings, and another may narrate the story. Such play offers natural opportunities to practise listening, sharing ideas, taking turns and negotiating what happens next.

The four separate mats also give a setting flexibility. Lay out a single mat for a focused activity, offer different scenes to different groups, or bring several into a larger small world area. Each 75 × 100 cm surface gives children space to position their own toys and follow the printed routes. Whether the play involves one careful journey or a busy make-believe town, the mats provide a visual backdrop that helps the story get started.

Children can make up simple everyday journeys, such as travelling to visit someone or transporting supplies. They can also move beyond familiar experiences and create new characters, places and problems to solve. Asking “Where are you going?” “What could happen next?” or “How will the train get there?” invites children to explain their thinking in their own words. The aim is to leave room for their ideas, rather than supply a single correct way to use the scene.

Explore movement, language and early learning.

Following a printed road with a toy vehicle can give children an enjoyable reason to guide their hands around bends, stop at a chosen point and position objects in the scene. These actions offer opportunities to practise control and hand–eye co-ordination through play. A child may repeat the same route several times, then try a new one when the story changes.

The road layouts can also support everyday language. Children might describe a car going around a bend, past a building or between two places. When they explain where a character is travelling, they can practise sequencing events and expressing a plan. With an adult nearby to join the conversation, the printed scenes offer plenty of prompts for new words and questions.

There are simple ways to weave early maths into the play without interrupting the story. Children could count the vehicles waiting for a journey, compare which route seems longer, sort their own toys by type or decide how many people can fit into an imaginary town. These are suggested activities using additional resources, rather than included teaching accessories. A small world scene can welcome different ideas each time children return to it.

A tactile base for familiar play resources

The mats are made from 100% polyester carpet with high-quality printed graphics. The carpet surface provides a defined area for arranging small world toys, while the imagery gives children something to look at, point to and discuss. Moving from the printed picture to a toy held in the hand brings a visual and tactile element to the same activity.

Each mat has an anti-slip backing designed to help limit movement during play. It is a practical feature when children are reaching across a scene or moving vehicles along the roads. Adults should choose an appropriate surface and supervise activities according to the children and toys involved. The backing helps keep the mat in place, although it cannot guarantee that the mat will remain still on every surface.

The format also works well for refreshing a play area. Offer one scene with a basket of vehicles on one day, then change the available accessories or bring out another mat for a different story. Because the printed backgrounds are already in place, children can begin imagining a setting as soon as the mat is laid out.

For play tables and floor activities

This set is sized for use with the Hepworth Early Years Play Table, which is designed for Hepworth medium play mats measuring 100 × 75 cm. The table is sold separately. The mats can also be used on their own, making them a flexible choice for a small world area at home, in a nursery or in an early years classroom. Educators can arrange the scenes to suit the space and the resources already available.

The set includes four printed mats, each measuring 75 × 100 cm. Two feature more detailed town scenes with roads and buildings, including a train track and the cow-carrying carriage; two show road layouts with space for children to add their own play pieces. Together, they provide variety within one early years play resource.

Printed to order: Please allow up to three weeks for delivery. If you are buying for a planned classroom activity or a particular date, take this production time into account when ordering.

Hepworth Play Mats – Early Years features and benefits

• Set of four illustrated play mats: Four separate scenes let you offer a choice of small world backgrounds or set up activities for different groups. Children can revisit a favourite layout or discover a new one when the play area is refreshed.

• Two detailed town designs: Buildings and roads provide prompts for journeys and stories. A printed train track and a carriage carrying cows add another idea for children to notice, discuss and work into their imaginative play.

• Two open road designs: The clearer road layouts leave room to position children’s own vehicles, figures and play buildings. This gives them scope to decide what each place represents and change the setting as their story develops.

• 75 × 100 cm per mat: Each mat offers a generous defined area for toy vehicles and other small world resources. The size gives more than one child room to contribute to a shared scene, depending on the toys and space available.

• High-quality printed graphics: Clear visual routes and buildings help children recognise places and plan where their toys might go. Pointing to details, naming destinations and explaining journeys can open up conversation during play.

• 100% polyester carpet surface: The mat provides a tactile base for arranging toys and moving vehicles. Children can combine what they see in the illustration with the objects they hold and move, adding a hands-on element to storytelling.

• Anti-slip backing: The backing is designed to help reduce mat movement during ordinary play. Set the mat on a suitable surface and check its position as part of preparing the activity, especially when several children are sharing a scene.

• Opportunities for collaborative play: Children can allocate roles, agree on destinations and build a story together. The roads offer a shared reference point while leaving the direction of the game in the children’s hands.

• Useful for movement and language activities: Guiding a vehicle along a route provides a reason to practise controlled hand movements. Describing turns, places and the order of events offers opportunities to use positional and story language.

• Play table compatible or usable alone: The mats are sized for the separately available Hepworth Play Table and can also be laid out independently. This makes it easier to adapt the resource to a dedicated play table or another suitable play space.

• Printed to order: Allow up to three weeks for delivery when planning your order. The pack contains the four mats; add your own small world toys and accessories to create different scenarios.