Crop Out Cleanup With This Farm Playmat
When I was a kid, I played with my brother’s toys as much as my own. I really loved their Legos, Playmobil, and cars. At church we even had a road play mat, and we’d race our cars down the roads, twisting and turning as we imagined where these cars were going, and why. It provided us hours of entertainment, and it kept clean up to a minimum, since all we had to do was take our cars and put them back in the box.
We didn’t have our own play mat, but if we had, I would have wanted something like this Farm Playmat from Lion Brand. It’s soft, with plenty of texture, it’s small enough for one child or two (and won’t take up the entire floor), and you can take it on trips for keeping kids occupied in the hotel room or even on the beach. If you make it out of cotton, it’s easily washable, and will withstand many, many hours of play.
The free PDF pattern is available on Lion Brand, which has hundreds of free patterns. If you haven’t signed up with them yet, you can do so via e-mail or Facebook. I’d recommend going ahead and getting an account because you can browse their free patterns, shop, and look up helpful tips all in one place. It doesn’t take long to join and it will save you time in the long run. They even include a list of what you need for a project in case you want to buy it all at once and get started.
If you’re like me, though, you have plenty of yarn already and need something to bust your yarn stash. This Farm Playmat is great for that as you can customize the mat by choosing the child’s favorite colors. You can make a pastel world, or a bright, bold world, or even make everything in varied shades of one color to produce an ombre effect. You can also add fun little touches like buttons, zippers, snaps, and ribbons to encourage even more exploration. Pair this play mat with some stuffed animals, a farmer doll or scarecrow, or some farming equipment such as a tiny tractor and you have a perfect gift for any little kid, no matter their gender.
The finished product measures around 20 inches in diameter, and is marked as “Easy”, which means most crocheters should find this pattern fun and quick to work up. You’ll need bulky yarn (the pattern recommends using brands like Vanna’s Choice and Lion Brand Bonbons), crochet hooks in sizes “G” and “H”, stitch markers, large eye blunt needles, and a pair of scissors. You’ll need to know the crochet stitches chain (ch), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), half double crochet 2 together (hdc2tog), single crochet 2 together (sc2tog), and slip stitch (sl st). If you aren’t familiar with crocheting two stitches together, the pattern has an explanation of how to do so.
This free PDF pattern also comes with instructions for making farm animals, a barn, and a tractor. Want your own farm? You can find the pattern at Lion Brand.
