The best baby gyms and play mats 2023 tried and tested

Nov 04, 2023

Shop the best baby gyms based on our parent and baby reviews

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A good baby gym or playmat is one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy as a parent.

It will entertain your child, help them to explore their surroundings, and give you a few precious moments when you don’t have to hold them. The classic design hasn’t changed much over the years – it works after all – a plastic or wooden arch with toys dangling down. However, more modern creations encourage sensory exploration with different textures, colours, and sounds.

“You want it [the baby gym] to be stimulating enough that it interests your child and helps with their development but not too overstimulating,” says Georgina Durrant, author of 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play.

Most baby gyms consist of a comfortable padded mat with its own features, such as different textures and patterns, and an arch with dangly toys and mirrors that a baby can grab at. “To support a baby’s visual development and interest, look for bold patterns ideally in black and white,” suggests Georgina.

Many play mats also have a soft, tummy time pillow as well as features that allow the mat to ‘grow’ with your child as they learn to hold their head up, roll over, sit up and eventually crawl. To get the most out of a playmat, use it as a means of interacting with your baby. “Babies learn so much from listening to us speak, so try talking about what they are doing, describing the feel of the toys, the colours, anything!” says Georgina. “Praise them when they touch or feel something, kick their legs, or reach with their hands. You could also play peek-a-boo with them hiding behind the toys and peeking back out.”

Why you can trust GoodTo. Our experienced Consumer Editor & parent reviewers spend hours testing products to help you make the best choice. Find out how we test and review products.

Choose your baby gym wisely, and you'll end up with something which will make your life as a parent that little bit easier.

Our testing process is thorough, consistent and fair. We selected the best baby gyms for this buying guide from a range of different prices, so we've covered everything from brilliant budget buys to luxury premium options.

To determine the best baby gyms we looked at:

Our expert review:

Tested by: Rebecca Hayward and four-month-old James

Aden & Anais’s Play & Discover Baby Activity Gym is very easy to put together, taking our tester, Rebecca, just five minutes from getting it out of the box to being ready.

It has tasteful, pastel-hued toys which hang down from a light-coloured wooden arch and, unsurprising for a brand famed for its muslins, a muslin mat that is safe, breathable, and comfortable for your baby.

Rebecca liked the Scandi feel of this gym, although she did think: “As much as it's nice, the pastel tones are perhaps a bit less appealing for little baby versus other more garish options.” The baby gym comprises elephant, zebra, and flamingo toys that hang down at just the right height for your baby to grab at. It also comes with a moon-shaped tummy time pillow which Rebecca thought “could come in handy again when James is a bit older and doing longer stints on the floor”.

She thought that the price was a little on the high side and that “it's certainly at the more premium end on the spectrum of baby gyms available.” She would recommend this to someone who wasn’t on a budget but wanted “stylish design and functionality” and valued good quality products.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Florence Guppy and six-month-old Josie

Red Kite’s colourful baby gym uses a clever mix of bright, neon-coloured animals and black-and-white patterns to appeal to older babies and newborns alike.

“The mat itself is bright, colourful and practical with the folding options,” said our tester Florence. “It has room for a good range of toys and enough space for baby to move about.”

She found her six-month-old really enjoyed lying on it and would grab at two of the hanging toys in particular, although others she was less enamoured by. “Two of the toys are crinkly balls, one of which rattles, which I don't think really works as hanging toys and haven't really captured Josie.”

Josie spent a lot of time looking at herself in the mirror. “The mirror really is fantastic and entertains Josie for ages.” One of the big bonuses is that the hooks on this baby gym come off. “The hooks are detachable so you could add your own toys,” said Florence, who also used this feature to move the toys lower when Josie couldn’t reach up.

This baby gym doubles up as a ball pit, but Florence wasn’t that impressed as it made the space inside the mat small and there was only a token six balls included. This is a compact mat and Florence liked that “it is not too bulky in our flat”. It is competitively priced and would suit someone who lives where space is a premium.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Amelia Jean Jones and four-month-old Frederica

Baby Einstein’s 4-in-1 Kickin' Tunes Music and Language Discovery Play Gym is so-named because it entertains your baby in four ways: through lying, sitting, tummy time and take-along.

It’s rather brightly coloured and our tester Amelia didn’t find it “the prettiest toy, which matters to me but not my daughter”. That said, it’s been cleverly designed so that, as your baby grows, they find different toys interesting or interact with them in a different way.

So newborns will enjoy the mirror and colourful flashcards, three-month-olds, who are starting to control their neck, will make use of the tummy time pillow and older babies will enjoy making music for themselves with the Magic Touch piano.

The piano is a standout feature and has flashing lights, classical music tunes and multi-language keys which describe colours, numbers and animals to little ones. The arch in this gym is high, but you are able to move the toys lower for babies to reach and touch them.

One downside that Amelia found was she felt the mat was too thin which she thought “meant it’s uncomfortable on wooden floors”.

This is a mid-range product that Amelia thought was worth its price tag because it lasted from newborn through to toddler age and has “multiple toys in one to keep them busy for longer”.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Emma Goodall and five-month-old Will

The main takeaway that our tester Emma had after using Fisher Price’s gym was how effectively it entertained her baby. “The design is very bright and colourful,” she said, admitting that it was a little too bright for her décor, but she liked that “the different hanging animals have captivating faces and designs.”

Her son was mesmerised by the toys and would happily lie on the mat while she busied herself nearby. “Anything to buy me a few moments to get some jobs done.” This activity gym has a wide range of different interactive toys, including a musical toucan that sits on the top of the arches.

You can choose where the toys go and there are even loops on the mat if your baby isn’t up for grabbing yet. “From spinning to crinkly to soft, it consistently kept Will entertained and busy,” said Emma.

It also scored well on practical elements and was easy to put up, light to move around, and fuss-free to wash in the machine.

At around £60, Emma thought it was good value for money for its combination of engaging toys and the way that the gym has been designed to appeal to different ages. For this reason, we’ve named Fisher Price’s Rainforest Music & Lights Deluxe Gym our Best Buy in the Baby Gym Buyer’s Guide.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Leisa Millar and two-month-old Caspar

Taf Toys All Around Me Gym focuses on developing a baby’s senses with a range of different toys. Our tester Leisa thought her eight-week-old Casper would be too young to get much out of it but she was proved wrong.

“I was delighted to see how much he interacted with this,” she said. He swung his arms and legs to bat away the hanging toys and whacked at the ‘sensi-center’, a large panel of crinkly fabric, to get it to make a sound."

The toys are all large and very colourful. “They each also have a bunch of sizeable care labels attached, which I guess is a requirement, but Caspar keeps trying to put them in his mouth, so I’ll be cutting them off.” The toys can be moved around to add variety as a baby grows and finds new things interesting and the mat that the baby lies on is well padded.

This is a very chic-looking baby gym that works with most grown-up décor but unfortunately, the mat isn’t machine washable. “On balance, though, the threat of a code red clean-up operation is probably worth it for what I see Caspar getting out of this.”

While the price is high, Leisa would recommend this to friends who want “to invest in a multi-functional product that baby can use over a long period of time…. Just be sure to stock up on batteries. And stain remover.”

Our expert review:

Tested by: Emma Goodall and five-month-old Will

Infantino’s 4-in-1 Milestones & Memories Twist & Fold Gym is easy to assemble and put down, thanks to a dynamic twist and fold system. You twist the arches, and click them into place, making the gym feel extremely robust and stable, even when energetic babies try and pull on it.

This is a stylish piece of baby kit, with black and white patterns interspersed with vibrant pops of colour, making it not too garish while still being engaging. “It has a brilliant, cute look,” said our tester Emma. “It hits multiple play criteria while still being stylish.”

The baby gym has a number of hoops for hanging toys and “my favourite is the cheeky fluffy sloth,” said Emma. She did think there could be a few more things for babies to do: “It doesn't seem to have as many accessories as other play gyms on the market for the same price.”

That said, she liked the ‘milestone mat’ which you could use on the background of milestone photos. “It feels like a premium and plush product due to the overall style and the robust feel,” said Emma but caveated this with: “While value for money, there are other items in the market that offer similar for a lower price.”

She would recommend this to friends, especially those who would appreciate something that was stylishly designed.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Susana Silva and eight-month Oriana

This Skip Hop baby gym was initially a bit tricky for our tester Susi to assemble. “The setup involved laying the mat flat, feeding the poles through four holes situated at different ends of the mat, and hooking them on a loop situated at the bottom of the mat.,” said Susi.

“To ensure that the poles stayed upright and secure, you also have to loop them together at the top.” But once she had got past this, she found the mat stood “upright and secure”.

The play mat is a neutral shade with just a few pops of colour so manages the thin line between appealing to style-conscious adults and being interesting for a baby. “Once it was fully built the activity gym looked beautiful,” said Susi.

“I also appreciated the fact that no batteries were required as these are already included.” Her daughter was very engaged with all the toys in the gym and Susi found that this play mat “included many different activities which would keep the little ones engaged for longer”.

That said, she did think it was a little large and wouldn’t suit someone who didn’t have lots of space. This gym retails at around £85 and Susi thought it was good value for money despite the price tag because of the quality of the materials and because there were so many toys for babies to engage with.

For this reason, we’ve named the Skip Hop Silver Lining Cloud Activity Gym our Best Premium Buy.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Amelia Jean-Jones and her five-month daughter Fredericka

Lovevery’s play gym manages to tread the difficult path between being stylish (for parents) and fun (for babies). Our tester Amelia summed it up as “tastefully bright, yet eco-friendly and multi-functional enough to keep a baby occupied for hours at a time for months, or even over a year.”

It has been created by experts using the principles behind Montessori and focuses on how the senses can stimulate development through play. “This is the kind of toy you set the baby down on and can finally finish a cup of hot tea before it turns tepid, knowing that the play is helping their development rather than feeling guilty over screen time,” said Amelia.

Toys are a mixture of hanging and mat-based and are organised into five different sections that help focus a baby’s sight, sound, and touch senses, among others. This baby gym also boasts impressive environmental credentials, with carbon-neutral shipping and very high safety standards.

“[It’s] good for baby, good for the planet, good value - it’s a triple treat,” said Amelia. It’s also machine washable (although only at a low temperature).

While it’s an expensive initial outlay, Amelia thought it was good value for money in the long term because you’d get a lot of use out of it. Not only does it have longevity and “keep baby occupied from tummy time to teething and beyond”, but, because it is made of such good quality materials, it can be passed down through siblings.

Our expert review:

Tested by: Ursula Purrington and five-month-old Violet

This baby gym got a big thumbs up from our tester Ursula Purrington and her daughter, Violet.

“This is a really brilliant play mat and my five-month-old really enjoys using it,” she said. The mat is a decent size (it can even fit two babies on) but at the same time “it doesn’t take up too much space”.

It manages to be simultaneously appealing to parents and entertaining for babies. Ursula thought it would suit “someone that loves stylish baby items, monochrome, and anything not garish!”

The play mat has been “designed with milestones in mind, such as object permanence”, so it develops with your baby and uses the various senses to stimulate and entertain them. There are musical toys and crinkly toys with different textures and colours.

While Ursula found “the pull-out picture board part somewhat flimsy”, she thought the mat well-considered and made using high-quality materials. Most importantly, her daughter absolutely loved it and was totally engaged in it.

At around £50, it’s competitively priced and looks more expensive than it actually is. For this reason, we’ve named the Tiny Love Black and White Gymini Play Mat our Best Budget Buy in the Baby Gyms Buying Guide.

Baby gyms are suitable from birth until your baby starts crawling around. The age of the latter varies widely but is usually between six and 12 months for most babies. “If it’s a flat mat and your baby is happy and safe to lie down on it, they can enjoy (supervised) short amounts of time on it from birth,” says Georgina. “As a newborn they can use it to lie and kick their arms and legs and as they get older they will start to interact with the various toys.”

Baby gyms are safe to use from birth but you should never leave a baby, of any age, unsupervised on one. Make sure that the mat itself is padded and comfortable for the baby to lie on, and that there’s no way that they could choke or get tangled in the hanging toys in any way. This won’t happen with well-made baby gyms.

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Charlotte Duck is an award-winning journalist who writes who regularly writes for Tatler, the Evening Standard, Yahoo and Hello Magazine about everything from royal hairstyles to fixed-rate mortgages. She was previously Kidswear Editor at M&S and worked in-house at Boden but, while she loves writing about beautiful children's clothes, she has three children who refuse to wear them.

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