A very easy-to-make cardboard car parking playmat for kids!! All kids love little cars and car parking lots. This one is quite distinct where the parking garages are made in different shapes. Combined with few shape flashcards, they are fun to play with. Kids see the displayed card and find the shape garage and take the car on the road to the respective garage.

Watch the video to learn how I made it or read on for step by step instructions & pictures.

Supplies

1. Cardboard sheets
2. Green and blue felt sheets
3. Black & gracrylic paint
4. Hot glue gun
5. Scissors and cutter
6. Decorative small stones ( optional)

7. Number stencil and marker

Step 1: Making the Shape Garages

Grab a thin strip (approx 7cm) of a cardboard sheet and fold it into shapes and glue them. Here, the depth of the garage is 7cm. I kept the base width of each shape more than 5cm so that the car can be parked freely. In particular, make only shapes that have a flat side. I made a square, rectangle, semi-circle, Pentagon, triangle and also a trapezium.

Step 2: Cutting the Road

Next, draw roads on a cardboard sheet and cut them out using a cutter. Paint it with black acrylic color.

Step 3: Assembling the Playmat

Choose a big base cardboard sheet and start assembling the garages and the road strip. You can choose your own layout of roads, green spaces and garages, but make sure there is one side that is fully uninterrupted for easy accessibility. Use number stencil and a black marker to mark the parking lots. I have marked 5 parking lots as we have 5 Hotwheels cars.

Step 4: Add-ons for Cardboard Car Parking Mat

All these are completely optional, but including this would give the playmat an interesting look. I made a park area, a waterbody and rocks with green felt, blue felt and some small decorative stones. Next, I made some paper trees. Lastly, I gave some landscape effects using some green and black acrylic paint.

Step 5: Making Shape Flashcards for Car Parking Game

Cut a few square pieces out of cardboard and draw the shape of garages. So now when it is shown, the kid sees the flashcard, names it and finds the garage of similar shape and takes the car on the road and park it there.

Instead of shapes, many other concepts can also be used in this playmat, like different colors, numbers, alphabet, etc. Check the image to see what would be suitable for each age group.

This one would be such a great idea for kids to learn something and at the same time serves as a fantastic small world playmat!!