Recommend me a kindergarten nap mat?
 

Henry starts his new school next week, and they use nap mats. They don't nap where he is right now.

Any experienced mamas want to tell me what to buy? Should I get the pretty print fabric that matches his lunchbox and has a removable pillow and built in blanket for $45, or the plasticky one for $10?

I'm ordering off Amazon (or somewhere online) so I can't see them in person.

Y'all educate me on these things!

Re: Recommend me a kindergarten nap mat?
 

I use the vinyl one for my daycare kids. We use the very thick one and i make each kid a differnt sheet. The only drawback to that, is that it takes up a lot of space.

My guess would be that the school supplies the plasticky mats (ours does). I got my son a king size pillowcase and a cute blanket and had his name monogrammed on both. I wanted the "fancy" napmat but decided against the $80 cost of my favorite one on Etsy! :)

They don't supply them. I asked if they had restrictions and they said anything was fine. The plastic ones feel gross to me, but I hate to spend so much on something that will be used such a short period of time. I didn't think about a king sized pillow case fitting on there. That's a great idea.

My daughter's daycare uses crib sheets, so if you have one around, a crib sheet on a nap may works pretty well.

My sons old preschool used nap mats but we had to supply them. We bought an upgraded one (thicker than normal) so it would be a bit softer. We sent a body pillow case to cover the mat, a small blanket, and a small pillow. His name was on everything.

The mat is totally ruined after leas than a year. The kids pick them up so they just shove them in the cupboard and sometimes they rip, etc. Also, they all walk all over them which is gross but also tears them up.

When we started, we were told you had to use the kinder mat and couldn't have those special roll ones with everything attached. Some people still brought them though. They got dirty from being on the ground, they weren't machine washable (ew to me!), and the daycare was required to bleach each mat after nap, so these were ruined. I couldn't get over the fact that those pretty roll up ones were NEVER washed. I asked several moms and they said there was no way to wash them because of how they were sewn. Ickk.

If I had to do it again, I'd just send a blanket and pillow and skip the large pillow case. They put it over the mat so the kids dont sweat and stick to the mat, but they never paid attention enough to keep the same side of the case to the floor everyday, so it was dirty and pointless. However, there were plenty of kids who used nothing and just laid on the mat just fine. It's personal preference for your child..

From my iPhone, probably while BF'ing.

Re: Recommend me a kindergarten nap mat?
 

We bought this Yo Gabba Gabba one off Amazon and we bring it home to wash every Friday on gentle cycle and hang dry (I always remove the pillow). It is soft and fluffy and my daughter loves it

http://www.amazon.com/Yo-Gabba-Nap-M...+gabba+nap+mat

http://amzn.com/B0019NP21Y

Its kindergarten, so nap is only about 20 minutes and there is no actual sleeping going on. It's not like daycare where he would spend two hours on it.

I'm still so torn. This isn't something I can pass down to his sister unless she has an unusual love of dinosaurs at age 5. I think I'm going to go with the cheapie. Blah. I wish I could find something he would like for $20ish. That would make this so much easier.

He's not into anything character themed, and the ones that aren't seem to be more. I'm not opposed to character stuff, but he wouldn't like it.

Re: Recommend me a kindergarten nap mat?
 

You could buy a yard of fleece (in a print he will LOVE) and a little travel pillow (from the luggage section not the sewing section) and then the plasticky mat to go with it. Shouldn't be too expensive. Fleece doesn't need to be sewn or anything