Posted on by Jenny

Things I Love: U-Play Mat (and a giveaway!!)

A few weeks ago I was searching Amazon for toys or games that would help me work on speech therapy with Sophie at home, and I stumbled across the U-Play Mat. And I knew instantly that I HAD to have it for her.  I checked out the website for Play This Way, makers of the U-Play Mat, and discovered from there that they were on Twitter.  AND that I was already following them!  So, a few tweets later, and I had the opportunity to review the U-Play Mat Starter Set. I was totally stoked!   And, I would like to say, my expectations were totally met and exceeded. This is a FABULOUS and fun tool.  Sophie and I have been having a great time with it!

So what IS the U-Play Mat, anyway?  Well, it’s too simple.

U-Play Mat
U-Play Mat Starter Set

The mat’s U-shape makes a nice place for your kiddo to sit in the middle while you sit across from him or her and ask questions about the cards that come with the mat.  The starter set comes with two decks of cards, and you can do 10 exercises with each deck.  You can purchase additional decks or you can purchase the Professional Set, which comes with everything.  I received the starter set to review, and loved it so much that I have already ordered Sophie all the additional card sets (ok, fine Grandma ordered them for her birthday, but I ASKED her to!), so I think the Professional Set is a good investment!

Sophie and I are really loving playing with the U-Play Mat together.  Not only is she having fun, but we are working on goals that her speech therapist has set for her AND we are spending precious time together! She is always excited when I tell her it’s time to play with her U-Play cards!

The U-Play Mat can also be used with family photos, and I’m ordering up a bunch of our family snapshots to help Sophie work on her pronouns, and answering “who” questions.  That way I can ask her questions (and get answers!) about what the people she loves are doing in the pictures. Sophie LOVES to look at family pictures so I think this will be a lot of fun as well.

If you are considering purchasing the U-Play Mat, you should watch the video of it’s inventor, Dr. Jen, a Pediatrician and mom of two sets of twins, demonstrating how to use it.  It’s what sold me!

But first, you can enter to WIN a U-Play Mat starter set!!  I am so excited to be able to give one of these away to our readers!  Here’s how to enter.  Please note you MUST do one of the first two methods to have a chance to win.

1) “Like” Play This Way on Facebook and leave them a comment saying “I want to win a U-Play Mat from Mommin’ It Up!”

2) Follow @PLAYTHISWAY on Twitter and tweet “I want to win a U-Play Mat from @PLAYTHISWAY & @jennyitup & @momminitup!”

optional additional entry:

3) Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win a U-Play Mat!  (Remember you MUST enter by either method #1 or #2 for this extra entry to count!)

One winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, October 20th. GOOD LUCK! I am so excited already for whoever wins!

I’m linking this post up to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries.  Go visit to see what things everyone else is lovin’!

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I solicited and received a U-Play Mat starter set from Play This Way to review.  All the opinions on this post are my own!

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83 Replies to “Things I Love: U-Play Mat (and a giveaway!!)”

  1. Also – I want to win this for my son (dx with PDD-NOS and speech apraxia) who can always use new ways to learn!

  5. I have a new grandbaby and another on the way! This would be such fun to play with them! Special time with Nana!

  10. My daughter just started preschool and I’d love to enhance her education! We need some special one-on-one time now that her baby brother has arrived!

  13. I love, love, love this idea! I just started staying home with the kiddos in December and I am always looking for creative things to do with them. My two year old would eat this up:). Thanks for sharing…

  15. I would love to use this with my daughter. She is 3 and she loves learning and gets excited when there are new activities to do. This is a great way to have new activities constantly. Thank you for the chance.

  16. My 3yo daughter also has some speech/expression trouble – this would be great for us! We also don’t ahve enough “big-girl” toys yest – or ones that we could do together like this (without mommy’s brain numbing over, that is!). Also, the video was really compelling! (I also ‘liked’ on FB and left a comment there!). Thanks so much for this contest!

  21. My 3-year-old son started speech therapy in May and now attends Pre-K for ESE. He struggles with social aspect of language. I think he would love this mat, because he is a huge fan of puzzles and flashcards. I’ll take any help I can get!

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