Hawaii Babies

foam floor tiles

I know a couple other people use these - we have them in the boys' play area, and in general, I love them.

Buuuuuut...lately the boys have taken to scooting over to the side of the room and yanking up the edge of the outermost tiles so they can play with them/chew on them. I can distract them with toys and books for a while, but inevitably they'll still make a try for the tiles.It's making me crazy because it makes it really hard to leave them unattended for even a few minutes (which was a big part of the whole point of having a childsafe playroom!).

Anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?

Re: foam floor tiles

  • Hm, B has been doing this for a while and I just let him chew it...is that bad? The only time I'll stop him if if he's trying to pull up on the tile that he's sitting on so he won't make himself fall over...
    Sept 2008 Wedding | May 2010 & Mar 2012 Babies
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  • imageinamra:
    Hm, B has been doing this for a while and I just let him chew it...is that bad? The only time I'll stop him if if he's trying to pull up on the tile that he's sitting on so he won't make himself fall over...

    The reason I'm worried is because their teeth are coming in so fast now (I even saw teeth marks in one of the tiles) - I wouldn't be surprised if Dash actually managed to tear off a chunk of the foam, and I don't want him swallowing or choking on it.

  • imageredshoegirl:

    imageinamra:
    Hm, B has been doing this for a while and I just let him chew it...is that bad? The only time I'll stop him if if he's trying to pull up on the tile that he's sitting on so he won't make himself fall over...

    The reason I'm worried is because their teeth are coming in so fast now (I even saw teeth marks in one of the tiles) - I wouldn't be surprised if Dash actually managed to tear off a chunk of the foam, and I don't want him swallowing or choking on it.

    Oh yeah, I forgot about teeth! B doesn't even have one tooth yet so I didn't even think about it!
    Sept 2008 Wedding | May 2010 & Mar 2012 Babies
  • yep, I had the same issue.  Like with everything else, anything that is NOT a toy is 1000 times more interesting to Jack.  He always wanted to pull them up - it was probably worse because we have the letter ones.  I also hated cleaning (under) them so I actually have gotten them back out since we had our big holiday party in early Dec. 

    Sorry I don't have a solution.  Maybe since yours are meant to be more permanent you could duct tape the bottom of the seams?  Then try to place some stuff on the mat so then the entire thing was more difficult to lift up piece by piece?  Not sure it would work (and therefore if it would be even worth it to try) but that is what I was thinking about doing before I ended up putting the entire thing away.  (To me it would be more worth it because all the little letters were always coming apart especially when I wanted to move it to clean under it).  

  • imageMauiWedding08:

    yep, I had the same issue.  Like with everything else, anything that is NOT a toy is 1000 times more interesting to Jack.  He always wanted to pull them up - it was probably worse because we have the letter ones.  I also hated cleaning (under) them so I actually have gotten them back out since we had our big holiday party in early Dec. 

    Sorry I don't have a solution.  Maybe since yours are meant to be more permanent you could duct tape the bottom of the seams?  Then try to place some stuff on the mat so then the entire thing was more difficult to lift up piece by piece?  Not sure it would work (and therefore if it would be even worth it to try) but that is what I was thinking about doing before I ended up putting the entire thing away.  (To me it would be more worth it because all the little letters were always coming apart especially when I wanted to move it to clean under it).  

    Hmm, maybe taping is a good idea! I'll chat to Ben about that and see what he thinks. Also, this is making me glad I didn't get the cute letter tiles, even though they're adorable!

  • We have the letter ones, too, so I ended up just taking them out.  Sad  We have carpet so it's not that big a deal.  I may take them out again when she's over the putting everything in the mouth phase.
    image
  • Hello! YES! Although not the whole tile itself, just the trim/edge pieces which are about 2" wide and 24" long. We had to finally just remove ALL of them! Arg.  So...you're not alone. I have considered getting double sided tape that's made for carpets and trying that, but so far, removing them has been sufficient. Since it's the WHOLE tiles that your boys are ripping up, I don't know. Perhaps taping them down to the floor or at least to eachother (so they cannot come apart very easily...wide masking tape or duct tape would probably work) might fix it.
  • I have those foam tiles too, but LO isn't quite ready for pulling them up yet so I have time to worry about that.  Hearing yall talk about all of the trouble it got me thinking, a tumbling mat might have been a better idea.  They also had these down at one of the mom groups I was taking LO to while I was still on leave.  They are definitely more expensive than the foam tiles, but just fyi

    https://www.amazon.com/Gibson-Rainbow-Tumbling-Mat-/dp/B0002USTXI/ref=sr_1_23?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1294325897&sr=1-23

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  • imagevanilla15:

    I have those foam tiles too, but LO isn't quite ready for pulling them up yet so I have time to worry about that.  Hearing yall talk about all of the trouble it got me thinking, a tumbling mat might have been a better idea.  They also had these down at one of the mom groups I was taking LO to while I was still on leave.  They are definitely more expensive than the foam tiles, but just fyi

    https://www.amazon.com/Gibson-Rainbow-Tumbling-Mat-/dp/B0002USTXI/ref=sr_1_23?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1294325897&sr=1-23

    Oooooh!  Thanks, for the link, Vanessa.  4' x 8' is exactly the size I need for the play area I want to make soon!  Good idea!

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  • imageMarried2MrWright:
    Hello! YES! Although not the whole tile itself, just the trim/edge pieces which are about 2" wide and 24" long. We had to finally just remove ALL of them! Arg.  So...you're not alone. I have considered getting double sided tape that's made for carpets and trying that, but so far, removing them has been sufficient. Since it's the WHOLE tiles that your boys are ripping up, I don't know. Perhaps taping them down to the floor or at least to eachother (so they cannot come apart very easily...wide masking tape or duct tape would probably work) might fix it.

    LB was doing this also - the edges.  We took all the edges off as well and that seemed to cure it. 

  • Yup. They started being more of a hassle so we just stopped using them :(
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