The Delft Hippo Mat™ features Nieuwe Kerk, Markt and Delft City Hall, Oude Kerk, Oostpoort, Oude Delft canal, bridges and quay streets, Royal Delft and Delft Blue details, Museum Prinsenhof Delft, Molen de Roos, TU Delft Library and Mekelpark, and Delft railway station.
Nieuwe Kerk is one of Delft’s strongest skyline landmarks, giving the play mat an immediate sense of place. Its tall tower creates a clear central destination for toy-car routes, meeting points and journeys across the mat.
Fun Fact: The tower of the Nieuwe Kerk is one of the tallest church towers in the Netherlands, rising above the Markt and shaping one of Delft’s most recognisable silhouettes.
The Markt is the central square and a natural hub on the Delft play mat. Delft City Hall adds another recognisable feature, giving children a place for errands, parking stops, meetings and town-centre stories.
Fun Fact: Delft City Hall faces the Nieuwe Kerk across the Markt, creating one of the city’s most memorable historic views.
Oude Kerk brings another famous Delft church into the artwork, with its well-known leaning tower silhouette. The unusual shape adds visual variety and gives children a memorable landmark to notice during play.
Fun Fact: The tower of the Oude Kerk leans noticeably, by almost two metres from vertical, which is why it is often associated with Delft’s leaning church tower.
Oostpoort is one of the most visually memorable places on the Delft Hippo Mat™. As Delft’s surviving medieval city gate, it creates a canal-side destination for routes that cross water, bridges and old streets.
Fun Fact: Oostpoort is the only surviving medieval city gate in Delft, with towers and a waterside setting that make it especially distinctive.
The Oude Delft canal and the wider network of canals, bridges and quay streets help give the mat its Delft character. They create crossings, turns, waterside stops and simple route choices for toy-car play.
Fun Fact: Oude Delft is one of the city’s oldest canals, and Delft’s name is linked to the Dutch word delven, meaning to dig.
Royal Delft appears on the mat as a celebration of the city’s Delft Blue tradition. Delft Blue-inspired details add a decorative local layer alongside the roads, routes and landmarks.
Fun Fact: Royal Delft, also known as De Porceleyne Fles, was founded in the 17th century and is known for preserving Delft’s hand-painted blue-and-white pottery tradition.
Museum Prinsenhof Delft adds an important historical stop to the mat. Its connection to William of Orange and Delft’s wider story gives children a place for invented museum visits, town routes and gentle discoveries.
Fun Fact: Museum Prinsenhof Delft is housed in a former monastery complex and is closely linked to William of Orange, who was assassinated there in 1584.
Molen de Roos brings a classic Dutch windmill shape into the Delft play mat. It adds visual variety and gives children a clear destination for directions, deliveries and small stories.
Fun Fact: Molen de Roos is Delft’s last remaining windmill and was carefully lifted during major railway works so construction could take place while keeping the landmark in the city.
TU Delft Library and Mekelpark bring the university area into the design. The library adds a modern landmark, while Mekelpark creates a green corridor for campus stories, routes and open-space play.
Fun Fact: TU Delft Library is known for its grass-covered roof and dramatic cone shape, making it one of the university’s most recognisable modern buildings.
Delft railway station is included as a useful navigation point and travel hub. On a road play mat, it gives children an easy reason to create arrivals, departures, pick-ups and journeys across the city.
Fun Fact: Delft’s modern station is part of a wider redevelopment that moved railway tracks underground and reshaped this important part of the city.
Landmarks give children useful anchors for storytelling, turning roads into routes between places with names, shapes and simple meanings. They can talk naturally about bridges, canals, squares, stations, parks, museums, directions and destinations while they play. The learning stays light-touch: children do not need to know the full history of Delft to enjoy the mat, but the local details can make play feel richer, more specific and more personal.
For families in Delft, former residents, regular visitors or anyone with a personal link to the city, a Delft Hippo Mat™ can feel more meaningful than a standard road mat. It carries a quiet sense of place, with familiar details that can be noticed slowly over time. It is especially thoughtful for children who are growing up around Delft, have family there, or are beginning to recognise places from walks, visits and weekend outings.
The Delft Hippo Mat™ includes recognisable Delft places such as the Markt, Nieuwe Kerk, Delft City Hall, Oude Kerk, Oostpoort, Royal Delft, Molen de Roos, TU Delft Library, Mekelpark, Delft railway station and more.
Yes. The Delft Hippo Mat™ is designed as a road play mat with wide, drivable roads for toy cars, helping children create routes, little errands, town-centre trips and stories around Delft-inspired landmarks.
The mat supports gentle, screen-free play through route-making, landmark recognition, storytelling, early geography language, observation and shared role-play. It introduces real Delft places in a simple, playful format.
Every Hippo Mat™ helps fund play and learning for children through Reg’s Pledge.
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