Find clear answers about Hippo Mat™ play mats, including pre-orders, delivery, tracking, returns, product details, and how our location-themed designs work.
Hippo Mat™ is currently in its pre-order period. This means your order is reserved now, but it will not be dispatched straight away.
Pre-orders will be dispatched in batches between 1st October and 7th December 2027. Your tracking number will be emailed to you once your order has left us.
After the pre-order period has ended, orders will usually be dispatched within 2 working days.
Estimated delivery times begin after dispatch.
Destination
Estimated delivery after dispatch
Austria
5–8 working days
Belgium
6–9 working days
Czech Republic
7–10 working days
Denmark
7–10 working days
England
2–4 working days
France
6–9 working days
Germany
5–8 working days
Greece
10–13 working days
Ireland
3–6 working days
Isle of Man
3–5 working days
Italy
4–6 working days
Netherlands
3–6 working days
Northern Ireland
3–5 working days
Poland
8–11 working days
Scotland
2–4 working days
Spain
5–8 working days
Sweden
6–9 working days
Switzerland
7–10 working days
Wales
3–5 working days
Delivery times are estimates and may vary during busy periods, customs processing, remote-area delivery, or local carrier delays.
Hippo Mat™ is designed for children aged 12 months and over, with most everyday play value for children who enjoy toy cars, figures, buildings, routes, animals, landscapes, storytelling and small-world play.
Younger children can enjoy the colours, shapes and simple features, while older children can use the mat for more detailed stories, journeys and imaginative play. For more guidance, you can read our blog post on How to Choose the Best Play Mat for Your Child.
Hippo Mat™ is a premium printed play mat made for everyday play, featuring a microfiber velvet surface with a non-slip latex backing. It’s designed to be giftable, durable, and easy to use on the floor at home.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ is suitable for children aged 12 months+ and CE/UKCA marked for added reassurance. Each mat is made for everyday children’s play, with simple, clear artwork, a soft microfibre velvet surface and a non-slip latex backing to help reduce movement during play. As with any children’s play product, young children should always be supervised, and all packaging should be kept away from children.
On most surfaces it stays put during normal play. If you have very smooth floors, a simple non-slip underlay (or rug gripper) can help to keep it more stable during play.
Children can create journeys, drive toy cars, move figures around the mat, invent stories, recognise landmarks, visit pretend places and build their own little worlds. This kind of play can support language, memory, storytelling and problem-solving.
Yes. One of the things that makes a Hippo Mat™ Location design special is that it is inspired by a real place. That gives children a fun, memorable way to become familiar with local landmarks, routes, and features through play. It can help build curiosity, recognition, and a stronger connection to the area.
Yes. Every Hippo Mat™ is created to feel rich in detail without being cluttered. Children can spot landmarks, follow roads, invent journeys, and create new stories each time they play. The aim is to make the mat feel rewarding over time, not just on day one.
Although Hippo Mat™ play mats are ideal for toy cars, they can also work well with all sorts of imaginative play. Children often use figures, animals, blocks, emergency vehicles, and other small toys to create their own stories and adventures on the mat.
Hippo Mat™ play mats are designed to have lasting play value. Younger children may enjoy simple driving and spotting activities, while older children often create more detailed routes, stories, and roleplay. That means the mat can stay engaging across different stages of early childhood.
Real-place mats can feel more meaningful because they connect play with somewhere familiar or somewhere special. That could be where a child lives, where family comes from, or a place they love to visit. That sense of connection often makes the stories and adventures feel even more exciting.
Yes. Hippo Mat™ is designed to be a thoughtful, premium gift for children who enjoy imaginative play, vehicles, buildings, maps, animals, local places or storytelling.
It can feel especially meaningful when the design is connected to a child’s home town, favourite place, family area or a location with special memories. You can also visit our Reviews page to see feedback from Hippo Mat™ customers.
Yes. A Hippo Mat™ is designed to be both playful and meaningful. Because Hippo Mat™ Location designs are themed to real places, many people see them as more than just toys – it can also become a lovely keepsake that holds memories of a town, city, or special location.
For families and organisations supporting the relaunch, the Hippo Mat™ Hall of Fame also gives eligible founding supporters a way to be part of the story.
You can visit our Reviews page to see feedback from Hippo Mat™ customers and learn how families have used their mats at home.
Some older customer photos may show earlier versions of Hippo Mat™ designs, but they still help show how families have enjoyed their mats through everyday play.
Hippo Mat™ is built around real places, imaginative play and child-friendly discovery. Our collection includes mats inspired by towns, cities, regions, countries and Natural World themes.
All Hippo Mat™ Location designs are inspired by real places and include locally recognisable features, such as roads, parks, water, landmarks and local details, arranged in a top-down map style.
On the other hand, the Natural World range uses real environments, weather systems, and habitats but not necessarily real places.
Each design is carefully planned to feel recognisable, playful and child-friendly, while still working as a fun illustrated world for everyday play. You can read more about our design approach on our How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
Each Hippo Mat™ is designed through a careful process that includes research, creative direction, illustration work, layout planning and quality checks.
The aim is to create mats that feel recognisable, premium and playful, while still being suitable for children and everyday imaginative play.
Hippo Mat™ designs are created by a combination of talented humans working alongside AI, in the exact same way any human uses tools to create beautiful art. Real-world places may be simplified, stylised, or interpreted to create a clear, playful illustrated layout for children.
Our focus is on creating premium, playful and recognisable designs that are suitable for children, with human creative direction, review and quality checks throughout. You can read more on our How Each Hippo Mat™ Is Created page.
It is designed for illustrators who enjoy drawing places, landmarks, landscapes, roads, buildings, animals, local details and imaginative worlds for children.
You can learn more about the programme, design requirements and how to express interest on our Design a Hippo Mat™ page.
Yes. Every Hippo Mat™ is designed to support imaginative, educational play, which makes them a lovely fit for nurseries, preschools, and early learning settings. They can be used for free play, group storytelling, local learning, and simple discussion activities.
Yes. Every Hippo Mat™ helps support our wider mission to encourage play, learning and imagination for children.
Through Reg’s Pledge, our aim is for every mat to help fund play and learning for children. Early supporters may also be eligible to join the Hippo Mat™ Hall of Fame as part of the relaunch story.
For media enquiries, brand information or press materials, please visit our Press page. If you are an artist interested in helping create future designs, you can also visit our Design a Hippo Mat™ Guest Illustrator Programme page.
Discover More from Hippo Mat™
Looking for a Hippo Mat™ themed to where you live?
