If you have a baby that’s eating solid foods, you probably have a mess as well at each mealtime. We started giving Lola solid foods at 6 months and it’s amazing how much food can accidentally end up on the floor while they are learning to eat (and then purposefully on the floor later on!). A splash mat under your baby’s high chair can be a great way to help keep floors clean (especially if you have carpet) and you can easily move them from room to room if your baby eats in different spots during the day. Our contributor Kara makes these amazing confetti-filled pillows (so pretty!) and the overall fun vibe it creates seemed like it would perfect for a splash mat as well!
Supplies:
-medium weight clear vinyl fabric big enough to cut your desired mat size
–vinyl fabric in your color choice big enough to cut your desired mat size
-vinyl or faux leather bias tape (about 20 mm wide); I found the gold color at JoAnns
-hot glue gun
-large and medium loose sequins (I also used 2 packs each of these gold and iridescent stars)
-fabric scissors, marker, and yardstick
-sewing clips (optional)
Ok! First step is to measure out how big you want your splash mat to be. You can basically go as big as your fabric will allow, but we have a bit of space restriction with where her high chair sits at dinner, so I made a 36″ wide circle for mine. Place your vinyl fabric face down on the floor. Trace your desired mat shape onto the back of your vinyl fabric (here are some good tips for drawing a large circle).
Place your clear fabric on top of the marked vinyl (you can leave the paper layer on for now if your clear vinyl has one—it will help keep that side clean from dust) and place books on top to keep the layers together. Since you should be able to see your marked line under the clear vinyl, cut through both layers at once to cut out your mat pieces. 
Turn your white or colored vinyl right side up and place your clear vinyl on top (remove your paper layer from the clear vinyl if you have one). Make sure that the side of the clear vinyl facing inward is totally clean or you’ll be trapping that piece of dirt or hair in there for you to see forever! Use your glue gun to go around the edge of your mat, gluing the edges of your clear vinyl to the layer underneath (a piece of wax paper under your mat will help keep glue off your floor or table). Go almost all the way around, leaving a 5-6″ gap big enough for you to get your arm though in the next step. 
Mix all your sequins together so they distribute evenly (I should have done that first but didn’t!) and then add them into your mat through the hole you left around the edge. Since they will all go in together and sit in one clump, you’ll have to take your arm and put it through the hole to manually move them all around the mat so they spread out a bit. 
Once your sequins are all in, use your glue gun to close up the hole and then attach your bias tape with the glue gun all around the edge of your mat. I found it worked best to work in 6″ sections by applying the glue on both sides of the tape, attaching it to the mat, and then leaving a heavy book on the tape for 10 seconds or so while the glue sets so that the trimming would dry flat.
When you get all the way around, you can just trim the tape and overlap where you started by 1/2″ or so to finish the trim. You can make this mat a no-sew project and leave it as is, or you can sew around the edges of the bias tape for a more finished look like I did (try a 1/4″ seam allowance). 
The only thing I would suggest if you want to sew the trim on is to use a fabric glue instead of hot glue in the previous step and just use it sparingly to keep the tape from moving around while sewing (or you can use fabric clips too). Too much glue run through your sewing machine may gunk up your machine parts, so try and keep the glue as minimal as you can. Whichever way you decide to finish your mat, it’s now ready for mealtime!
So simple but so cute, right? This is something you can roll up and put away whenever you need to, but I wanted to make one that was pretty enough to leave out all the time since we use it so many times throughout the day (that highchair is part of this set FYI and this one is a similar look). The vinyl components of the mat should help keep your floors clean and be wipeable after every meal to help protect whatever rugs or flooring lie underneath. I’ll probably scoot mine up a bit to cover more of what’s in front of Lola’s chair since that’s where she tends to drop food, so maybe scoot yours to one side a bit if they have a preferred “drop zone” as well. Hope this helps make mealtime a little easier for you as well! xo. Laura
19 Comments
😀 Such a smart DIY, perfect for the little girls!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Can you share what type of high chair this is? It’s lovely!
It’s a Stokke Steps chair! I’ll add a link
Laura 🙂
I just made something similar for my baby, just much bigger as my girl is usually “losing” food about 2 m2 and mine is far less fancier. I definitely would choose yours, just would make it a bit bigger. Thank you for sharing, Laura.
FABULOUS!! I love it!!!
This is so good. And such a needed area in kids design : functional yet pretty enough to keep out always.
That is super cute – but are you sure white is a good idea with a messy baby around? 😉
That’s why I did waterproof material over the white, otherwise no!!
Laura 🙂
Aww, that mat is so cute! I love the idea!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
Hi Laura! What a perfect timing! I was supposed to buy one yesterday but I’m totally gonna make that one!
One question though : do you think I can make it a total sewing project instead of using glue? Would that be much harder? Less pretty?
Thanks you for your help!
I think that you can for sure! Just use a lot of clips to keep the layers together and go slow and I bet you’ll be fine!
Laura 🙂
That’s adorable. Is it big enough? It is mind-blowing where one can find food.
When my husband and I were dating we went to a fancy Italian restaurant in my hometown in the U.S. A large, multi-genertional family group arrived at the table next to ours and immediately laid out a big plastic dropcloth, onto which a high chair was placed. My European husband stared in shock–babies at restaurants are rare and dropcloths unknown. But I thought it was brilliant–babies mean food on the floor, and the parents were considerate enough not to expect the restaurant to have to clean it up, especially during a busy service with multiple seatings.
That’s the size that would fit best where her high chair sits but you can make one any size you want! Some kids just drop right next to the chair while others throw for distance 🙂
Laura
A splash mat under the high chair of my child has become a great way to help clear the floor, and I can easily move it from room to room. Thanks for the great idea! :))
I really love this! I’m going to make one now for my second little boy on the way, although I might change the confetti color a bit…although I think this could be gender neutral! It’s just too cute.
This is so beautiful! Can’t wait to try it out!! x
Nice baby chairs, i would buy one for my kid.
Can’t wait to have one made for my grandbaby
I just made one of these and it turned out great! Such a cute idea! I wanted to share some things that worked for me since I went the glue-free route. I did use a ton of clips as Laura suggested in one of the comments (you can buy a pack of 100 clips from amazon for less than $10). Then I used my walking foot to sew everything together which worked nicely with the vinyl. No problems with sticking! I still consider myself a beginner when it comes to sewing, but this was a simple and fairly quick project. I think it took about 3 nap times. I also used a paper punch with some glitter card stock to cut some shapes to go between the layers since I was set on having cacti in mine.????????????Hopefully they’ll hold up, but the glitter cardstock in particular is pretty sturdy feeling. I love all the kiddy DIYs you guys do! Well, basically just all the DIYs you guys do!