How Matropolis™ Can Boost Your Baby’s First Steps

Soft Puzzle Mats: The Secret to Helping Babies Walk Sooner

Flooring matters for more than comfort, it changes how babies move. Studies show that infants move differently on softer, more forgiving surfaces, and that those surfaces can encourage exploration and repeated practice. The very things that help motor skills develop.

Research comparing hands-and-knees crawling on hardwood to crawling on a tatami-style padded surface found that infants crawled faster and spent less time with prolonged hand-floor contact on the cushioned surface, suggesting that better shock absorption and grip encourage smoother, more efficient movement.¹

Learning to walk involves a huge amount of practice. Natural-observation data of toddlers during free play reported an average of about 17 falls per hour for 12- to 19-month-olds... roughly thousands of steps and dozens of falls across a single hour of typical play.² That repetition is how infants learn balance and coordination, so the surface they practice on matters. A softer, stable floor reduces the punishment for mistakes while still letting children feel the forces needed to learn.

Cushioned floors also reduce impact forces. Laboratory and field research on compliant (low-stiffness) flooring shows these surfaces can meaningfully attenuate fall-related impact forces to the head and hip in simulated falls and reduce injury risk³.

EVA foam in particular has mechanical properties that make it well suited for play surfaces: closed-cell EVA provides good energy absorption, rebound, vibration isolation, and moisture resistance. These characteristics mean EVA tiles soften small tumbles without collapsing under weight, rebound quickly for the next step, and resist compression-related breakdown when chosen at appropriate density and thickness.⁴

The Matropolis™ EVA Puzzle Mat is designed for children 0–6+ years old, offering a stable, cushioned floor that encourages safe exploration. By providing a softer surface under a child’s hands and knees, these mats help little ones practice and reach milestones with comfort and confidence. Faster crawling, steadier steps, and a safety cushion when falls happen.

References for Further Reading

1.) Choi J., Ogawa T., Takesue S., et al. “Different flooring surfaces affect infants’ crawling performance.” Applied Ergonomics. 2022;98:103553. (Assesses crawling performance on tatami vs hardwood vs carpet.)

2.) Adolph K.E., Cole W.G., Komati M., et al. “How Do You Learn to Walk? Thousands of Steps and Dozens of Falls Per Day.” Psychological Science. 2012;23(11):1387-1394. (Reports ~2,368 steps and ~17 falls/hour for 12-19 mo infants during free play.)

3.) Rajaei N., Abdolshah S., Akiyama Y., et al. “Impact-reduction effect of tatami floor mat made of nonwoven fabric for head injuries in fall accidents.” (Material/fall-impact study on compliant flooring.)

4.) Chen H., et al. “Mechanical behavior and protective properties of closed-cell ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam: implications for cushioning, vibration isolation and moisture resistance.” Polymers (Basel). 2023;15(7). (Details material mechanics of EVA foam relevant to cushioned surfaces.)