DIY Racetrack Play Mat
July 12, 2017This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RevUpF8 #CollectiveBias
When I was a kid, I always loved playing with cars. In fact, my little diecast vehicle collection was one of my most prized possessions! Now my daughters have followed in my footsteps and they absolutely love to race their little toy cars around the house. To create a portable track for racing on-the-go, I made a DIY Racetrack Play Mat using some fabric and markers. Plus, I picked up the Fast & Furious™ Deluxe Scene Playset and the Fast & Furious™ Basic Stunt Car from Walmart to boost the fun factor even more.
The new realistic diecast vehicles & playsets in the Fast & Furious™ line of toys from Walmart are a fabulous addition to any child’s playroom and are sure to delight the little ones. In fact, these toys are perfect for recreating & sharing famous moments from the Fast & Furious™ movies. Over the course of eight films that have successively stoked passion in an ever-expanding audience, Fast & Furious is a global box-office blockbuster that continues to entertain audiences of all ages.
The Fate of the Furious is the newest and 8th release in this popular motion-picture series. We have already seen a number of the movies and can’t wait to check out more of them. By the way, the DVD for F8 was released on July 11th, so don’t miss out!
Now, let me show you how I created a Racetrack Play Mat using some fabric & markers – it’s perfect for taking the play time on-the-go.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Here’s what you’ll need for this project:
- white fabric (feel free to use a fabric shower curtain liner from Walmart)
- fabric markers
- pair of scissors
- hot glue & glue gun
- iron
- watercolor paint
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Cut the fabric into a rectangle. You can choose any size you prefer- ours was approximately 24″x40″. Iron the fabric to smooth out any wrinkles. *TIP: Use a kitchen towel in between the iron and fabric to prevent any burn marks on the white fabric.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Now, it’s time to create neat edges. On the back side of the fabric, use some hot glue to create a small (1/2″) hem on all sides.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
See how neat the corners look now.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Let’s draw our little town. The first step is to draw the outline of the roads. Create lanes with dashed yellow lines in the center.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
To give our town a bit more dimension, add some trees, bushes and a river leading to a lake. Obviously, you can add as much or as little detail as you like to your play mat.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Next, add some houses, a police station, a post office, and a general store.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Use the fabric markers to add some color to the town. To fill in large areas, such as the green lawns, feel free to use a bit of watercolor paint.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
My daughters really loved racing their cars around the track.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Just like mom, Sophia really enjoys playing with these diecast vehicles.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
To bring our racing fun to the next level, I purchased the Fast & Furious™ Deluxe Scene Playset and a Fast & Furious™ Basic Stunt Car.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
The Fast & Furious™ Deluxe Scene Playset comes with all the supplies necessary to set up a frozen mountain scene with Ice Charger, Launcher and more. The individual parts all have identification letters to make assembly a breeze- simply match up the letters!
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
You can launch, jump and dodge the missiles! It’s fun to actually recreate famous moments from the Fast & Furious™ movies.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Be sure to also set up the avalanche for an extra boost of excitement. Don’t forget that the DVD for F8 is being released on July 11th!
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Did you know that this is is the first ever toy line for Fast & Furious™? My kids really had a wonderful time launching the missiles.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
We also purchased the Fast & Furious™ Basic Stunt Car from Walmart, which includes Hobbs and the Navistar MXT. With this fun stunt car, you can launch Hobbs directly from the roof of his high-performance vehicle! Talk about a fun time!
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
The stunt car was also a big hit with my children. They really enjoyed watching Hobbs get thrown off the hood. I love that this toy line is inspired by the movie’s real cars and real characters!
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
We will definitely be adding a few more Stunt Cars to our collection, as there are a number of varieties available at Walmart.
DIY Racetrack Play Mat
Look for the complete Fast & Furious™ toy collection at Walmart.
Celebrate childhood play time with the Fast & Furious™ line at Walmart and tell me: Do your kids enjoy playing with toy cars? Have you watched any movies from the Fast & Furious™ series?
That is such a fun idea!! My youngest son would LOVE this. I should totally make him one!
Oh my gosh, that’s such a clever idea! My guys are a little too older for it, but I’ll pass this along to some friend with younger kiddos who are super crafty!
My son would love this DIY Racecar Mat. It is such a great idea!
This is SO cute! I would have loved to make this for my kiddo when he was younger! I miss that age! Savor it! This is SO creative!
My kids would absolutely flip over this DIY! They love cars and play with them on almost a daily basis! This is so cute!
This is a really fun idea! I would never have thought to make my own racetrack play mats. Actually I would never have thought to make my own play mats at all!
This is the best! It’s definitely going to see a lot of use. Those Fast and Furious cars are going to go on all sorts of adventures.
This is so awesome. I am not very creative and never, ever would have thought of it. My girls would have loved it so much.
This is a fun way for kids to show their creativity and let their imagination run wild. It is also an easy way to keep them occupied.
That is such a cute idea. I used to love making my own layouts for my Fisher Price people’s houses, so I’m sure I would have loved making my own racetracks had I played with cars!
I remember how expensive the mats were for my son’s toy cars. This is a great solution and it lets kids get creative.
I loved playing with cars when I was younger too. Heck, I still try to play with them with my daughter. Cute car mat!
This is so awesome! I would never think to do this at home but it turned out great.
My kids are all about cars so a cars race track place mat is right up their (literal) alley. Sounds like the perfect way to get my kids to sit still at the dinner table for a bit longer.
My daughter loves to make DIY projects. I’ll have to show this racetrack play mat to her so she can make one for her brother – he’d love this!
That DIY racetrack is such a great idea! I think we should not stereo type certain toys as being “for boys” and “for girls” only.
What a fun idea!! I would have had a blast with this as a kid. Cars and trucks are always a fun past-time.
[…] Have a little guy who loves cars? Make this homemade racetrack mat that Engineer Mommy made. It is a very affordable option and your kid can have fun for hours. See how they did it. […]
I must say your site is a real kid thing. love this creative artistry play mat. will must try at home with kids. Nice and very helpful information I have got from your post. Even your whole blog is full of interesting information which is the great sign of a great blogger
wow great ideas for kid’s entertainment, my four years daughter saw this all model now she claim for making it. Now I will try for making it for her and get information from here.Thanks
great models for kids, I will appreciate you for this kind of working and designing. thanks