Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We have all porcelain tile floors. Our first toddler surprised us by banging her head on the hard floors intentionally when she was upset. That was before we knew there were protective foam head helmets available. It was traumatizing as a first time parent who had helped care for 4 younger siblings and never observed this behavior. She is safely older now and reads 2+ grade levels ahead of her age, so thankfully no permanent damage was incurred. However, with the gift of our new baby 6 years later, I decided to take no chances that she too might like to head-bang on the tile. I went about finding a solution that would allow our baby to have play and explorative freedom, while allowing me to safely do laundry, start meals, and accomplish computer work between spending time with the girls. Searching Amazon for gates options with Prime shipping, I first saw the North States plastic play fences made in the USA (and bought one is those in pink for outside and portable play) and then the other brand of metal baby fences sold on Amazon that are white and may be made in Mexico. After reading many other reviews, and watching videos on you-tube, I chose the North States superyard for its off-white/ pale taupe sand color, it's anticipated durability based on other reviews, and their Prime shipping availability at a fair (IE- non-inflated) Prime cost. To create a play area that would last several years as baby develops, I decided to go with an 8X10 foot design based on standard rug sizes. To ensure the play area would protect our daughter during falls as she learned to stand, walk and tumble, I ordered two 2" thick 4' wide X 10' long gymnastics mats with Velcro sides from Amazon Prime. They fit together perfectly to make an 8X10 base safe for falling. I then searched for a lightweight, non skid rug to go on top of the vinyl covered gymnastics mats, so the area would be pretty and soft for crawling. It took 4 full sets of the gates as sold on Amazon + 2 sets of extension panels to make an perfect 8X10 play-yard. If you have 1-2 free walls to attach to, you could accomplish the same play space with perhaps 2 sets + 1 set of extension panels. Be sure to measure first . From support to support, each non-gated panel and each gated panel is approximately 24" wide. We do not have any available walls, so it required far more investment in the fence/ gates. A tip that "Wally World" aka WalMart sells a bundle of the fence with gate + 2 extension panels for less that shipped and arrived within a week. I bought some of my North States gates from Amazon and some from WalMart. They are identical. The completed 8X10' play-yard with 2 entry gates required 18 panels total including the 2 gates. 4 panels along each 8' end, and 5 panels along each 10' side. It has plenty of room for my husband, myself and our 7 year daughter to all be in the play area with baby at the same time. My husband has found that with the gymnastics mats beneath and the rug on top, it's a nice place for him to nap while baby plays. Our daughter loves spending time in the cheerful area to play with her baby sister. Creating an 8X10' play-yard with the North States fences/ gates (the metal ones are sadly made in China rather than USA) + gymnastics mats + Glamour rug (from Amazon it's more of a thin mat which I'll review separately) was quite an investment. However, given that our whole family is enjoying playing in the area as baby learns to spread her wings, that baby will be able to play in it through at last age 3 without her head ever coming in contact with our tile, it's an investment I feel great about. The construction of the fences/ gates feel sturdy and the pale taupe (sand) color is attractive in our main living area. My husband put the 4 sections of fence together in a short amount of time he says it's not that easy to rearrange the gate placement once it's together, so you may want to plan that out before installation. So if you're a working at home Mom or Dad, have multiple young children with a full day of home care, hard floors, or all of the above...... Perhaps my 8 X 10 play area solution will be an helpful sfor your family too.