Whenever we can go natural, especially with children, we do. A friend of ours has been searching for some type of natural floor covering for her toddler's play area and came upon Raku's Igusa floor coverings. What's Igusa? It's the rush plant used to weave tatami floor mats.
Raku's special line of children's play mats means the little ones can enjoy the feeling of igusa underfoot as well. According to Raku's website, igusa material "absorbs polluted air particles such as nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide in the air and acts as a purifier. It absorbs moisture when it's hot and emits moisture when it's dry" We like that. You can read more about Igusa floor coverings here. Raku is based in Toronto but does ship to the States (for free if your order is over $200).
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i have so many of these kinds of mats, growing up in an Asian household, and I will tell you, once it stains, it doesn't come off because the stain locks into the weave. It is very hard to keep clean. I love the naturalness of it, but the care is very high maintenance. Very adorable I must say. I have 4 at home, and never use it for the kids, other than when my grandmother likes to nap on the floor, and she lays this out and sleeps.. Very adorable.
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I don't think it is so hard to keep clean. Actually, the surface of this Tatami is rather easy to take care of compared to other materials. I grew up in a Japanese-style house with Tatami in Japan. As a child, I remember I even drew on tatami with crayons. My mother used to use baking soda and water to take stains off, and it works!
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