Indoor Playground Foam Tiles - 68 Foot Egg Drop Test

By Paige Cerulli Created: July, 2017 - Modified: May, 2021

One of the best ways to maximize indoor playground safety is to carefully choose flooring that offers appropriate fall height protection. In the event that a child falls off of your playground equipment, the flooring can help to minimize the chance of a head injury or other significant injury.

Our Indoor Playground Flooring Tiles are a top choice for playground flooring because of their four-foot ASTM fall height safety rating. These tiles can increase indoor playground safety while also offering many other benefits to your playground space.

Indoor Playground Safety and the Raw Egg Drop Test

Reading that these tiles have an ASTM 4-foot fall height rating is one thing, but visualizing just how the tiles can help to keep kids safe is another. That’s why we’ve performed the raw egg drop test on these playground tiles.

This video shows a raw egg being dropped from 68 feet above the Greatmats 1 5/8 inch thick foam Indoor Playground Tiles. The tiles are laid over a gravel driveway, and the egg bounces approximately 16 feet back into the air without breaking.

Reiten’s Tree Service helped to perform this experiment, and the results are eye-opening. Rather than the impact shattering the egg, the floor absorbs the impact and lets the egg rebound safely into the air.

This visual demonstrates how a floor would absorb the energy and impact generated by a child’s floor, helping to reduce the chances of a head injury and promoting increased safety.

With the ASTM 4-foot fall height rating, these tiles are ideal for playgrounds where all of your equipment measures 4 feet high or less.

Additional Reasons to Choose Indoor Playground Flooring Tiles

This ASTM fall height rating is just one reason to choose these playground tiles. In addition to helping to absorb impacts, these tiles feature a no-skin burn surface texture. This surface allows kids to fall, crawl, and even roll on the floor without the risk of painful rug burns.

The tiles are free of lead and latex, so they’re safe for use with kids. They’re also waterproof, giving them great durability. If spills happen, they can be easily mopped up. The interlocking puzzle mats are easy to clean, requiring minimal maintenance.

This indoor playground safety flooring features a closed cell design that’s also elasticized. The result is a flooring that’s soft and flexible, but that can also provide just the right amount of firmness.

This firmness ensures that kids won’t sink too far into the flooring to sustain an ankle injury, while the floor is still soft enough to be comfortable underfoot.

Cleaning Indoor Playground Flooring Tiles

With a popular indoor playground, you’ll need a flooring that’s easy to clean. These tiles will save you time and money when it comes to cleaning.

For daily cleaning, you can use a beater brush-free vacuum. Because the tiles fit together tightly, there’s no need to worry about dirt working its way down between the seams. It’s best to test the vacuum on a small area first to make sure the edges of your vacuum attachment around the suction won’t damage the tile.

If you need to wipe up a liquid, you can use a dry towel. You can also spot-clean areas with diluted vinegar or diluted bleach. Dawn dish soap also makes a good choice, and you can use a scrub brush or sponge for these spot cleanings.

If your floor needs more thorough cleaning, then a walk behind auto machine can work well. Because the flooring is non-absorbent, it won’t absorb water or chemicals during the cleaning process.

Installing Indoor Playground Flooring Tiles

To maximize your indoor playground safety, it’s important to install these tiles correctly. They’re designed to be easy to install, so that’s not a difficult task.

When installing the tiles, start in one corner of the area that you want to cover and work your way out, connecting one tile at a time. The seams fit together like puzzle pieces, so you just need to align the edges and press down to connect the edges. You'll see and feel them slide into place securely.

If you need to cut the tiles to fit around an obstacle, like a pole, or against a wall, you can use a sharp utility knife and a straight edge to guide your cuts. Make shallow, repeated scores and gradually work your way through the mat’s surface. Finish the cut by folding the mat at the cut and repeat your scoring from the inside of the fold - opposite of the original cuts.

These mats come with four border strips, so you can create flat edges against a wall or you can create an island installation with clean, finished edges.

Because these tiles are modular, there’s no adhesive required for their installation. They’re reversible, so if a tile gets worn or damaged, you can flip it over to maximize its use. If you need to replace the tile, you can replace just that one tile, rather than worrying about larger-scale, costly flooring repairs or replacements.

If you want to maximize the safety of your playground, it’s important to start with a carefully thought-out design. As you choose the equipment for your indoor playground, consider the maximum height above the ground. Pairing equipment that stands 4 feet high or lower with these playground tiles can provide valuable fall height protection, helping to keep all of the kids who use the playground safe.


Raw Egg Drop onto Indoor Playground Foam Tiles Video
Reiten's Tree Service
Balsam Lake WI