Create an olfactory mat
Hey Pawtrons! Today is day 6 of our 30-day challenge and I want to share with you a fun and creative project: a sniffing mat for your dog or cat! Not only is this exercise a great way to repurpose clothes you no longer wear, but it also provides mental stimulation for our besties.
The mat can be as complex or as simple as you like, from creating a design inspired by a theme to just opting for something simple but functional.
What is an Olfactory Mat?
A sniffing mat is a mat designed for dogs or cats to search for and find hidden treats. It is an activity that helps them exercise their sense of smell, keeping them busy and happy.
Necessary Materials
- Old clothes (can be t-shirts, socks, etc.)
- Scissors
- Heavy duty carpet or fabric underlay
- Glue for fabrics and/or sewing machine
- Treats or kibbles for dogs
Inspiration
We share with you a selection of images we found on Pinterest, along with their links, to serve as inspiration for creating your scent mat. You can make it as elaborate or as simple as you like; the most important thing is to let your creativity fly when reusing clothes you no longer use and giving them a second life.
My creative process and the mat I made for Santi
I love creating and I enjoy the process, so it took me around 4 hours to make my scent mat, from conceptualization to creation. After searching for inspiration, I decided that I wanted to design a marine-themed scent mat, so I got to work.
First, I sketched out a few items that might be useful, keeping in mind their functionality. Then, I went through my bag of clothes I no longer wear and found a pair of pajamas that I loved because of its fabric. I also thought about the importance of choosing fabrics that don't fray easily, like jersey.
Next, I designed a seashell and a pattern to make a ball in Illustrator. If you are interested in the seashell and ball patterns you can download them here <3 (both include a 1cm seam allowance and don't forget to print them at 100%)
Once everything was ready, I moved on to marking the fabric, cutting and sewing. For the stuffing I used an old cushion with old stuffing.
For the mat I used a bonded blanket I had from college, covered it with pajama fabric and glued it on the sides. Finally, I decided to glue everything together with silicone, and to my surprise, it worked really well. Here was Rat enjoying his mat even though it wasn't finished hehe.
This was the result. The Rat was delighted sniffing his favorite treats on his new sniffing mat. If you want to see a little more of the process on video you can watch it on our TikTok (Don't forget to follow us)
As we mentioned, you don't need to make such an elaborate Mat, so we also explain the easiest way to do it.
Create a simple but beautiful mat
Prepare the Cotton Canvas: On a piece of fabric, draw lines 2.5 cm apart, leaving 5 cm at the top and bottom, and 5 cm at the edges.
Prepare the Fabric Strips: Create 12 strips of fabric measuring 15 cm x 10 cm wide and fold them in half lengthwise. Place each folded piece on each line drawn on the canvas.
Securing the Strips: Once in place, you can choose to glue them with fabric glue (don't be like me and use silicone because it often comes off) or sew them in a straight line.
Cutting the Strips: Once you have sewn all 12 strips together (don't forget to sew at the beginning and end of each strip) use scissors to cut each piece into small strips about 1-2cm wide.
The result is like the bottom of this mat:
And that's it, that's all. We hope you enjoy this activity and your babies are delighted. Remember that the most important thing is to flow, stop worrying too much about whether it's perfect or not (your baby won't judge you, I promise hehe). Enjoy the process, don't think that everything has to be saleable or that others will like it.
It is your creation process and that is why it is unique and incredible. Give yourself the opportunity to create and let Divinity create through you.
We love you very much,
Santi & Gabriela