A landscape sheet for a child's place at the table. A bold snowflake band runs right round the edge, a boxed panel in the middle holds the scene to colour, and a line along the bottom says who the mat belongs to. Eight scenes to choose from, and the sheet always prints landscape.
Eight scenes, one frame
The Scene control picks what goes in the middle panel: a Christmas tree, a snowman, a reindeer, a gingerbread man, a penguin, a robin, a sleigh or a wreath. Each one is the large, bold version of that drawing, so the shapes are wide open and suit a crayon or a felt tip.
The outer band is always snowflakes and cannot be changed. That is a deliberate limit rather than a missing control: the band is drawn heavy and at one and a half times its usual scale so it reads as a border on a table from a standing adult's eye height, and swapping it for a fine motif would lose that.
The parts of the sheet
On A4 landscape the decorated frame is about 265mm by 174mm. Inside it the colourable area is about 234mm by 143mm, and the scene panel in the middle of that is roughly 101mm wide by 123mm tall with a thin grey box drawn round it so a child knows where to work.
The two flanks either side of the panel carry two large open snowflakes each, four in all. They are there so the mat is not half empty paper, and they are the quickest part to fill in when a child has had enough of the main drawing.
The name line
With Name set to On, the words THIS PLACEMAT BELONGS TO print along the bottom with a ruled line beside them. You can click the line and type a name on screen before printing, or leave it blank and let the child write their own.
Set Name to Off and the scene panel grows into that 20mm strip instead, which is the setting to use if you are printing a set for a table where nobody is sitting in a fixed seat.
Making one last more than a meal
160gsm card is the minimum for something a plate sits on. For a mat that gets used again, laminate it, or cover both faces with a strip of wide clear tape overlapped down the middle, which is cheaper and nearly as good.
Let felt tip ink dry properly before laminating. Solvent based markers stay slightly tacky for a while and will smear under heat, which ruins the one thing a child was pleased with.
Questions
- What scenes can I choose for the placemat?
- Eight: a Christmas tree, a snowman, a reindeer, a gingerbread man, a penguin, a robin, a sleigh and a wreath. Each is the bold, large-shape version of that drawing.
- Is the placemat portrait or landscape?
- Always landscape. It prints across the long edge of the paper whichever size you choose, because that is the shape a place setting is, and there is no control to turn it round.
- Can I change the snowflake border?
- No. The outer band is always snowflakes, drawn heavy and oversized so it reads as a border from a standing adult eye line. Only the scene in the middle panel changes.
- How do I make the mat wipe clean?
- Print on 160gsm card or heavier, then laminate it, or cover both faces with overlapping strips of wide clear tape. Let any felt tip ink dry fully first or it will smear under heat.
- Can I put a name on it?
- Yes. With Name set to On a ruled line prints along the bottom under the words THIS PLACEMAT BELONGS TO. Type the name on screen before printing, or leave it for the child to write.