DIY Basic Gymnastic Equipment for American Girl Dolls

Pictured above is an incline wedge ramp, balancing
 beam and a tri-fold workout mat. Read more about
her leotard here.

       Gymnastics is a sport that includes exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, back, chest, and abdominal muscle groups. Alertness, precision, daring, self-confidence, and self-discipline are mental traits that can also be developed through gymnastics. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills.
       Here I have crafted basic gymnastic equipment for our 18" dolls: a tri-fold workout mat, a balancing beam and an incline wedge ramp. All three crafts required only basic skills to complete and I recycled materials found in the garage, scrap bag and our toy block collection.

Supply List:

• wool felt for durability
• narrow wooden blocks (for feet)
• wood scrap for balancing beam, 3/4" dowel
• wood varnish
• wooden block for wedge ramp
• enamel paint and or varnish for balancing beam and wedge ramp
• foam padding for the tri-fold workout mat
• sandpaper

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. The wooden, wedge shaped block is common to the majority of classic block collections. Ours was originally unvarnished, so I painted it with a teal colored enamel paint and sealed it with a clear varnish. In real gyms these wedge ramps are made using foam and vinyl. 
2. Cut the balancing beam, using a hand-held saw, from a square dowel. Our beam measures 18 inches across.
3. Remember to sand the ends of the dowel smooth.
4. Then, stained and varnished the dowel, leaving space for gluing two wooden blocks at either end to act as feet for the doll's balancing beam.
5. Paint the feet a coordinating color to match the other two pieces of equipment.
6. The tumbling, tri-fold mat was sewn together with a durable thread and heavy duty wool felt. 
7. I removed the foam stuffing from a box. These pieces measure approx. 6 1/2" x9 1/2" each.
8. Line the foam sheets up side-by-side on top of the fabric. Allow for approx. 1" of space between each sheet and 1 1/2" extra fabric around the circumference of the entire mat before cutting it out.
9. Cut a second sheet of fabric the exact same size as the first.
10. Remove the foam sheets and sew the two identical pieces of fabric with right sides facing together. Make the seam approximately 1/2 inch wide.
11. Only sew the two long sides plus one short side together to form a 'pouch' so that you can insert the foam padding easily.
12. Turn the pouch inside out so that the right sides of your tumbling mat now face outwards.
13. After adjusting the first foam piece inside the long narrow pouch, sew a plain top stitch across the open end, up next to the cushion.
14. Add the center foam cushion and repeat the above step.
15. Then stuff the final third foam cushion between the opening of the tumbling mat and sew an invisible seam across the open end to close off the end neatly.
16. Your tri-fold tumbling mat should fold up neatly into three sections for storage.

Our American Girl doll does the splits on her tri-fold tumbling mat.

Left, cut the foam and wool felt. Center, the mat is sewn with straight stitches.
 Right, the tri-fold gym mat folds up for easy storage.

Close up of basic gymnastic doll equipment made from materials found at home.

More Links to Gymnastic Equipment for 18" Dolls:

• DIY American Girl Doll Gymnastics Mat
• Gymnastics mat by Shelbri AG