The motor and cognitive skills development system includes a series of exercise mats having various instructional patterns thereon in increasing degrees or levels of physical and mental difficulty from very basic to more advanced moves and instructions. Each mat includes a complete series of exercise instructions thereon, with the exercises ranging from a relatively simple series of progressive jumps along the mat, to more complex jumps requiring only one foot, lateral or backward jumps, jump turns, etc. The instructions may range from simple representations of foot patterns through representations of various objects, colors, alphanumeric indicators, caricatures, etc. The development system thus challenges students both physically and mentally, with the instructor determining the exercise(s) to be performed and the corresponding mats according to the needs of the student(s) and/or curriculum. The system is adaptable to very young children, autistic students, adults and younger people with special training or rehabilitation needs, etc.