. . . like a child on a story mat

[shootingstar]

'You should check him out,' he continues. 'The man's a genius, check that song out. It's what gave me the idea, and the name.'
'What idea?' Gloria asks, like a child on a story mat. 'What name?'

(From A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe, Part III Family Business, scene 48)

What is meant by "like a child on a story mat"? Does that mean a child on a mat is telling a story or does that mean stories are being told a child on a mat?.

 

[emsr2d2]

At kindergartens, nursery schools and primary schools, the young children frequently sit together on a large mat on the floor while the teacher reads a story aloud to them. Those children might ask (quite reasonably) quite childish or inane questions. I think the writer is suggesting that Gloria's question was a bit unnecessary and she should have been able to work the answer out for herself.