Learning Through Play: Kids' Road Rugs for Toy Cars

When young children play, they unknowingly absorb knowledge from older kids or adults, making each turn at a game or toy more enriching.

I would often play for some time with my twins, then stop and let them play just so I could see what they took from my participation.

Boy, was I surprised when I noted the boys using my diction and mirroring my actions.

Indeed, it doesn't take much to influence toddlers and preschoolers and by including a bit of strategic facts about the workings of vehicles, our neighborhoods and different jobs within our community, we can work in a lesson with a casual statement. Mind you, you don't have to be technical.

Your 'mini lesson' can be as simple as "big trucks use more gas than small cars" -- knowledge is knowledge and you'll be laying the foundation for more and more complex lessons as you play along, year after year.

I love the theme each of these play area rugs feature: country living/roads, city life and streets and country living with farms and winding roads.

Pair up several rugs and create an entire community. Explain how each part (like police stations) has its own function and is connected to make the community run smoothly.

You can explain the difference between city and country life as you play with your child. Use the companion playsets to show the differences between farm, rescue and construction vehicles and where your child can expect to see each vehicle.

It's fun for both of you to teach while rolling cars and trucks around the appropriate roads.

It's no big wonder that kid's love trains but do they know about their value to our lives? Just what are all those boxcars carrying? Do cabooses still bring up the end of the train?

So many questions and they all have answers.

This large road rug is available in several sizes and has a host of train tracks kids can roll along with. I would provide a few train cars and a companion book to go along with the rug to enhance their learning experience.

Here's one rug I'd love to have. Am I an adult, yet?

Just like anything, there's quite a few styles of road rugs for kids; some have country roads, some neighborhood and others city road rugs.

The road rug here at right, features neighborhood roads where you'll see houses, schools and churches, things you'd see from a home-based area.

These road rugs are great for playing with cars but if you'd like to expand your child's learning experience, a city rug might serve your child better.

Consider your objectives for the road rug before your purchase to get all that's expected fro your child's play.

This wooden traffic sign set is great educational companion to any road rug for kids and they're an important part of teaching road rules and safety.

Mind you, it's a bit too early for those driving lessons just yet but you can craft your lesson to include bike riding and school bus safety.Who knows, maybe your child will tattle in the bus driver. Won't that be something?

As I've mentioned earlier, enriching play through personalization--having kids take on a role of another person, like a police officer--is a fun way to teach young ones without the stress of more structured teachings.

I love these wooden community members donned in full uniform and ready to fill the role in a child's imagination. I really appreciate the host of characters from officers to the elderly, where kids can learn to appreciate others, no matter who they are and however small their role within a community. Too, the pieces help put real faces to the various goings-ons.

While I only included a scant few of the wooden playsets available from Melissa & Doug, you can see from the links above there's more to the 'story.'

Depending on what lesson you're planning, you might want to introduce a particular playset: the citizens above right to teach community and diversity and the school set to ready little ones for school.

There's really no limit to teaching social studies and developing cultural awareness with these road rugs for kids and a few minutes spent each play period with your little ones.

As a mom, I was forever looking for a lesson to teach my kids in everything they did.

Neighborhood streets play road rugs like this one are a great way to teach social studies and with the playsets above, you can help kids realize that--much like the song, It Takes All Kinds of People to Make the World Go 'Round --our world needs everyone working together to form a society.

Road map rugs make learning this ideal extra fun, indeed.

Road rugs for kids like this large city play area rug has all the graphics needed to teach kids about the importance of all people and how their jobs and working together are vital to a well-run community.

The playsets above are great at enhancing your lessons while keeping it fun. With this rug, you'll find a school, barn, coffee house, homes and so many buildings and other aspects that are necessary to all towns.

There's any number of fun playsets like road signs, people in uniform, cars and service vehicles you can add to your kid's road rug to complete the lesson and have plenty of fun learning along the way.