For teachers who are looking for a new way to get their pre-school and elementary age children interested in learning, educational rugs offer a fun way to go about it. Teachers know that kids learn best when they don't even realize they are learning. Educational rugs do this very nicely.

Unfortunately many of these rugs for sale at retail outlets can be quite expensive and make selection of the correct rug essential since multiple purchases may not be practical for teachers who are forced to pinch pennies. There are some educational rugs that are sold at discount prices with specific retailers on the Internet, so shopping with an affordable retailer can make a real difference in the size and number of rugs that you purchase, especially if you are shopping on a budget. Rugs can be found relating to about any theme one can imagine and in sizes ranging from no larger than a doormat to others that can cover an entire classroom. Obviously you can expect to pay considerably more for the large rugs.

Given the many options, one should first come up with a plan for how they will implement the rug into their classroom and lesson plans. For example, small rugs can be purchased and positioned in various high traffic areas of the classroom and act as passive learning aids. Large rugs on the other hand should give you maximum value for your money and should be integrated into an active lesson plan.

Many large rugs are filled with interesting information for kids such as letters, numbers, shapes, colors, animals, etc. Several games can be invented to take advantage of the rug's designs. These large rugs allow the children to interact in groups with the rug and turns the learning into a fun, active game instead of another boring lesson. Possible ideas include a modified form of twister, bean bag toss, musical chairs, etc. To play twister, all you need is a spinner designed around the particular rug you are using. Many of these rugs can incorporate multiple spinners depending on the days lesson. The large rugs with the letters of the alphabet printed along the border are perfect for a fun game of musical letters. Just like in musical chairs, the children walk around the border. When the music stops, children on vowels, or another predetermined group of letters, are eliminated. Bean bag toss can be played in one form or another on most educational rugs. Divide the kids into groups and see who can land their bags on all the letters of the alphabet first. Write a word on the board and make them hit that letter before moving to the next. Kids will quickly associate the words with the letters.

Possibilities are virtually endless for an imaginative teacher. The variety of rugs, be they basic number or letter training or rugs designed for specific educational games, offers something for every classroom and lesson subject. Think ahead of time what you would like to accomplish with the rugs and choose the correct version accordingly. The results will be worth it.