Children's Place Mats That Teach By Carol Lawson

Sitting at the dining table has never ranked as favorite activity of young children. Generations have grown up practicing the eat-and-run style of dining--nibbling a few bites, running away to play, and repeating the pattern until their parents' patience is worn out. But thanks to Amy Kallman Epstein, children now have an incentive to remain at the table, and parents have reason to rejoice at the calm that ensues, however fleeting, at mealtime.

Ms. Epstein is the creator of Read a Mat, the educational place mat that is becoming a fixture of modern childhoods. Read a Mat, which fits perfectly into the modern parental mind-set that abhors downtime for children, brings youngsters a world of mealtime information and entertainment. The 54 different patterns range from basics like the alphabet, shapes and numbers to the solar system, rain forests, dinosaurs, foreign languages, great American women, and maps of the United States and the world. The vinyl mats, are available in all 50 states in everything from stationery shops to toy stores.