The fun little pond rug I got for the kids room…
First off, fair disclosure: the rug I’m writing about was sent to me gratis by my friend Ed Shapiro who runs the attractive online children’s store Sensory Edge.com.
When my kids were quite young, they each enjoyed playing with small toys in a constrained area of their own making. Whether it was a corner behind the couch, a “fort” made of towels or blankets thrown over chairs and other objects, or even somewhere in the yard, they had a clear preference for small spaces for their imaginative play. Probably had something to do with the fact that they were small. 
My 4yo K- still does this and it’s quite common for her to make remarkably elaborate fortresses out of every pillow off the bed, every cushion off the couch and just about all the blankets in the house. I’ve also found that a camera tripod is a splendid prop for building forts too (instant teepee!)
When my friend Ed of sensoryedge.com told me about some of the cute area rugs he sold, I was definitely interested, and when I showed the pictures to K-, she was interested too, specifically in the design that looked like a little pond with a bridge and some lily pads!
When we got the rug, it fit perfectly in the kids room at my place and it’s a really nice little oval shape too, with a fun graphic design on it.
As Ed tells me, “The cool, calming colors and simple, broad design create the perfect place in homes and classrooms for story time, quiet time and all of your group gatherings. Available in multiple sizes and shapes, this unique learning carpet will brighten up any room.”
He points out that it’s designed specifically for the rough and tumble world of kids play and that the rug is treated with “Carpet Guard” which is comparable to Stainmaster® and has an anti-microbial treatment which is a durable “locked-in chemistry” that is incorporated into the backing composite to minimize product deterioration and odors caused by microbial activity.
Now I don’t really care about the anti-microbial treatment and try to minimize my kids taking food into their rooms, but with a cat in the house and the occasional visit from a family dog or two, it’s nice to know that if anything “happened” we’d be good.
Anyway, the rug is cute and K- does occasionally like to play with her toys on its cheery little pond surface. I have a feeling that a year ago she’d love it more, so maybe the target age is 2-3 years old or thereabouts, but even just as an area rug, there’s a certain magic to it that’s great fun.
I can’t find the rug on the childbasics.com site.
Yeah, there’s a hiccup in the links: Ed has two children’s sites. I’ll clean it up later tonight, stay tuned!
I am not a kid nor do I have kids (yet) but I LOVE this rug! It’s so imaginative.
I dunno.. my kid is about to turn 6 .. and I’m positive he’d use it with his Playmobil toys.. Do they make any other environments??
Here we go! I was pointing to the wrong store.
Here’s a link for this rug:
http://www.sensoryedge.com/tatopputh.html
Sorry for the confusion.
The Lilly Pad design is such a creative idea!
Where are these made? Aunt Kathe would like to get one but NOT if it’s from China…..turn it over Dave and tell us!
Kathe, you’re in luck, it says “MADE IN THE USA” on the label.
Thanks for the kind write up Dave. For your http://www.apparenting.com subscribers who are interested in any of our awesome classroom/playroom/waiting area rugs, we are happy to offer them 10% off through December 1st. They can use coupon code apparenting when checkout out and our system will do the rest.
Happy Holidays from the crew at SensoryEdge.
Aww, very cute! I love it. I should try to look for a rug with train tracks on it soon. good idea!
Oh how cute!!! Yeah a rug with train tracks would be great too! My son loves his trains. Thanks for the post!