Place Mats That Help Kids Learn How to Set Tables

• A child can learn how to set up a table place setting. Steven Lam/Stockbyte/Getty Images

  It is easy to teach a child that "fork" and 'left" each have four letters when placing the fork on the left side of the plate. A child may also find it simple to remember that "knife" and "spoon" have five letters that match their right side placement. A place mat with a diagram of the table setting will make it easier for the child to remember the proper position of the utensils.

Educational Place Mats

• Table setting and table manners place mats are available from kitchen supply sales, online sources and stores. Available place mats diagram the outline of the items used for place settings and are labelled with the names of each piece. The inexpensive 12-by-17 1/2-inch mats are laminated or machine stamped onto easy-clean materials.

Crafted Place Mats

• Free downloads are available for line drawings of place mats with plate, utensils, cup and napkin locations. The downloaded patterns are printed on plain paper or used as patterns to transfer to vinyl, plastic, cork-backed high-density board, cardboard or woven natural material place mats. Laminate paper place mat projects or cover them with clear contact paper for a long-lasting kid's coloring or painted art project.

Handsewn

• A crafter can use cloth to sew place setting placemats for children to use to set the table. She can use solid, print and holiday cloth to make the decorative yet functional mats. She traces a plate, silverware, cup and napkin on cloth to be cut out for the place-setting guide. She attaches each place setting symbol,cut out of cloth, to the cloth place mat with zigzag , blanket or quilt stitching.