Gift buying where the schoolteachers shop

Sunset, Dec, 1987

Gift buying where the schoolteachers shop

Where do teachers find the maps, posters, easels, paint pots, flash cards, and counting toys that fill their rooms? They go to school supply stores.

Also called curriculum materials companies or teachers' exchanges, these stores are found in most metropolitan areas. They can be excellent sources for worth-while, student-tested gifts and sturdily built play equipment.

To find the outlet nearest you, look in the yellow pages under Teachers' Supplies or School Supplies. Or simply ask your child's teacher where she or he got those realistic dinosaurs or that set of indestructible blocks.

Some of the stores publish extensive catalogs. Most carry a stock of items appropriate to each educational level, from infancy through high school.

On a recent visit to such a store, we found children's furniture, extensive arts and crafts supplies, portable slides and play sculpture, merry-go-rounds and swings, carpentry and cooking tools, children's books and records, puzzles, and games designed to build reading, math, and science skills. Prices ranged from $1.50 for a butterfly poster to $669 for a six-seat swing set.

Photo: From scooters and slides to traffic signs and solar-system posters, teachers' supply stores carry a wide range of durable toys, tools, games