Filing Crate Seating

I haven’t been blogging because I’ve been in my class the last couple of weeks.  It’s been fun actually setting things up and making all the fun things I have pinned from Pinterest.  So here is another crate project I did.

I’m sure you have all seen the cute little crate seats on Pinterest.  This is my tutorial of how I made them – full of pictures of course.

First, I found the perfect little dog fabric.  It happened to be blue so I went back to Wal-Mart and picked up some more crates.

I then went to Lowes and had them cut some plywood for me.  I brought a crate up there because another blogger said it was a good idea.  She was right – a couple of pieces didn’t quite fit with the first cut.  It was funny because as I was checking out at Lowes a worker came up to me and said, “You must be making those crate seats.  All these teachers keep coming in here to make those things!”  

Once my boards were cut I covered the top with foam – the roll out kind that I got at the sewing section of Wal-Mart.  One roll covered all 6 crate chairs I made.  The last one had to be pieced together, but you can’t tell once it’s all done.

Then I cut the fabric to size and used my super heavy duty staple gun to secure it all down.

I really like the way these seats turned out.  They also help make the room feel larger because I don’t have chair legs sticking out from the two tables I used them at.  I think it’s more of a visual thing than actually having more space, but whatever.  It’s a fun project that adds a little personality to the room. 

 

And they come in handy for storing all those supplies I get at the beginning of the year that we consume: spirals, tissue boxes, pocket folders, manilla paper.  We have so much of it early on that I can't always find the room to store it at the beginning of the year...problem solved this year!

 

 

Table Storage using Filing Crates

Over the summer I tried to think of ways to make my classroom less crowded.  I had tables with a desk at the end to hold my buckets and crates for the student notebooks.  I wanted to get rid of the desks at the end of each table in order to make more room. 

My mom came up with the idea of using zip ties to put 2 crates together under the tables for storage.  I love the idea because the crates are under the tables, separate the students a little, and are pretty sturdy.  I’m a very visual person so here are some pictures of how you can turn simple filing crates into storage / organization for your classroom.

I bought these crates for about $3.50 at Wal-Mart.  My mom already had zip ties, but I’m sure Wal-Mart has those too.

I put a zip tie in each corner of the crates and then snipped off the excess.

Next I use felt feet on the bottom of my crates. You could skip this step if you have carpet.  I don’t want the kids pulling the crates out from the tables, but I’m sure they will move around sometime so the felt feet will keep our newly waxed floor nice and shiny.

One side of the crate will be used for notebook storage and the other side for the pencil boxes.  I like this idea because sometimes when the students were at their desks they would play with their pencil boxes.  Now they will be safely stored in the crate (by my table captains) until they are needed.

I love this idea because my room already feels larger just by removing 5 desks.  I must admit my mom (once again) has made my classroom an even better place to be!