Going beyond the crate seat

This year, I plan on diving in head first into flexible seating.  To make this work, though, I need a wide range of seating options for the students.  My first go to was to make some crate seats.  They're not too hard to make and they offer a great storage option, which goes hand in hand with my goal of getting more organized!  I decided to take the crate seat idea one step further.  With the addition of one simple step, I turned the crate seat into a multi-purpose tool: a crate seat, lap desk, and dry erase board!  Below, I explain step by step how to make them and I briefly talk about some of their great uses!  I also have a YouTube video below, which takes you through the process step-by-step!  They are super easy, inexpensive, and a great alternative to your normal seating.  My friend, Miss Tinnish, taught me how to make the crate seats, so I know they worked for her firsties, and I know my fifth graders will love them!  You can go ahead and just watch the video, but I will also type out the steps in detail with pictures!  Hope you find it informational and useful!

  

First, the materials you need: 

• mattress pad
• sheet of wood
• sheet of white panel board
• fabric squares 
• staple gun
• hammer
• scissors or knife
• duct tape
• ribbon
• heavy duty glue or liquid nails

First, you want to place your fabric square face down so that the less colorful side is facing you.  I went to Walmart and bought some pre-cut fabric squares.  They were super inexpensive and SO MUCH EASIER than cutting the fabric myself.  

On top of the fabric square, in the center you want to place your mattress pad with the flat side facing down.  At Walmart, I also bought a regular full size mattress pad and measured and cut it into the size I needed.  I got about 15 pieces of mattress pad from one full sized mattress pad.  

On top of the mattress pad, you want to place the piece of wood with the rougher side facing the mattress pad.  I went to Home Depot with one of my crates, picked out my sheet of wood, and one of the employees measured the crate and cut the sheet of wood into the exact size I needed!  It was awesome and I didn't have to do anything other than transport the wood!  Seems pretty simple so far, huh?  Just a bunch of stacking... Here comes the real work! 

Starting with the long edges, you are going to want to pull the fabric over the side of the wood and use your staple gun to staple the fabric to the side of the wood facing you.  I like to put 5 staples on the long sides.  I put the first staple right in the middle, then one in each corner, and then one in between those three placer staples.  

After doing one long side, I go to the other side and repeat the same process.  This is what it will look like: 

Once both long sides are done, I move on to the short edges.  On the short edges, I only put 4 staples.  I like to make the corners neat, so I tuck the fabric between the wood and the mattress pad.  It is like to wrapping a present, and at this point, the edge should look something like a manila envelope lip. 

Then it is just a matter of pulling the fabric over and stapling again!! 

Once you are done with that, it is time to add your handles!  This will make pulling the seat out of the crate easier and it will make carrying the lap desks easier for the students!  You're going to take a piece of ribbon and cut it to whatever length you think is appropriate for your handles.  The piece of ribbon needs to be long enough so that when folded in half, the handle is as long as you want it.  You're going to fold the ribbon in half and then staple.  It should look like the image below: 

Once you've done this on both sides, you should take your duct tape and reinforce the fabric on the wood.  You are going to follow the edges of the fabric so that it looks something like this: 

Now, my duct tape is purple, which I know doesn't match the whole turquoise and grey scheme I've going on.  With my crate seats and the added step I do, it doesn't matter because the tape is not going to be seen at all.  If you are going to stop here and not do these next few steps, I recommend getting duct tape that matches your fabric and ribbons.  If you are looking for JUST a crate seat, then congrats!  You're done!!! But, if you want to take the traditional crate seat just a bit further, then we've got a few more steps.  

It is time for your heavy duty glue/ liquid nails!  You are going to put dots of whichever you get on the back side of the seat, wood face up.  You are going to put 11 dots of the liquid glue in total.  This is where you should put them: 

Once you have these down, you are going to get your piece of panel board (while I was at Home Depot, I had the same employee cut a sheet of panel board for me, in the same dimensions as the wood!)  With the white part facing up (towards you), you are going to firmly press down the panel board on top of the wood.  Hold firmly for a few minutes and then you are going to want to let them sit for a few hours to make sure they completely dry and adhere.  

Here is your final product: 

On one side, you have a comfy crate seat and on the other you now have a white board!  If students want to work independently on the floor and need somewhere to do work, they can grab one of these flip it to use as a lap desk, and grab a dry erase marker to do their work!  It is functional and flexible!  This is going to going to be an AMAZING addition to my flexible seating classroom!  I am SO excited to put these to use!  How about you?  Do you have any other ideas for how we can step up and transform the traditional crate seat?  Any questions, comments, or ideas please comment below!  Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful!! Follow me on instagram for more snap shots of my classroom as it all comes together: @funinfifthwithmisschmura