How I Implemented Flexible Seating In My Classroom For LESS Than $50!!

Happy Saturday!!  I hope this post finds you relaxing over your 3 day weekend!  And for some of you northeastern teachers, I hear many of you get A WEEK off over President's Day?!  Extremely jealous teacher right now.  We just get Monday off, but I'll take what I can get :)

Today I thought I would share something that I have gotten a lot of questions from teachers about when they hear I have tried it this year.

First off, I love trying new things in my classroom!  I think that is one of the things I love most about teaching--there is always something new to learn or try!  I couldn't get bored if I tried.

I try new things often, but every year I usually have one new idea I implement that works so well that I wonder how I ever lived without it in the first place!  This year that was flexible seating!

I had toyed with this idea for a couple years actually.  I always saw it used in upper grades though (like 4th and up).  While I thought it was brilliant, I had doubts about if I could implement it in my kindergarten classroom.  How on earth would I manage that with 25 kindergarteners??  Where would we keep our supplies?  Would they be able to handle to the responsibility of so much choice in their first year of elementary school?  What about all of our cut/paste projects?  And finally (the kicker for all things teaching)--how on earth would I afford to try it?

I did not want to do a Donor's Choose or write a grant for something I was not 100% sure I would continue doing.  I was worried that I would not like it or it would not work in my classroom and I would want to switch back to traditional seating.

But for better or worse, I am the type of person that once I get something started in my brain (especially something that I think could potentially help my students), I just can't stop it.  I have to see it through--I NEED to try it out!

So I set out on a mission to find a way to try flexible seating on a teacher's budget.  I searched online, stores like 5 Below, Wal-Mart, and of course, MY BFF Ikea!  After much research, I realized I could probably get more than enough different seating options for my classroom, while not spending a million dollars.  So here I am to show you how I tried.....

Through my research, I found the most bang for my buck at Ikea (aka heaven on earth).  Soooo I bribed my boyfriend (there is a Jack in the Box right next to Ikea) into taking a trip with me one evening.  Here is what I walked away with:

These awesome stools!  They are only $5 each, very sturdy, and come in a few different colors.  I got 4 black ones for my classroom.

I also got 2 of these pillows for only 1.99 each!  I got black pillow cases that were 1.99 each as well.

I got 4 of these pillows too--they were 3.99 each.  They have several colors too but didn't have black so I had to settle for gray.

So for all of that, I only spent about $48 dollars!  (Ok, so that is technically not ALL I walked out of Ikea with, but that is all that was related to my flexible seating mission--I have no self control whatsoever in that place.)

I did already have these 6 crate seats that were at my small group table, as well as a teeny tiny coffee table that I had inherited from my grandma's house.  And I had a classroom set of clipboards I had purchased from the dollar store over the years.  So these contributed to my flexible seating options.

It took roughly an hour and a half one evening (with the boyfriend's help) to transform my classroom.  And here is the final 'in use' product!

As you can see, I left one table 'regular' with chairs at it that the 2 girls are sitting in.  There are 2 kids at my U table on crate seats, 2 in the very back corner on their knees at that coffee table I covered with a zebra table cloth for now (until I can get it painted--it is perfect size, but uuuuugly!)

You can also see a few boys that chose to work on the floor in different areas, and then one boy sitting on a pillow working at the lowered table--we just took the legs off of it and it's perfect height for them to sit at!

It's hard to tell, but the boys on the very right are sitting on stools at a trapezoid table.

There are more students behind me and to my left that could not fit in the picture.  A couple of them are just standing using the top of a shelf as a table.  In fact, this has become a favorite spot for some of them--to just find a shelf to stand at and work on.  And that cost me NOTHING and needed no rearranging!  They also enjoy just grabbing a clipboard and spreading out on the floor somewhere--again this cost me nothing!

As for supplies, I switched from community 'table supplies' back to having individual student crayon boxes in their cubbies.  This way they can just grab their supply box and go sit wherever they choose.

I will do a more detailed post on the management and my personal review of how it is working in my classroom very soon!

I hope this inspires you and gives you a good starting place if you are toying with the idea of flexible seating!  And if you have any tips or deals for more seating options, please leave me a comment, I would LOVE to hear them!