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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Seating
Mom2TLE 01:31 PM 05-01-2014
What do you have for seating? I've tried various different thing and have not loved any of them.
Bean bags get drug around, fought over, and jumped on.
Child sized couches, I spent a small fortune on these
http://www.wayfair.com/A-Child-Suppl...3-YAP1072.html
And the kids climb over them, lay on them, stand on the backs and they are ripping and so I took them out.
I had a Futon type click clack couch but they climbed in the back and ripped the fabric plus it was the most uncomfortable thing in the world like sitting on spring.
What works for you guys?
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Blackcat31 01:35 PM 05-01-2014
None.

I have a table and chair set in my kitchen center the kids can use and I have a large stop sign shaped table with small chairs for eating/crafts but as far as the living room or area where the kids hang out....I have NO seating.

They just ruined it, treated it poorly, tipped things over or threw it around so I don't have anything now.
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Heidi 04:04 PM 05-01-2014
How about a twin sized bed and box spring with no frame? Maybe you know a kiddo who's moved on to a bigger bed, and you can get a used one?

Cover with an old quilt (or make one that fits your style), throw some pillows on, and Tada! you have a cozy corner?

Or, maybe a Goodwill couch with a blanket cover?
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CraftyMom 04:31 PM 05-01-2014
right now I just have some bolster pillows on the floor. They just sit and play on the floor.

I have a kids' table that I currently tip on it's side when we aren't eating or doing crafts because they climb and jump.

I have a large "butterfly" shaped chair folding chair that has gotten taken away more times than I can count for them flipping it over and tearing the padded cover off

In the living room we have a love seat, recliner and full couch that the dcks are currently not allowed on. They have all lost that privilege. Every time I give them the privilege back they lose it again within minutes by climbing, jumping, etc.

ETA: my dck's are all 3 and under and mostly boys. They're starting to get it, when they see me give them the look they quickly sit down and apologize.
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TaylorTots 04:36 PM 05-01-2014
A couch that we were given when my DH's great aunt passed away and two hand me down recliners (I really want to get rid of these as they take up SO MUCH SPACE in our tiny area but....it feels SO GOOD to put your feet up after a long day......)

We would love nice furniture but since DC is in the main living area, it just isn't smart or realistic.


DCK don't jump or climb on the furniture here. That took months of work but it was worth it.
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kendallina 05:09 PM 05-01-2014
Child sized table and six chairs and the floor.
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cheerfuldom 05:12 PM 05-01-2014
I have tried a ton of things as well.....

The kids loved the beanbags but fought over and dragged them around.
I don't let the daycare kids on our family furniture.
I have two adult sized upholstered chairs in our playroom but the daycare kids aren't allowed on them.
I have a futon from Ikea that is in there that they are allowed on but they rarely get on.
I have a kid sized long folding table that we use occasionally
I have two of the Little Tikes table and chairs sets that do get pulled from the room sometimes from the kids rearranging them constantly
I have a terrible time with the kids trying to climb into the doll sized high chairs...might have to get rid of those chairs.
I also had a crib mattress (covered) in our reading area and that only worked well when attendance was low or if it was just my kids playing there otherwise the kids would fit over that space and the pillows on it.
I just bought a kid sized recliner that I am going to try out in our reading nook
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llpa 05:36 PM 05-01-2014
I have a couple of small tables w two stools each and a larger table for art activities, otherwise it's the floor
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Sunshine74 09:27 PM 05-01-2014
We have 6 of these chairs (which we got second-hand)


They are fantastic- lightweight, durable, multi-use.
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coolconfidentme 02:05 AM 05-02-2014
DC playroom has a small little tikes table & chair set. Dinning room has 3 little tikes picnic tables & one rubbermaid picnic table. Living room has a futon with a sheet fitted over it I wash every other weekend. (I do not live at my DC.)
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childcaremom 02:24 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
None.

I have a table and chair set in my kitchen center the kids can use and I have a large stop sign shaped table with small chairs for eating/crafts but as far as the living room or area where the kids hang out....I have NO seating.

They just ruined it, treated it poorly, tipped things over or threw it around so I don't have anything now.
This is my set up, as well. I have a long table and chairs for our activities and colouring, and a smaller table and chair for puzzles in the daycare area. We eat and do our crafts at our family table in the dining room. In the daycare area I have one large floor cushion plus a few smaller ones for kids to sit on. Upstairs, in our family area, the dcks are not allowed on our furniture. Have never been so it's never an issue.

The only time my group sits is to read or during circle, so the cushions are perfect for their needs.
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Play Care 03:09 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
None.

I have a table and chair set in my kitchen center the kids can use and I have a large stop sign shaped table with small chairs for eating/crafts but as far as the living room or area where the kids hang out....I have NO seating.

They just ruined it, treated it poorly, tipped things over or threw it around so I don't have anything now.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!
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Unregistered 05:39 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Play Care:
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!
I do think a lot of kids are allowed to do this at home.
I use small furniture for specific things, for limited times. Then it goes back on a shelf or in a closet. I have vinyl covered foam chairs - those work for the longest time and sometimes I have them out for weeks at a time without a problem. But if there's repeated misuse, I remove and store it. I have small chairs that I take out only for "craft table" at preschool.

We do have a small table and chairs in the kitchen and those don't get put away

For my adult furniture, I let kids on it until the first infraction of the day. Then I say: Get off the couch/chair. If they make a move to go up again, I say, Off the couch/chair. That's all I need to say anymore. I don't make explanations, because the explanations didn't work, and I got tired of saying the same long thing over and over for no effect. They seem to know they are banned and why, even the two year olds
Off the couch. Off the couch. Off the chair. Off the chair
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Unregistered 05:41 AM 05-02-2014
Oh, meant to say that my vinyl chairs are velcroed to the floor
I have a tile floor in the play area and use heavy duty velcro. It works!
Because chairs that get tossed around the room by four year olds are not useful or safe, even when made of foam and vinyl.
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e.j. 06:02 AM 05-02-2014
My dc kids sit on their bums on the floor to play. I've tried child-size table and chair sets but the younger kids tend to fall off the chairs and the older kids like to climb and stand on them. They sit at my dining room table to eat and do crafts.
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CraftyMom 06:03 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Play Care:
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!

What I did is I warned them, "If you can't use my furniture the right way then you don't get to use it at all". I warned once, then it was "Ok, since you can't use my furniture the right way now you have to sit on the floor." Every time they try to go on the furniture I remind them they have to sit on the floor or go back in the playroom. They caught on quickly and now they don't even try, they just sit on the floor.

And yes, they are allowed at home, or at least it isn't enforced at home. When I talk to the parents I always hear "yeah they do that at home too..." but nothing about them trying to stop it

I should add, this is after a lot of trying to get them to stop jumping and climbing and being unsuccessful
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sarah33 08:18 AM 05-02-2014
I don't have that problem with the kids as their parents have trained them really well how to behave.

I have a Land of Nod activity table and four chairs that I got used on craigslist. I bought the Brand New World school-age couch on wayfair (don't go there - pay the bit extra on Amazon). My best purchase was two poufs I got from Land of Nod. Aqua and beautiful, they were only $80 apiece. Fabric poufs at Target are the same price! They also have a lock on the zipper so they can't get the stuffing out. Love them!
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Blackcat31 08:22 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Play Care:
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! It doesn't matter what group I have, child sized furniture has been a nightmare. I do have my family couches and I would LOVE to ban them from sitting on them but don't really know how to enforce it. I have had major issues with kids standing on and jumping on my furniture and I'm so sick of it. I wonder if they are allowed to do it at home?!:mad:
Oh, and don't ask....because I had a couple kids who said yes! When I asked mom she said "yes they can why? Don't you let them?"

I had a sofa for a long time. I used it and a couple littles would nap on it but after so many older preschoolers jumped on it and did other acrobatic things off of it, I banned them from it.

I just told them if I caught them touching it or sitting on it, they would have a consequence. They did pretty good with staying off of it but after a while I figured what was the point of having this big piece of furniture that I had to basically "manage" so I just got rid of it.

I know you live in your space so you can't just toss your sofa but I would seriously ban all the kids from using it. And I would NOT feel bad about it one single bit.
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SilverSabre25 08:32 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:

I know you live in your space so you can't just toss your sofa but I would seriously ban all the kids from using it. And I would NOT feel bad about it one single bit.
Ours is gradually heading that way. I'm appalled at the things Mr almost-2 in particular does to the furniture....and he's borderlin "obsessed" with it because he spends a lot of his play time wanting to sit/lay on the chair and couch.
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Heidi 10:52 AM 05-02-2014
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
I have tried a ton of things as well.....

The kids loved the beanbags but fought over and dragged them around.
I don't let the daycare kids on our family furniture.
I have two adult sized upholstered chairs in our playroom but the daycare kids aren't allowed on them.
I have a futon from Ikea that is in there that they are allowed on but they rarely get on.
I have a kid sized long folding table that we use occasionally
I have two of the Little Tikes table and chairs sets that do get pulled from the room sometimes from the kids rearranging them constantly
I have a terrible time with the kids trying to climb into the doll sized high chairs...might have to get rid of those chairs.
I also had a crib mattress (covered) in our reading area and that only worked well when attendance was low or if it was just my kids playing there otherwise the kids would fit over that space and the pillows on it.
I just bought a kid sized recliner that I am going to try out in our reading nook
If it's one with the bar that raises up, just tie it shut. I notice they've changed the design in one catalog, and they've entirely dropped them from another. Probably because the new wisdom is "child sized furniture" for real kiddos, so we don't want to confuse them (or us) with high chairs.
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SignMeUp 07:35 PM 05-02-2014
For a "high chair" in a play space, would this work? I use a similar chair, different brand, for my infant feeding chairs. http://www.constructiveplaythings.co...-chairries-r-9

My doll cradle is 3/4" plywood. 2-3 kids can sit in it, or one can lay in it. It's meant for kids to be in it.
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nothingwithoutjoy 05:31 PM 05-03-2014
My living space is my child-care space, and I value the fact that kids get to be in a home, rather than in a classroom space. Curling up on the couch to read together is one of my favorite things. I use a gate to keep kids out of my dining room and office--family-only spaces. But we use everything in the rooms they're in. We do have a crummy couch because it gets hard use (free from Freecycle). But I don't allow jumping on the couch or armchairs, and it bugs me that apparently all the kids are allowed to jump at home--it's a hard one to convince them of! Our coffee table has two kid-sized chairs pulled up to it, and the kids sometimes sit there to play; sometimes stand. We have a nice cozy rug, so we enjoy sitting on the floor. In the kitchen, I have child-height tables with kid chairs (I used to have IKEA chairs, but they didn't hold up to constant use by lots of kids; even respectful use. Then I was really lucky and scored some freebies from a kindergarten--sturdy wood chairs probably 50 years old and still going strong.) In the studio, we use nice sturdy stools I got at Target ($20 each, I think) and those have held up beautifully.
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cheerfuldom 06:34 PM 05-03-2014
Originally Posted by Sunshine74:
We have 6 of these chairs (which we got second-hand)


They are fantastic- lightweight, durable, multi-use.
I would kill for some of these! LOL they are pricey but look so fun and functional.
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misslori50 11:59 AM 05-05-2014
i have the stools from ikea
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Jack Sprat 12:08 PM 05-05-2014
None here as well. We used to have a futon in the playroom but, it was being misused and took up a lot of space. I have a couch and chair in our living room and a recliner, couch and rocking chair in the den. The dck's are not allowed on any furniture in the living room or den. We use our dining room table for crafts etc. I am thinking of adding a small card table to the playroom and cutting the legs down. That way its kid size and I can fold it up and move it out if need be.
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WImom 01:17 PM 05-05-2014
I have two foam fuzzy chairs (character ones) in my reading center and a small table/chair set in the kitchen center. The kids here so far have done okay with them, sometimes they need reminders.
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