Creative Storage for kids

Our latest craft was inspire by pinterest THANK YOU!

We created several different seats for students to sit on, with the ability to use it as storage underneath.  It is great for holding games or each seat can be used for a  cubby instead.

Materials used: imitation 1 inch plywood (can stand on, very sturdy), staple gun, ribbon, fabric of your choice and stuffing (can be anything- cut up egg crate cushion, old pillow stuffing, solid foam pieces from a package).

1) I got plywood (the guy told me that the imitation plywood is cheaper and just as sturdy for this project) from Lowes (a whole sheet cut to size cost $13.40) It makes 18 wooden squares to be covered.  If you don't need that many, the cost will be considerably less.  Since I have so many teacher friends- I thought I would pass them around- So I bought the whole board. :-)

2) The hardest part- the fabric choice- I got a soft fabric that I thought would go great with green crates and brown ribbon- which it did, but I didn't take into consideration that I had black tables.... so it didn't flow.  I went to several stores to find a fabric that fit my purpose of a preschool.  I finally found it at JOANN's fabric- with a coupon my $9.99 a yard fabric was half off- plus if you are a teacher you can get an additional 15% off.  So I bought 2 more yards of fabric ( I wanted to make 6 chairs in that print)

3) Make sure that your boards fit in your crate BEFORE you start creating the cushion.  I was so excited to start I made one and went to put it on the crate and it was off by 1/16 of an inch.... It was so close, but need to be filed down to fit.

4) I stapled one side first. then I laid my stuffing pieces down (I used large pieces of foam from when my bench was delivered) then I put a thin layer of stuffing on top to give it that pillow look after step 5.

5) I stapled down both sides pulling the fabric really tight.

6) I put a thin layer of stuffing on top to give it that pillow look, then I stapled up the end.  I put ribbon hooks on two sides so that when it sits in the crate you can easily pull it out to get to the items inside.  Especially for kids.

7) After playing with them I ended up taking an old curtain, cutting it up and stapling it on the pack to make it look finished.  When preschoolers are playing with them they are soft on all sides!