Ask any teacher and they will tell you that the job comes with both rewards and challenges. After all, a teacher is not only responsible for teaching the children the required education for the district, they also teach the children many lessons about life and appropriate behavior. Sometimes, it can be difficult to juggle so many responsibilities.
Through it all, teachers do a fairly good job of keeping on top of things but they rarely ever get the thanks or appreciate for the students under their care. The same could also be said for others who are working in education, such as therapists and counselors.
Sometimes, a teacher will have a great idea and will share it with others. That is the case of this elementary school teacher, who created a tennis ball chair and it is a wonderful idea.
You might be thinking that this idea isn’t anything new, but most of us have heard about using tennis balls on the lets of chairs. This speech-language pathologist, Amy Maplethorpe, put together these chairs using half tennis balls to help children who have sensory issues.
She works in the speech and language department at an elementary school. She found a similar idea on Pintrest and decided to put it into use in her own classroom. She thought it would be of benefit to her students.
After putting these tennis ball chairs into use, she posted about them on Facebook.
“Sensory seating is used for students who may have difficulty processing information from their senses and from the world around them,” the school wrote.
“Tennis balls on the seat and backrest provide an alternative texture to improve sensory regulation.
“Students with autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, sensory processing disorder, etc. may benefit from this seating option.”
Students experienced different results but most of the improvements came in students who had special needs.
“First-grade students that have used the chair, they have become more patient and have followed directions,” Amy said.
She also noticed that older students also liked the chairs.
After posting it on Facebook, it went viral. People everywhere seemed to love the idea.
“I’m really excited that this has taken off and I’m really excited to see the benefits for students across the country, and educators and parents,” Amy said.
The school provided instructions on how to create the tennis ball chairs.
“Thank you for such the high interest in the tennis ball chairs,” the school wrote in the Facebook post. “It is exciting to hear that they could benefit students across the world!
“The materials used to make the chairs included: a chair, ½ tennis balls, fabric, modge podge, paintbrush/paint sponge, and hot glue.
“First, take a chair and modge podge the seat and backrest and then place fabric over it.
“Next, modge podge over the fabric and wait for it to dry, which takes approximately 20-30 minutes. Then, hot glue tennis balls cut in half to the seat and backrest.
“When that dries, hot glue the excess fabric underneath the seat and behind the backrest to give it an ‘upholstered’ look.
“It may also be helpful to hot glue around the tennis balls one more time for an extra hold. And with that, the chairs are done. Happy creating!”
H/T: Little Things
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