For young children transitioning from playing beside their peers to interacting with them, tables play a key role.  Classroom tables: 

• frame an activity 
• help structure social interactions  
• extend some boundaries 

In the early years, a classroom table is used for everything from exploring media, to building, to writing to having a snack. Indeed, collaboration, identified as a key learning skill for the 21st century comes to life on a classroom table.   

Arguably collaboration has always been a key learning skill.  But a generation ago our classroom tables certainly didn’t encourage it. 

In this second in a series of posts on Refreshing and Upgrading your classroom, we’ll look at how upgrading even just some of your tables from standard steel leg and laminate tops, can make a big difference in an early years classroom. 

Adaptability 

In the article, “Designing Classrooms for Collaboration” Pradnya Patet, an Assistant Professor and the Coordinator of Early Childhood Programs at Northwest Missouri State University points out: 

Flexible spaces enhance collaboration and provide satisfaction. Inflexible spaces are non-negotiable and result in territoriality because they define rigid boundaries.  

MultiTables and Classroom tables from Community Playthings are modular -- they’re designed to fit together and complement each other.  So that you can combine and reconfigure your classroom to match your activities and changing demands. 

Community Playthings tables can be ordered with height adjustable legs to quickly adapt the work surface to suit the activity and the students.  

As we talked about in the previous post, whether you're talking about a child care centre for toddlers or a kindergarten classroom, physical needs can vary wildly even in the same cohort, from the tallest to the shortest child.  In addition, we’re seeing more and more integrated early years learning environments with children in wheelchairs, walkers or other mobility aids. 

The legs on these tables are pushed out right to the corners of tables with an elegant one-piece single joint that saves space without sacrificing durability. This design delivers maximum stability and extra room for mobility devices like wheelchairs and walkers. 

Whether you chose MultiTables or Classroom tables, the legs are easy to change without tools.  If you have a demographic swell and need to move tables from kindergarten to pre-school or vice-versa, different length legs can be purchased separately and swapped out.   

Durable 

Community Playthings tables are lifetime warrantied for years of versatility and flexibility demanded by daily classroom use and long-term adaptation to your educational community needs.  

The laminate on these tables is heat sealed on all sides, not just the top.  This is a hardwearing but smooth surface that is uniquely warp and stain resistant.  Easy to clean, they are able to withstand intensified hygiene regimes. 

Classroom Tables 

Classroom tables are solid no-nonsense tables designed to stay put while hosting the whirl of daily activity. Versatile and modular allowing you to design, combine, and reconfigure easily to match your layout and curriculum and the changing demands of your classroom.  

Available in a variety of shapes and sizes with an infinite opportunity to reconfigure to aid collaboration or social distancing.  

MultiTables 

Designed for small group or even individual activity, MultiTables are are just as strong as the Classroom tables but light enough for children to move.  You can add a MultiTables to a traditional rectangular table to shake up a standard configuration.   

Adding to the flexibility of the design, the legs unscrew and clip into the leg holder under the table for more permanent and compact storage.  

You can also save floor space by stacking MultiTables in a fan pattern.  

MultiTables come in the shapes: 

• Square  
• Round  
• Trapezoid 
• Rectangle  

Legs: 

For the Classroom tables you can choose from screw-in fixed-length Rock Maple, or the Quick Adjust legs.   (MultiTables have the Quick Adjust legs.) 

Use the tool-free Quick Adjust legs to alter the table height in seconds.  Just push the gold ring down and legs slide – like a telescope – in 2.5cm (1”) increments. 

Both Rock Maple and Quick Adjust legs come in multiple heights and sizes. 

Rock Maple come in 10 sizes from 30 cm (12”) to 76 cm (30”) 

Quick Adjust come in: 

• Toddler 
• Pre-School 
• School age 

And for the Teacher 

Consider MyPlace:  a compact work and storage solution for the educator in the classroom. Three drawers for with movable dividers and totes to keep supplies organized.  Plus a personal storage drawer that’s lockable. The top serves as a standing-height work surface for either hand writing or a computer