No Chairs in Classroom...just Exercise Balls. What Do You Think??

A few teachers at my kids' school do this. The kids think it is great. One of my kids got to use the exercise balls as chairs for a few weeks while the class that usually used them was out of school (they are on year-round schedule). My understanding is that sitting on a ball not only helps strengthen the core muscles but the kids concentrate harder. Plus it is fun. But, there was the warning that if you goofed off on the ball that it got taken away.

I have exercise balls in my classroom, but not for all my students. Just the very fidgety ones that need to chance to move more often. I would love to have an entire class set of them, but there is just not the $$ for that. And I have not had one single complaint in the 8 years I have been using them from a parent or student. In fact I have had the exact opposite, and have parents and students requesting a ball for their child.

Oh and yes Karin, I DO use one myself as well, and so does my entire team and the entire office staff (save for one disabled teacher.)

I think it's great! My kids classroom has exercise balls for them to sit on. They also have chairs too, but for the kids who like to bounce while doing their work, it helps them to concentrate. My son actually loves it. They also have a platform table where the teachers give lessons at. It's about 2 feet off the floor and everyone sits around it on the floor along with the teacher. They also have standing tables for kids who like to stand up while working.

BTW, they go to a montessori school which is amazing!

My daughter sat on an exercise ball for all of 3rd grade. It worked great! She loved it. The kids respected the rules for the most part and the ball lets them use their muscles which reduced fidgeting. If any student repeatedly abused it (bounced too much) they were given a regular chair. This has been proven to work for kids, and it worked for this class.

Added: now that I've read the other responses, I don't understand the hesitancy and resistance to this idea. I prsonally HATE sitting in a chair all day and recently got a stand up desk. It has been shown to be totally unhealthy for us to sit hours a day. Kids will hate sitting in a hard chair for hours, too. This is a good idea, has been researched and studied, and it works.

We had a few classrooms in my former school that had the balls. Of course, being in the home city of Mayo Clinic, those classrooms were part of the study that Mayo Clinic did. Kids loved them! I think there was some better behaviors because kids knew that they would lose the ball if they were not sitting on the appropriately and no one wanted that. Kids don't sit correctly in chairs--slouched down, sitting sideways, legs up on the desk, half sitting-half standing. With the balls kids have better posture, strengthen their cores, and don't sit "lazy." For kids who need to move to concentrate the little bit of bounce is great for them. Of course, there have to be pretty strict routines put into place at the beginning and teachers have to stay consistent with acceptable use.

I think it's yet another classroom experiment and this is what happens when you get too many administrators with education Phd's messing around with theories in the classroom while trying to show off their credentials and justify their over blown salaries.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/four-decades-of-fa...

I talked to a teacher who did this. She says the kids do well at it and it helps them when they are naturally inclined to wiggle and bounce. She gives them 5 minutes to do stupid kid things on the balls and then it's back to business. She says they seem to actually concentrate better when they can swing their feet (prior to the balls she had foot hammocks) or bounce and she does have some chairs in the room if the kids prefer them. 99% do want the balls. She received money for the balls after she bought a few for a trial run and a parent took up a collection for her to buy enough for the whole class. They hope to get more balls for other classrooms. This is for an elementary school and the teacher has 2nd graders. I think it would be fantastic for my wiggly DD who learns while moving.

Okay, first, the article you cite does say : "Traditional desks are available for students that don’t want to stand. However, many just sit on the carpet."

In other articles as well about schools making this switch, I see reference to regular chairs being offered in conjunction with the balls.

So, I think-- first and foremost-- that it is not in our best interests to assume an extreme (no chairs!) where there isn't one and second, I can tell you that this is a good strategy indeed. Having the option of subtle movement is very helpful for kinetic learners and quite a lot of research have been done on the benefits. Having volunteered at the school for quite some time, I can tell you that we have a lot of wiggly kids who do have a hard time sitting still at a table for any period of time; this is often manifested in less-desirable, limited movement like tapping something (pencils/pens, foot) or being a distraction to other kids. Having a positive 'wiggle seat' or something similar like the balls means that there is an *appropriate*, allowable movement which also likely reduced conflict between the teacher and students, thus allowing better learning in addition to the benefit of movement.

I think it's cool.

Sitting on exercise balls has been shown to improve focus and posture.

I used a ball instead of a desk chair for awhile (my kids managed to pop it!) It certainly did improve my posture and work muscles. I was so sore for awhile!

Balls have been shown to help a lot with high-energy and ADHD kids to improve concentration in the classroom. The main thing is that the ball be the proper size for each child. There is no one-size-fits-all, so that means having a lot of balls on hand. They should have bases too, which really ups the cost. It would be interesting to see the results after a year of full-time classroom use.

First of all, not clicking a link. That'd be dumb. No one should be that stupid.
Second, for what age? Kindergarten? Sixth grade? High school? Age and self control makes a huge difference in this approach!
Third, for what subject? All subjects? Music class? With what purpose in mind?
Fourth, why do you want to know? Are you a parent? A teacher? A student trying to gather information for a term paper? What?

Ah yes, at our daughters elementary school some of the classes have this as an option and the teachers say over all it works great for some of their students. They have used these for at least 8 years. A few of the teachers received grants when this was first introduced. Later the PTA's paid for them.

One of my friends says sometimes she has to ask them all to stop bouncing for a few minutes, because she gets over whelmed by so much movement.

She says it really has helped some of her students enough to actually witness immediate results. She says after a while of using them, they no longer bounce and she can ease them back into regular chairs. She teaches 4th grade., This is a tough year for many of the more active kids.
Mostly the boys, but she has had a few girls use them with success.

They are no longer learning to read and write, they are now actually learning content and having to really write content.

My son had one in first grade and it was the best thing ever! I wish all his teachers allowed them. He is borderline adhd and fidgets. In a standard chair it can be very distracting to the other students but the ball made a world of difference. He uses one at home a lot.

Our middle school had a math teacher that replaced most* of the regular chairs with these balls and they were a big hit. Much more comfortable for most kids (and the teacher) than sitting on a hard backed chair. Sure, the kids were a little silly and excited for the first couple of days but if you walked into that class any given day after that you'd see kids sitting at their desks, doing their work.
*notice I said MOST. There were still chairs available but most kids opted not to use them.

I think it's awesome!

Didn't read the link but I don't think it is something that should be done all day. Then it becomes old hat and kids will figure out how to be silly. Still for subject that are, shall we say, boring, I think it is a great idea. Even "normal" kids become more engaged when active.

I think it's ridiculous!

nope, afraid not..did the parents have any say in this ? i rather doubt it...does the teacher and principal sit on exercise balls as well? if they dont, then they shouldnt expect the students to do something they are not doing themselves..children learn by example after all, you know. K. h.

My granddaughter has used one for the past 2 yrs. The teacher uses 1 and the kids have the option of bringing in a ball to sit on or using the chair. Interesting idea. I was thinking of using one because I work at home and find sitting all day to be a little uncomfortable but haven't gotten around to buying 1 to try out.

Sounds uncomfortable

I'm amazed that my middle school boy can sit through 88 minute classes! LOVE the exercise ball idea! (Poor kids.)
Some people use them at the office.

I think it is a fantastic idea. I will bring it up with our principal.

I would be worried that the workout balls would distract the kids. But I love the idea as a whole.

Maybe I will use them in homeschool next year!

The idea is that the kids will be exercising core muscles while they sit on the balls. I actually want to use one in my office while I sit at my desk all day, typing. However, the current exercise ball we have isn't tall enough. Just haven't had a chance to get to the store and buy the next size up. It is a very easy way to "exercise" without calling it exercise, and you can exercise all day long if you're using these exercise balls as chairs.

The only issue I could see the teacher having is getting the kids to stop bouncing on their balls and/or playing on them.

I didn't read the article, but I don't really think it's a great idea. Too much messing around with the balls, and what if one of the kids rolls off it and hurts their head? Maybe a few kids may need them but not everyone. Too much of a disruption.

In my Dance Class yes. Otherwise, heck no.

My first grader had this for the past school year. I can't give you much feedback as to how well it worked as my daughter somehow managed to roll hers onto a sharpened pencil and popped hers within the first couple weeks of school. Yes, they were the high strength rubber and I still can't figure out how she managed to do that. I then got a bill from the teacher for $70ish dollars which I paid and told her to give her a chair as I can't afford for that to happen again.

So, I think it works great for some kids. It does require them to take more responsibility of their actions. Others are better off in a chair. There have been issues with some of the kids with goofing off, etc. All the other classes think it's super cool though and are jealous of their class.

Well, my kids would have been playing with the balls...

We jsut began buying them (our own money) in the office if we wanted to. I began using it yesterday. My first day wasn't good - the ball was overinflated, hard and too high. I've since been advised my knees should be at a 90 degree angle - so I deflated it somewaht, got it to the right level and its much better now.

It doesn strain your core if you're not in shape. (I'm not) so I can't sit on it all day at this point. Maybe in the future. But for now I switch off to my usual office chait.

I don't think it would be bad for kids - who knows it might actually end up being a good thing. At first they'd be goofy - but after a while they'd get used to it and come and sit down like any other day. It might help the fidgety kids since they can move a little bit, bounce a tiny bit, etc. I'd be curious to hear how it goes...

I would love it for my kids. Especially my son. I think it is a stellar idea.

Yup they are great we have them in a few rooms at my girls school and many are in the ece room

Updated

Yup they are great we have them in a few rooms at my girls school and many are in the ece room

My first thought was no, but Sue W. proved me wrong.

I suppose they could work. Try them out but if they are going to do that then they need to have someone who is credited do an audit or some sort of research on balls vs. chairs and see what the percentage is of kids who actually benefited from them. I could see a lot of horse play going on bc the kids think it is funny. But yeah, I would be open to it.

I couldn't read it so I didn't get a chance to be convinced. But it sounds silly to me. Those balls roll all around unless they're going to be in bases or something...we had one in our house ('til I finally got wise and donated it)and it was always on my last nerve popping up everywhere. One day I thought, "Hey, I'll use it as a chair to improve my posture blah blah blah" It was still just as difficult to remember not to slouch. They don't make you sit up straight in any way. I think I was slouching more! Kids have survived and gotten enough exercise throughout history without big poppable, deflating, made-in-China plastic balls for chairs.....meh. Sitting still is no fun, but not everything always has to be...to me the discipline of behaving in school is part of the over all knowledge learned. People weren't dumber back when they had to sit still longer in church and school.

I know some students who this is very beneficial for, but I can't imagine the whole classroom (unless it is a classroom made up entirely of kids who have this need.).

Interesting link. The stories will get more exposure if you link directly to the Mayo Clinic and that school site that did research on this though.

I don't know. I'd have to say that chairs be present in case the kid wanted to sit in one but if they liked sitting on the balls they could do so.

That way no one would be doing something that was uncomfortable. I can't imagine sitting for 8 hours per day on a ball, my back would be so tired from sitting up straight. When I'm on the computer I want to sit on my comfortable chair and curl my legs up. I don't think I'd like to sit on a ball.

My son's first grade class has stability balls. This is the first teacher who has tried it at their school. My daughter had her last year when she introduced the ball chair. It has worked out well. All the kids use them. They are not on them all day. Sometimes they sit on the floor.

My husband was not really for the idea. He didn't want me to sign a waiver. He was afraid my kids would fall off the chairs and hit their heads. Nothing like this happens. She has strict rules for the balls. If a kid can't sit on the ball, properly, she takes it away for a week.

I wish all the classrooms had them. They cut PE and almost never have recess, so I think it helps fidgety children.