Chairs for kindergarten teachers

• To prevent avoidable accidents in the hustle and bustle of everyday nursery or preschool life, chairs need to have been tested for safety. For example, they might carry the German GS (Tested Safety) mark, which shows that they remain safe and stable even during rapid movement.
• Because early years practitioners are constantly turning, twisting or moving spontaneously around children, the chair needs to be easily movable and have suitable castors so that it can effortlessly accommodate sudden changes of direction – for example, when turning quickly to help a child who needs assistance.
• To avoid tension and a rigid seated position, the seat should move with you and cushion movements so that your spine remains active and relieved with every small shift in weight, similar to if you gently rock on a well-balanced stool.
• The seat should be softly contoured and rounded to prevent uncomfortable pressure points and restricted blood circulation in the thighs. This is particularly beneficial for activities that involve frequent bending forwards and backwards, as is the case when doing crafts with children.
• To make quick transitions between low children's work surfaces and activities at adult height level backfriendly, the chair needs to be easy and intuitive to adjust within a sufficiently broad height range. You might, for example, be sitting at an activity table one moment and then at a meeting table the next.
• For the chair to remain stable even when moving sideways, reaching for materials or sitting with children at eye level, it needs to have a wide, tip-proof base – something that provides particular safety if a child briefly uses the chair for support when standing up.

• Because complicated lever mechanisms are usually ignored in everyday nursery and preschool life, all control elements need to be accessible and simple to use so that they can be operated quickly, even in the middle of an activity, e.g. when you need to spontaneously adjust the seat height to help a child get dressed.
• Functional pelvic support is needed to automatically promote an upright sitting posture and to prevent the pelvis from tilting backwards and creating a rounded back. This is important even when sitting down briefly between two activities, such as when changing nappies or comforting a child.
• To avoid subjecting the spine to harsh impact when sitting down quickly or frequently, the chair needs to have effective cushioning – this is particularly helpful when you need to sit down quickly because a child wants to show you something.
• Optional
• If activities require a leaned-back sitting posture for long periods of time, e.g. during a meeting or administrative work, an ergonomic backrest can help you sit in a relaxed and pressure-free position.
• To make sure the chair meets the hygiene requirements of everyday nursery or preschool life, the materials should be easy to clean – something that's especially relevant when children get paint, sand or glue on their hands.

Optional

• If activities require a leaned-back sitting posture for long periods of time, e.g. during a meeting or administrative work, an ergonomic backrest can help you sit in a relaxed and pressure-free position.
• To make sure the chair meets the hygiene requirements of everyday nursery or preschool life, the materials should be easy to clean – something that's especially relevant when children get paint, sand or glue on their hands.