Of course you already know that a calm noise free environment is best for learning regardless of the age group. You may also know that there are a lot of different ways to reduce noise and echo in a classroom or any room. However, with the current economic environment, budgets are getting tighter and noise reduction may be considered a lower priority. What if you had a solution that not only cost very little up front but that could save the school thousands of dollars a year? In essence, schools would save thousands of dollars which could be reinvested in the curriculum or furniture improvements.

As you may know elementary schools sometimes use tennis balls on the chair footing to try and reduce noise or protect flooring.
On a purely cost related note tennis balls are also more expensive because they are time consuming to maintain. It takes about 3 hours per classroom per year to cut install (reinstall when they fall off) and remove the tennis balls at the end of the year. 3 hours at 20$/hour for a typical custodian is 60$ a year. This maintenance cost needs to be added to the tennis ball tab even when the tennis balls are seemingly free (given away by a club or paid by parents).

Custodians like the fact that schools are trying to protect their flooring but they are annoyed by having to constantly re-install the tennis balls that are removed by the children or simply fall off.

One has to also wonder if the added learning benefit from noise reduction isn’t dwarfed by the visual distraction and temptation caused by the bright yellow tennis balls. How do you tell a kid not to play with the tennis balls when they are almost screaming out at them to be thrown? Balls are toys.

In an era where we are trying to be environmentally conscious I lack to see how throwing away tons of cheap synthetic tennis balls away every year is a wise solution for our children.

Lets sum this up, I think everyone can agree that reducing the noise in the classroom and improving our kids’ learning is a wonderful idea. I think reducing maintenance costs thus leaving more money to the schools is also a great idea because ultimately as tax payers we are all paying for the school expenses. So there has to be some quality chair leg covers on the market that can accomplish this that isn’t just an unhealthy tennis ball replica. It’s important that the teachers and parents look for a real chair leg cover solution that is not a big fur ball. There are a few chair leg covers that have a thick quality felt available. Some even have warranties and trial offers such as the Flexi-Felt. One simply has to go on the net and look for them. Beware of low cost plastic cap options as they break off easily and like the tennis ball you will waste a lot of money replacing them every year and they won’t protect the flooring properly.

So please leave the tennis balls where they belong on the tennis courts and get a quality solution that really works to help our children in the classrooms.