Children's high chairs: options, patterns, sizes, with and without a table, folding

A lady acquaintance once asked one of the founders of the Encyclopedia Denis Diderot: at what age should one begin raising a child? “How old is yours?” – he asked in response. “Oh, he’s only one day old!” The philosopher shrugged: “In that case, you’re already a day late.”

A child will need a high chair not on the first day of his life, but when the baby begins to sit up independently, at about 6 months. But its role in the formation of the personality of a new person is by no means small. Firstly, the formation of the musculoskeletal system and correct posture begins on the chair. Secondly, from the high chair the child learns to handle things. This is his first property that is not a toy. Children who grew up on the lap of their mother or grandmother, on average, get along worse with others and realize their abilities less well.

The interests of parents also, of course, cannot be discounted. Feeding a small child often brings out a storm of emotions that parents may simply find exhausting at the moment. Feeding something that is spinning like a spinning top on your lap, calmly and kindly, costs a lot of effort; the child feels it and only gets more excited, which does not benefit him at all. In addition, you need to protect clothes, carpets, and furniture from volleys of porridge, soup or puree.

Therefore, out of a fairly large number of varieties of children's chairs, the first in importance and time to start using is a high chair. A little later, after about another 4-6 months, he will need a play/work chair. We will deal with them in this order.

General requirements

To make a useful and comfortable high chair for your baby with your own hands, you first need to take ergonomics into account.

First, the chair for younger children should not be too soft: in order for the child’s skeleton to grow properly and muscles to develop, his body must feel reliable support. It is advisable to make the play chair generally rigid, but on the high chair and work chair, relatively thin soft pads on the seat and back are needed. A gaming chair and a work chair are most often the same, so what should we do?

These conditions can be combined by sewing cushions of the following structure according to the size of the seat and back (from bottom to top): canvas or burlap - padding polyester 5-7 mm - flannel, calico or flannel - decorative fabric. To secure them, you will have to sew on straps that tie/fasten under the seat or behind the back, but this makes making the chair itself and caring for it easier.

Second, avoid plastics. For children's items today, the safety of high-density polyethylene (produced without the use of catalysts) and PET has certainly been confirmed, but there are no suitable blanks made from them for home craftsmanship. PVC seat upholstery is a relic of the past: when there were no diapers, without it diaper rash in babies was more common.

Dimensions of high chairs for babies

The next point is the size of the chair. The table of recommended sizes of children's chairs for games and activities is shown in Fig. The main parameter for choosing it is the growth group. The back height is obtained by subtracting the seat height from the total height of the chair; in a high chair it must be determined separately, because his seat is raised for the mother's comfort. The table has been compiled for child care institutions; the dimensions of a chair for a child in a family can be found more accurately and simply: we look carefully at who he matches in height and build; about eyes, eyebrows, etc. disputes later. Then the prototype parent shows which chair she/he is most comfortable in, we take the dimensions from it and multiply by 0.55. A child on such a seat will be fine from about a year to 4-5.

Note: based on the above, all dimensions of the product samples given below are subject to adjustment if necessary.

Colors, decor

The colors of furniture for children are usually chosen to be light or bright - it is unacceptable to paint objects in black, dark blue, or other similar colors, as they can scare the child. Most suitable tones:

• light pink;
• cornflower;
• light purple;
• pomegranate;
• yellow-orange;
• light green;
• beige-red;
• turquoise;
• mint green;
• verdepomovy;
• apple green;
• bronze;
• vanilla;
• lilac-red;
• pear;
• creamy white;
• coral;
• orange-brown;
• sky blue;
• ginger.

Most often, the item is left unadorned, with a natural wood texture, coated with a clear varnish. Volumetric decor is unacceptable - it causes injuries of varying severity, and quickly falls off with frequent use of the chair. The best option is painting with non-toxic paints, hand painting, drawings made through a stencil, stickers depicting your favorite cartoons and fairy tale characters, soft colored covers with ties, elastic bands, and Velcro. It is also possible to decorate using a jigsaw - make curly legs, edges of the seat, make holes in the back.

Materials

Faulty design of a baby's high chair

What to make a high chair for a little one is also an important question. It is better not to use metal at all, or in small quantities (for example, fasteners) and so that the child does not have access to it. Children's bodies are generally more resilient than adults, but babies' skin is very sensitive. This is determined by the instinct of self-preservation: what is simply slippery and a little cold for an adult is a danger signal for a child. Since he himself cannot yet avoid her, he has to appeal to his parents. Those who have children know how. But they don’t always understand why, and that’s what makes them cry out loud.

For example, in Fig. on the right is the erroneous use of steel fasteners. “Intensive use of corners” not only does not strengthen the structure, contrary to the claims of its author, but it is also dangerous for the baby. An adult’s finger will go unnoticed in the corner with a self-tapping screw, but the baby may get scratched. In general, children don’t mind scratches, but if he is regularly placed in something that bites for feeding, then how will this chair affect the child’s psyche? The question is rhetorical.

Processing and finishing

So, we are left with practically only wood, MDF and laminated chipboard of class E0 in terms of phenol emission. In a high chair for a very young child, it is still better to use hardwood or MDF, they are completely chemical-free. Hypersensitivity to pine resin or traces of phenol-containing compounds occurs in about 1 in 400,000 babies, but how can you be sure it's not yours? It is impossible to identify in advance.

A highchair for babies is exposed to external chemical influences of approximately the same nature and to the same extent as a kitchen stool, but the sanitary and hygienic requirements for it are much stricter. Therefore, before assembly, the parts of a wooden highchair must be treated with a water-repellent and bactericidal composition, and the finished product must be covered with a protective layer.

There is also almost no alternative here: impregnation is a water-polymer emulsion or, instead, PVA diluted three to four times with water. The coating is water-based acrylic varnish. There is no reliable evidence of complete safety for children of other compositions for processing/finishing furniture. Be especially wary of stains; Children's furniture with varnish is best left as is. Design and decor in this case are by no means determining factors.

About plywood

When making a high chair for the firstborn from wood, an amateur craftsman (who may be taking on furniture for the first time in his life) will have to face a number of technological difficulties, see below, respectively. section that cannot be overcome without a workshop and special tools. Plywood can help out; You can use it to do almost everything at home. But not every one. Simple birch (not waterproof and not baked) and also simple construction or packaging are definitely suitable. The latter is covered with so-called veneer. pine trees cut down in winter. Dried pine already contains almost no resins, and in the process of making plywood, their remains are completely removed. These types of plywood are made with casein glue, which is absolutely safe for children. They are given moisture resistance and additional strength by the impregnation described above, but twice: a second time after complete drying (about a day) of the initial one.

About the glue

Due to its combination of qualities, PVA is most suitable for gluing and gluing in the manufacture of children's furniture. Modern furniture pur-glues are much stronger, but also more expensive; for a product whose service life does not exceed 5-7 years, the first is unimportant, but the second can “bite”. But PVA has the following advantages:

• Absolutely harmless and safe, which has been proven by more than half a century of experience. As they say, at least eat it; even if the liquid gets into the eyes, it is washed off without any residue with water, if you rinse it immediately.
• PVA drips can be easily cut off with a mounting knife, and their remains can also be easily sanded clean.
• The PVA joint can be separated by warming it up properly with an ordinary household hairdryer. This is important if the high chair needs to be disassembled and stored until the next addition to the family. Also, if you need to replace its individual parts as the child grows, see below.

Decoration of the structure

Products made from natural wood require protection from external factors. Varnishing helps solve this problem. Experts recommend choosing the acrylic version of this material. It creates a coating that is not afraid of any childish pranks - spilled water, paint.

If you want to make the product more interesting, you can paint it. You should give preference to bright, but not harsh colors. Muted light green, mint green, pomegranate, coral and others are suitable.

The materials used must not contain lead, other heavy metals, or hazardous or harmful compounds. Contact with a surface treated with these paints and varnishes may cause a child’s health to deteriorate.

It is not recommended to decorate the table and chair with voluminous decor. First of all, due to the fact that it is one of the most common causes of injury to a child. The best decoration would be hand or screen painting. Appliques and drawings of fairy tale and cartoon characters are suitable for young children. Curly legs will look interesting. If the chair has a back, various figures are cut out on its surface with a jigsaw.

The very first high chair

The most commonly used designs for chairs for feeding children are the following, in order of increasing complexity of manufacture:

1. Stands/holders – boosters – for feeding the baby on an adult chair, hard and soft;
2. Typical (classic) home folding high chairs;
3. Children's transforming sets and “growing” (for growth) chairs;
4. Stationary chairs for feeding babies.

The latter are used either in children's institutions for the youngest, or in wealthy households with excess living space. In both cases, the chair requires high strength: in children's homes it will be used by many generations, and wealthy owners care about prestige and also design. As a result, a stationary chair for feeding children turns into a rather complex product, the manufacture of which requires special tools and production conditions; for an example, see the drawings in fig.

Drawings of a stationary chair for feeding a child

Boosters

These are attachments or devices for feeding a child on a chair and at a table for adults. Hard booster chairs (the first 3 from left to right in the figure) save space in a small apartment, so they are quite popular.

However, it is impossible to make them fully compliant with the requirements of children's ergonomics. The second is for children from 6 to 9-12 months. they are of little use. Third, soft attachments to an adult chair (leading manufacturers invest a lot of money in their development) do not provide a complete guarantee that an angry fidget, delighted with his favorite juice, will not fall on his side along with himself, the booster and his dad’s chair.

Patterns of a pocket for feeding a child on an adult chair

Much more practical are soft boosters for feeding babies, which are no longer chairs, but something like a kangaroo pouch, on the right in the top pic. They cannot be used constantly; there is a risk of ruining the child’s posture. But at the dacha, picnic or on a trip, the pocket for feeding - the booster will be very useful, especially since it will take up almost no space in mom’s bag.

Making a soft booster for feeding a child is already a more feminine task, because... it is sewn; the pattern is shown in Fig; they are given without allowances for processing.

Note: the slings are inserted from the sides of the cape onto the back of the chair from under the bottom, brought out through the openings and tied or fastened.

Home classics

Design and dimensions of a folding chair for feeding babies

How the familiar folding high chair for feeding babies at home is constructed, and its dimensions are shown in Fig. Materials - timber 40x20, 75x20 (footboard and leg ties), 16x25 (backrest slats, seat apron, tabletop frame), board 100x20 (inserts into the frame of the front legs) and plywood 6-8 mm (seat, tabletop). Assembly, except for hinges, is on confirmats (furniture screws) 60x6.

The connections marked in red are hinged: the table tilts up, and the frame of the rear legs is pressed against the front ones. The bolt heads (M6-M8) are on the inside and covered with plugs, red mark with an exclamation mark. The seat is hung on the front support bar on card hinges.

To fold the chair, first lift the table and move the frame of the rear legs slightly back. Then the seat lowers itself, and the frame of the rear legs is pushed forward until it stops - the chair is folded. And when unfolded, the entire kinematics of this chair locks without additional clamps according to the principle of a dead center, and let the little eater wriggle there as he wants - the chair will stand under him.

The only technological difficulty in the manufacture of this chair is the joining of blanks for the side frames of the front legs on dowels (lamellas) in the mustache or dowels. But you can get around it if you make the front frame of plywood, see below. Its operational drawback is that the thickness of the package is more than 10 cm. For a pantry in a small apartment or a closet in the hallway, this can be too much. And here plywood comes to the rescue, see below.

Transformers and growing

Transformable children's chairs for all ages are on sale, 3 positions. on the left in Fig. They are really convenient and functional, but technologically complex: some of the necessary parts can only be made in a factory workshop. Accordingly, the cost of such chairs is quite high.

Transformable children's chairs

For repeating with your own hands, a more accessible set is a chair with a table, on the right in Fig. Which is what many people do, but they immediately discover that a set with an upside-down table takes up more space in the apartment than a children’s high chair and table separately.

But the main thing is that this building is unhygienic. When the child sits down at the table, the edge of the large tabletop closest to the floor in the feeding position will be literally under his hands. And also - the undersides of the legs in the 6-12 month position, which have now become legs, and even awkwardly protruding upward.

There are no materials that do not scratch or cause microcracks. It is impossible to remove ingrained dust from the floor, which is what microbes need. Changeling kits for small children have been on sale relatively recently, but there have already been cases when they became foci of infection. Self-made ones from wood only make the danger worse.

Curious transformable children's chair

The epidemic of fashion for transformable furniture (in this case there is no other way to say it) has given birth to real monsters, see fig. on right. When the child reaches table age, the chair is simply... sawed off, and the former supporting pyramid is turned over and becomes a table. Everything is clear about the hygiene of a large countertop, see above. As with a feeding table that is too narrow: there will be no food on the mother and on the floor only if a specially programmed robot is sitting on the chair.

And first of all, put yourself in the child’s place: there is a rigid fence on all sides. All that remains, as they say, is to put him on a chain. Secondly, a large table will be unusually rolly. Well, have you ever seen tables for neat adults whose legs converge downwards? It’s funny, of course, but whoever starts this at home will probably not be laughing.

“Growing” chairs

In general, if we are talking about a small child, it is better not to experiment with transformable furniture, excluding proven folding designs. For example, let’s take “growing” chairs, see fig. left. You can really sit on this from a simpleton to his dad, but it won’t be quite comfortable at any age. And in order to adapt the chair for growth for feeding, it will have to be turned into a product comparable in complexity to a stationary chair for babies.

How to take everything from plywood

High chairs for babies are often made from plywood. Many homemade designs turn out to be quite practical and good looking, on the left in Fig. However, once the need has passed, it is hardly possible to adapt them for something else, first. Second - see on the right in Fig. laid out parts. Material waste is estimated to be at least 60%. Although you can buy good plywood for 300 rubles per sheet 1550x1550, it would still be advisable to do without crooked scraps that are now useless.

Plywood high chair and layout of its parts

This is where it’s time to realize that an adult folding board chair made of plywood can be easily adapted for feeding a baby, see next. rice. Dad's for fishing or mom's garden, depending on who is in charge in the family. In terms of sanitation and hygiene, it is better, of course, to make this chair right away for a little one, and use it for adult use when he grows up.

Folding board chair made of plywood

From the remainder of cutting out opening A, you will get 2 struts for a child’s table with L-shaped legs; You will need to cut grooves for them in the sides of the chair. To feed a child, it is advisable to add a fabric back to such a chair: it will not reduce the comfort for adults, and it will not interfere with the folded chair hanging on the wall. A small tabletop is attached to struts on piano or card hinges, then the feeding table will also fold into a compact package.

Note: it is better to measure the dimensions of the struts using a ready-made, unfolded chair. This will be easier and more accurate than fiddling with trigonometry.

Scheme of a folding chair made of plywood

Another folding chair of the same type is shown in Fig. on right. It is smaller, 500x750 when folded. It’s not bad because from a sheet of plywood 1550x1550 there are exactly 6 of them, and the length fits into the trunk of almost any car. The letter w indicates the cutting width. In general, look at your child, yourself and your needs.

Tools

To make a highchair you will need the following tools:

• grinding machine;
• a screwdriver or drill with different drill bits;
• electric jigsaw;
• wood hacksaw.

Materials you will need:

• hinges, screws, fastening elements;
• wood glue;
• furniture stapler;
• Fiberboard and plywood;
• brushes;
• upholstery fabric and padding polyester;
• paints and varnishes.

Older chairs

At the age of about one year, the child will already need a chair on which he can sit down, move it, and rearrange it. Chairs for small children in the age category following babies are play chairs (on the left in the figure below) and work/study chairs, in the center. Working chairs for children differ from play chairs primarily in their armrests; They are necessary for the child to develop correct posture. Then, the seat height of the work chair can be immediately taken based on the oldest preschool age, i.e. up to 400 mm. In this case, you need a step; preferably repositionable. The approximate dimensions of a high chair for babies of the “second stage” are given on the right, but, as mentioned above, they need to be specified according to the child.

Drawings of high chairs for small children

Drawings of chairs for older children are given below. rice. On the left is a game of the simplest design. The legs are the optimal length for a child aged 12-36 months who often plays on the floor. Fasteners – wood screws 40x4.2.

High chair for a child “like an adult’s”

The chair on the right is more complicated; its parts need to be marked on a grid and grooves cut to connect them. But it is universal, playable and working. The small protrusions of the sidewalls above the seat are enough to prevent a normally active child from sitting down with half of his butt hanging in the air. The seat height of 400 mm is the maximum for very young children. It can be made minimal first, approx. 220 mm, and then change the sidewalls as they grow; It will take a little labor and plywood, but mom will have something to say to dad on occasion. So, if dad is prudent, it is better to immediately cut the sidewalls for growth.

This chair is basically easy to assemble, like a puzzle. In the mobile version, say, for trips to the country, you can leave it like that. But with constant use, the chair will soon become loose, no matter how tight the joints were initially. Therefore, it is better for a child of this kind to glue his home chair with PVA. Dismantling, if necessary, put into storage - see above, about glue.

Finally, there is a category of children who, having barely realized themselves in this world, want everything to be like an adult. This is generally a useful quality, but dad will have to work harder on a chair and other furniture for the child. The design and dimensions of a highchair “like an adult’s” are shown in Fig. on right. A wooden chair of this design will require quite complex technological techniques, but even in this case plywood will come to the rescue, see next. chapter.

Description of work stages

manufacturing safety: cracks, roughness

To give an attractive appearance to the top rail, it can be rounded. The carved crossbar can be decorated in any way with all kinds of patterns, but without sharp corners.

Fastening the parts in this case will be done using wooden tenons and glue, but you can use other methods using nails, furniture dowels or self-tapping screws.

In the case of spikes, the strongest hidden rectangular elements are used, which are inserted into holes pre-treated with glue.

To further secure the studs, you can use through pins (6–35 mm in diameter).

Chair assembly:

Step 1. First of all, you need to fasten the back legs of the chair and the adjacent crossbars using the chosen method.

Step 2. Attach the front legs, remaining crossbars and drawers to the structure.

Step 3.carved

Step 4. To ensure that all the places where the parts are connected are glued together as firmly as possible, use a special tool - a carpentry clamp. It is designed to press the parts tightly against each other.

Step 5. When all the bottom slats and legs are firmly connected to each other, attach a seat consisting of two planks to the base of the chair. For additional reliability and strength, after the glue has dried, secure the boards with dowels, having previously drilled holes for them. If the seat boards partially protrude beyond the base, the excess ends must be removed using a chisel.

Important! Using a clamp, be careful to ensure that the parts are connected at right angles. You can control this moment using a carpenter's square.

Technology and plywood

To make a high chair for children from wood, you need to know or will have to master how to make some carpentry joints: on dowels, using dowels (lamellas) and tongue and groove. How they are produced, using examples of carpentry, see the videos, arranged in order of increasing complexity:

Video #1: dowel connections

Video #2: corner connection with dowels for frame structures (bursting corners)

Video #3: tongue-and-groove connection

Video #4: direct keyway connection for joining board panels

As you can see, at home, with simple hand tools, only poses can be done quite well. #1. Pos. #2 and #3 for a novice carpenter will turn out by hand with ease, and for poses. #4 And a good professional cannot do without a workshop and special equipment. And now - shhh! - all this can be done at home by a “complete teapot”, using only a jigsaw and a little chisel. If the parts blanks are assembled with glue from 3 layers of plywood, the thickness is, respectively, 1/3 of the required one. Among other things, this technology makes it possible to assemble parts of complex shapes from small-sized fragments, which makes it possible to denser, i.e. cut the material economically.

How straight and angular tongue-and-groove joints are made in this way is shown in pos. 1 and 2 fig. resp. If the tenon is made trapezoidal with rounded corners, then the strength of the joint will increase several times, i.e. will be sufficient for adult furniture. This technology is not used in production - it’s a hassle and therefore unprofitable, but at home it’s better than buying or renting a machine for 60-100 thousand rubles.

Tongue-groove connections of plywood components

To glue a package of blanks into a PVA part, you also do not need any special devices:

• Lay plastic film on a flat floor or table.
• Both surfaces to be glued are coated with a thin layer of glue; It's better to use a brush.
• Leave the adhesive layers until they are semi-dry and tack-free, when the adhesive film begins to become translucent at the edges.
• Place the blanks in a bag and press them.
• Cover the bag with another layer of film and place pressure on it from a dispersed load (books, for example) at a rate of at least 20 kg per 1 square meter. m of glued area.

Note: because The blanks in the bag may “float away” a little during gluing; they need to be cut with an allowance of 1-2 mm for finishing.

The tongue-and-groove corner joint must be reinforced with self-tapping screws with a diameter of no more than 0.5 times the thickness of the tenon, a pair per tenon. For example, if a part is 15 mm thick and consists of 3 layers of 5 mm each, then the diameter of the hardware is 2-2.5 mm. Glue is applied to the tenon and groove; the first is inserted into the last, as soon as the glue begins to come off (after 2-3 minutes), and immediately the connection is tightened with hardware.

How to tighten screws

In the above and all other cases of fastening parts with self-tapping screws, it is necessary to pre-drill blind holes for them with a diameter of the body (rod) of the self-tapping screw without threads and a depth of 2/3 of the length of its threaded part. A hole for the screw head is also selected in advance. After screwing, the head is covered with putty made from sawdust of the same plywood on the same PVA; Up to 2.5-3 volumes of sawdust can be added to 1 volume of glue.

Assembling the table

Using the technology described above, you can similarly assemble a table for feeding a child with your own hands, the drawings of which you can draw up yourself, or use examples of ready-made diagrams.

Stages of table assembly:

1. The planks in the upper and lower parts are attached to the legs, after which the assembled sidewalls are connected by transverse bars. All parts are pre-polished.
2. The tabletop is screwed to the ends of the right or left side of the structure. For a strong connection, a hole is drilled with wooden plugs inserted.
3. The parts are assembled according to the drawing, the corners are checked for strength, and then all the elements are coated with glue.
4. Cross bars should be used to secure the parts before assembling the side parts.
5. It is important not to forget to sand the table surfaces.
6. Coating surfaces with safe paints and varnishes.

To create a smooth surface, the varnish coating is applied in several layers.

How to make a mobile high chair?

It is not always possible to take a wooden high chair with you to feed your baby. After all, it is quite large and cannot be transported. And here many parents may have a question: how to make a mobile high chair with your own hands? Here, too, you can’t do without step-by-step instructions. But first you will need to prepare the following:

• fabric (cotton, linen, lining fabric) - about 3 m;
• slings – 2.5 m;
• carabiner buckles – 3 pcs;
• thick and durable braid – 3 m;
• scissors;
• needles;
• threads;
• sewing machine.

Step 1: make a pattern

To make a high chair for a child from material, you should use the pattern given

Please note that it involves the creation of a product that consists of a child seat and an attachment to a chair. Having placed the baby in such a device, he can be securely fixed on a regular adult chair, using wide straps for this.

You will need to cut out 2 parts from the fabric, which are shown in the figure. For this, you can take multi-colored material to make the mobile highchair less stainable.

Step 2: sewing a high chair

The two cut pieces will need to be sewn together. If you look at the pattern, you will see that it has a fold (upper rectangular part). Therefore, in this place you will need to bend and stitch the fabric. As a result, you will get a kind of “bag”. You will need to attach straps to it, and put carabiners on them. Such a simple device can be easily fixed on a chair. As a result, the child will be securely seated, which means that he can be easily fed at a party or in a restaurant. And since the mobile chair is compact in size, you can easily find a place for it in your bag.

As you can see, making a mobile or regular high chair is not at all difficult. Therefore, you can safely make it yourself. Step-by-step instructions will help you with this. After all, they tell in detail how to make a chair with your own hands and get an excellent result. Thanks to the recommendations presented, you will be able to complete such work in the shortest possible time. At the same time, you can be sure that you will get a reliable and high-quality product. The finished high chair will last for many years, which means you can also use it to feed the children you will have in the future.

Photo

Ideas for the final decoration of the resulting result can be seen in the following photos: