At Louise Kool & Galt, we are celebrating a major milestone. It has been 20 years since we became the proud sole Canadian distributor of Community Playthingsin Canada.
We couldn’t think of a better way to honour this occasion than tracking down Community Playthings furniture after two decades of service in Canada to see how it fared.
We were blown away to find chairs, tables, shelves and even sand and water tables, still working away, ready to serve children for decades more.
In the world of early childhood education, furniture is the backbone of the classroom. Tables, chairs, and shelving units are the unsung heroes of childcare spaces. They are used all day, every day, in both expected and unexpected ways. In a bustling center, a table is not just for snack time or group activities. It can become a fort base or a heavy duty workbench for art and sensory play. This furniture is constantly being moved, cleaned, and put to the test, especially after rigorous sanitation policies were introduced during COVID.
20-year-old Community Playthings shelving at Sir Samuel B. Steele Junior Public School.
Between constant dragging across floors, spills, and the occasional creative use of a wooden block as a hammer, the opportunities for damage are endless. Most furniture eventually succumbs to cracked frames, peeling laminate, broken casters and wheels, or wobbly, damaged legs.
To see how well our furniture stands the test of time, we visited the childcare rooms at Sir Samuel B. Steele Junior Public School, who purchased Community Playthings furniture in 2006. We were excited to find that 20 years later, these pieces are still at the heart of the classroom.
These furnishings include:
Woodcrest Chairs (Childsize and Teacher Low Chair)
Multi-Tables
Shelves
Playsize Dramatic Play Furniture
Sand and Water Table
Two Woodcrest Chairs by Community Playthings. New on the right and 20-year-old chair on the left. Be honest... Would you be able to guess which chair is 20 years old?
We expected some battle scars after two decades of heavy use. Instead, what we found exceeded every expectation. The units were undamaged. Even the chair tips, usually the first thing to wear down or fall off, looked original. Aside from the beautiful, natural deepening of the wood’s finish, the furniture functioned as if it had been delivered yesterday.
When you invest in Community Playthings through Louise Kool & Galt, you are not just buying furniture. You are investing in more than twenty years of reliability, durability, and everyday performance in real learning environments. It is furniture designed to support children, educators, and busy classrooms year after year, not just in theory, but in practice.
