Tennis balls babyproof sharp table corners

Tennis balls as babyproofing? Now there's a hack! So good, two people sent it in (both with pictures)!

From Drew:

Ann, the extremely nice pediatric nurse across the street shared this hack with us. Instead of buying foam protectors for your table corners, cut slices in old tennis balls and wedge them on. This works great on our kitchen table which is exactly at eye level for our new walker. As an appealing bonus, it looks like pac man is eating our table.

As for making the cuts in the tennis balls, I used a hacksaw to make a furrow through the fuzz and then a sharp utility knife to make the cut.

From Brian:

We try to kidproof our own house as much as possible (without going overboard), but it's not realistic to expect everyone you visit (such as your parents or in-laws) to do the same just for your brief stay. So, rather than create permanent kid fixes to the house you're visiting, it makes more sense to improvise with temporary hacks. For example, my father-in-law (a tennis player) came up with the idea of using duct tape (the home hacker's faithful companion) to affix tennis balls to the edges of a kitchen island that's just my son's height, which saved my son a few good knocks on the head while he was there!

Tags: Baby, Babyproofing, Parenting

Comments

[Dumb Little Man]

This is a great idea. Not the most attractive around the house, but neverhtheless, there won't be any serious damage to our 3 year old who insists on doing flying-leaps off the couch!

My son (or my dog) would yank these off and start tossing.

[iheartnewyork]

Good hack -- but I agree, they would have come off fast when my son was a toddler. Another childproofing hack with duct tape (used during our annual vacation to a cottage) is using pieces of duct tape to cover electrical outlets. Much easier than bringing bunches of those little plastic outlet plug thingamajiggies with you on vacation.

[Grendl]

That's common practice in our local schools -- wedged on tennis balls are on all the sharp corners. They are placed on chair legs, as well, to avoid the sound and scratching of floors when students drag them, slide back from desks, etc.

[Erin]

Great idea!!!
My dog would love it more then the baby.