How To Design Education Spaces That Spark Children’s Development - Part I

Beauty sparks inspiration. And children need creativity to help open their minds so that they can learn and explore. You may like a well-designed space to help keep you organized and relaxed, but when it comes to children, their education environment can make all the difference in encouraging them to develop.

When designing creative spaces for early childhood education, pay attention to the children and the adults using the space—their needs and their experiences. As a professional space planner, I’m thinking about the ages of the children, the activities they engage in, and the world around them from their viewpoint. Plus, it’s essential to design for the functionality of the teachers and other adults in the school environment.

Here are some considerations when creating beautiful spaces to help children’s educational

development:

Inspire with colors

One of the first things children learn about is color. Designing each classroom with different

colors will allow the children to identify which room is theirs. Even if they move from room to

room based on activity, it’s easy for toddlers to associate with a color. The color palette doesn’t have to be the primary colors of red, yellow and blue but can expand to teal, magenta, and creme.

Children of various ages are stimulated differently by colors, and every color has a different

psychological effect. When designing for educational purposes, it’s important to know which

colors to use to inspire creativity and make the environment happy.

Open little minds with artwork and murals

Using color is essential for development, and creating artwork with those colors can further help expand childrens minds. Designing a mural to reflect the seasons of the year or the cycle of the day from sunrise to sunset shows the children how nature plays a role in our daily lives. Murals can be beautiful teaching moments to explain and describe how the leaves change color and fall from the trees.

Then, as they’ll learn, those trees become covered with snow until the spring

with little buds of flowers and then into the full bloom of the summer. Be sure the mural, custom print panels and other surfaces can be wiped easily as little hands tend to reach out, touching to discover further.

Or perhaps, a long wall doesn’t have a mural but instead can be an art gallery for the children to hang their artwork—how proud a 4-year-old will be to eagerly take you by the hand and show you where her latest masterpiece is hanging.

If you want to discover how you can help children shine and develop through beautifully designed educational spaces, contact us at +1 973 232 5497

Next week we'll publish Part II. Stay tuned!