How to Decorate a Day Care Center
The children you care for are your target audience when it comes to decorating your day care space. Early Childhood Education instructor Su Livingston stresses organization, aesthetics, and adaptability in child care environments. Organized spaces tell children how to "read" and use their environment. Color, texture, and soft materials provide stimulating and safe places to play. Design your space to be homelike, child-sized, to encourage autonomy, and to invite self-expression.
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Things You'll Need
- Child-sized furniture
- Variety of paint colors
- Carpet squares in multiple colors
- Soft floor pillows
- Children's artwork
- Pictures of the children in your care
- Ethnically diverse photos and props
Instructions
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Well-defined spaces are the first rule of child care design. "A Place of Our Own" cautions that a room with all the furniture and props against the wall and wide open spaces in the middle invites children to run. Use stations and furniture to divide and define your space, and to create an environment that tells children how to use the space. Early Childhood Development Specialist, Jean Barbre, Ed.D., recommends that to help kids connect with their environment, you should incorporate specific areas for reading, dramatic play, art and construction, math and science, and writing.
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Use lots of color. Livingston recommends incorporating a variety of color schemes into your day care space rather than relying too heavily on primary colors. Diverse color palettes and materials appeal to children and enable them to "gain more intelligence about their world." Adding painted-on murals, children's hand prints, or ready-to-use wall clings will add pizazz to your space. "Many Right Ways," a video guide to creating successful child care environments, stresses that there is more than one right way to design your space. Embrace this freedom and experiment with color.
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Provide sturdy, low furniture including couches, chairs, kitchens, and tables. Children enjoy playing on and with furniture that fits them well. Anchor heavier pieces that might pose a hazard as infants and toddlers begin pulling up and walking.
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Arrange your room so that children have soft surfaces to play on. If you have tile or hardwood flooring, consider adding carpet squares, area rugs, and floor pillows. Depending on your layout, carpets and rugs can help define spaces. Using red carpet squares in the dramatic play area and pink in the reading area, for instance, can help children recognize boundaries for play spaces and make clean-up easier and more organized.
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Display children's artwork. Seeing their own work on display is affirming for children and demonstrates an appreciation for their efforts. Children love to show off their work to parents and friends, and parents like to see evidence of the children's exposure to different art materials and to opportunities for creative expression.
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Hang pictures of the children in your care. Your day care center is like a second home to the children, and kids and parents alike will appreciate your efforts to establish a family-oriented atmosphere. Family photos add a nice touch, as well, helping children to make connections between their family and day care environments.
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Display culturally diverse photos and props. Most day care centers provide care for an ethnically diverse group of children, and various cultures and ethnic populations should be represented in your spaces. This is true even when your clientele is less diversified.
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Tips & Warnings
When decorating play areas, remember to place artwork and other visuals at children's eye level. Make sure all indoor play areas are well-lit and free from obstructions.
