Creating Environments for Young Children

This book is about a long neglected aspect of early childhood education--the impact of the physical environment on child development. This lack of awareness has had a significant impact on the quality of everyday learning places and the inability of early childhood educators to make a difference in planning and designing new facilities. Until teachers are equipped with the knowledge, skills, principles, and general awareness of the learning environment, they will continue to be powerless as advocates for improving the quality of the environment. Since teachers are not usually involved in the process of creating new or remodeled environments for young children there is a gap between children's needs and how that knowledge does not transfer into design decisions. Therefore the aim of this book is to bridge the information gap by identifying key issues that will encourage teachers to improve their classroom environment and become a valuable asset in designing new environments for young children.