Room Arrangement
#roomarrangement #ece #childcare
with Annette Tipton and Delilah Hilliard, Durant, OK, July 30, 2011
Everyone struggles with it
There are no right/wrong answers, only good, better and best practice.
Licensing = minimum standards
ERS = Env. Rating Scale
Common issues that can be resolved with room arrangements:
Supervision
Behavior
Guidance
Biting
Energy level
Injuries
Overstimulation
Staff stress
How does room arrangement impact childcare?
Invitation to play
Engaging play
Learning experiences
Social skills
Transitions
Clean up
Children’s happiness
Assess needs of the room:
Ages/stages of the children in care?
Energy level of the group?
Traffic patterns?
What are the rules?
What do you say “no” to?
Checklists are important because we don’t “see” that which we have been looking at every day all day!
4 basic rules
1. Separate active/quiet play areas
Ask self: what is the energy of these interest areas?
Separate HIGH energy areas from low energy ones.
loudest, most active area? Blocks
quietest? Books
privacy – shower curtains from ceiling
2. toys stored available and accessible
what are the invitations to play? Provocations!
You don’t need to fill up those shelves!
Leave some space… having “enough” out doesn’t mean putting it all out!
3. routine care areas conveniently arranged
assist the children in learning how to participate in clean up etc.
take the everyday tasks you need to do to keep the room running and figure out how many of them can be done by/with the kids
4. interest centers defined and equipped (bundling)
can we turn cleanup into math? Etc.
mix it up… blocks can be whatever they need to be.
Assess for your needs, adjust your arrangements, reassess, repeat as often as necessary.
Don’t let good enough be ok!
