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Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments That Work

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Children deserve to spend their days in well-designed environments that support their needs and stimulate their learning. Adults who spend their days teaching and caring for young children deserve environments that maximize their skills.

Caring Spaces, Learning Places is a book of ideas, observations, problems, solutions, examples, resources, photographs, and poetry. Here you will find best of current thinking about children's environments - 360 pages to challenge you, stimulate you, inspire you.

This is your book - directors, teachers, parents, trainers, faculty and consultants. Take it to bed. Wear it out. Expect dog ears in no time.

Table of Contents

Forward
by Lella Gandini vii

Acknowledgements

Introduction

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Chapter 1 - Why Do I Feel This Way?

Space speaks
Environmental load
Space speaks to our emotions
Objects speak to us
The power of the environment
Underestimating the power of the environment
The experience of space is individual and cultural
Time
People are people
Children are not adults
Who am I to judge?
Exercises

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Chapter 2 - The Lives of Children

Where is that web of sunny air?
The landscape of childhood
The other side - where reality hurts
Fencing children off from our world
The twenty-first century family
Vanishing trust and security
Vanishing community
Where is the variety of life?
Increased schooling, diminishing education?
The downward extension of school
Schools today
School and early education
A brave new world or simply nostalgia?
Childhoods for children
How children learn
What all children need
Places for childhood
Exercises

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Chapter 3 - Programs for Children (and Families)

12,000 hours: The enormity of the child care experience for children
What kind of days?
Child care and early education
Child care and families: Child development center as family center
Shifting the focus from child to child and family
Family center services
Program structure: The child's experience
The professional role
The three major roles of early childhood professional in the environment
The importance of teachers
The Reggio Approach and the United States
What do we want for children?
Excellence in the twenty-first century
Exercises

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Chapter 4 - Some Characteristics of Space

Inside and out
Flow: Entries and pathways
Size and scale
Aesthetics
Spatial variety: Places to be
Community
Flexibility
Narration
Exercises

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Chapter 5 - Dimensions of Children's Settings

Comfort
Softness
Competence
Safety
Health
Privacy and social space
Order
Routines and rituals
Autonomy
Mobility
Security
The adult dimension
Exercises

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Chapter 6 - Infants and Toddlers in Groups

Infant and toddler care in its own right
About babies
What do babies do?
Sensitive caregiving
The importance of touch
The importance of movement
A predictable environment
Toddlers and young twos: A breed apart
Environments for babies
Infants and toddlers together?
The adults in infant/toddler programs
Parents and caregivers
Planning the environment for adults
Bunching up
Incorporating parents
A final note
Exercises

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Chapter 7 - The Building and Site

Adapted space or renovation versus new construction
The child care design program
Large centers
The building site
The program perimeter
The facility
Building elements
A final note: Making it work
Exercises

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Chapter 8 - Interiors: Walls, Windows, Doors, and Lighting

Some basic interior design
Ceilings
Flooring
Children's spaces
Walls
Windows
Lighting
Doors
Exercises

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Chapter 9 - Caring

Eating and drinking
Bathrooms and diaper areas
Sick children
Living, loving, and being
Exercises

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Chapter 10 - Storage and Display

My place?
Kinds of storage
Guidelines for good storage
Guidelines for good display
Kinds of display
A final note
Exercises

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Chapter 11 - Room Arrangement

Activity settings
Interest areas: Learning centers and learning stations
Some strategies for layout
Dividers
Kinds of dividers
Lofts and platforms
Designing or purchasing lofts and platforms
Nooks, crannies, and hallway learning
Serving children with special needs
Changing
Exercises

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Chapter 12 - Indoor Learning Environments

What do children do?
A final note
Exercises

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Chapter 13 - Outdoor Learning Environments

The outdoors in children's lives
Outdoor places
The role of adults outdoors
Planning outdoor areas
Designing, building, and adapting your outdoor play area
Maintaining outdoor areas
A final thought
Exercises

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Chapter 14 - Making Places/Changing Spaces

Constructing spaces
Changing spaces
Why change is difficult
A participatory process
Final thoughts
Exercises

References

Resources