Room Design Change. In the blink of an eye.

This morning I was on early shift.  I thought I would take a few pictures of our room for those who are interested in room design.  I take room design pictures regularly because I'm inspired to move things around to meet the needs of our little group of young learners.  Sometimes we move things to clean, or because an area is not being used as much.  I'm proud of how our team work together to reflect and 

creatively use materials, equipment,  and furniture  in new and innovative ways. 

The aquarium on top of this shelving unit was recently housing a group of woodland animals..  There were animals, fake greenery, a uniquely shaped piece of  wood and some tree cookies.  And then it snowed.  So we created a scene inside that reflects the changing world outside.  We brought in our winter tree before Christmas break and painted it.  All of the children in our room celebrate Christmas.  We didn't promote Christmas before or after the event.  However, after the holiday, I hung twinkly lights and a penguin banner on our wooden tree.  Another day, I placed three gift bags by the tree with a few of their toys in them.  They really haven't talked about presents much but rather use the bags to go shopping.  I wanted to see what their play might be like after Christmas when they had a fresh reference point for decorated trees and gifts.  I did not see Christmas play happening which is just fine as the materials are there to support individual learning and the children are free to move items around the room and use as they wish.

Now the woodland animals are on the window ledge!

I seldom use the main lights in the morning.  Even when it's winter and there is not a lot of natural light coming in the window.  I personally, really like the calm ambience that is provided with our floor lamps that we have placed around room.   

There is almost always an interest in playing with cars.  I put away the construction vehicles and set up a parking lot similar to the one below our daycare.  We see school buses there and a variety of vehicles in the parking lot.

So these were some of the areas available to play in, in the morning and then, guess what? The light table we asked to borrow from the local CCRR arrived!  ( we love you CCRR!)  For those of you not familiar with the CCRR, it is a program called the Childcare Resource and Referral.  One of it's features is a toy lending library.  I thought our littles would enjoy a light table and some materials to use on it.  Heather brought us magna tiles, colored and translucent duplo blocks and some see-through wood blocks with interesting item inside to explore.  We are excited to use these materials in the next month or so.

Well, wouldn't you know it.  A room change happened.  We wanted the light table to go where we had our penguin play set up.  But the children are still using the penguins and instead of putting them away we needed to find a new area in the room to put the penguins.  And one thing led to another.  Our whole room was changed!  Does that ever happen to you?

We cleaned, moved items here and there, and creatively set up our room differently but using all of the same things, just rearranged.  The really great thing is that the toddlers respond enthusiastically and their play is refreshed and inspired again.

Here is the light table with the magna tiles.  We have several competent builders in our group so some of the tiles are on the light table and the rest are in the bin under the table in case we need more as building happens.

We moved the kitchen area in the space that previously we had the cars in the the tuff tray table.

We moved the couch where this cupboard had been and this is where the couch was!  

And here is the car area which turned into a train area as well!  

And where the kitchen area was is now the penguin habitat!  We incorporated our wooden cube to make a kind of snow cave.  The mural on the wall was found in a cupboard and we thought it was so lovely and wintery.

There you have it, a tour of our room and some of the things we have going on.  Are you interested in room design?  Leave a comment and let's dialogue.