Designing Spaces For Children

Providing tips, suggestions, and guidelines on the critical issues that surround designing spaces for children and teens, this how-to book will help you create a space that they will never want to leave. This must-have guide includes How to select an architect or design professional The importance of including YA librarians in the design and implementation Information on how children and teens view and use space 20 color photos of example spaces Whether your space is large or small, in a library or public place, this resource will give you creative and practical ideas for using the space to its full potential!

Meeting children as equals, on their own level, is not only a question of educational theory. Räume für Kinder shows how architecture and interior design can promote childhood development. Based on historical and current concepts of progressive education, the book sketches design principles for building daycare centers that can also be transferred to other spaces, such as pediatric clinics. Rooms can invite discovery; they can promote communication and social interaction, strengthen self-confidence, and be places of retreat or landscapes for play. For years, the Berlin architectural firm baukind has been creatively balancing the strict legal requirements and architectural possibilities of architecture suitable for children--always with a view to children's needs. The book presents realized projects, such as the kindergarten Weltenbummler in Berlin, and aims to foster the equal involvement of children in the design of our environment.

As a developmental psychologist with a strong interest in children's re sponse to the physical environment, I take particular pleasure in writing a foreword to the present volume. It provides impressive evidence of the con cern that workers in environmental psychology and environmental design are displaying for the child as a user of the designed environment and indi cates a recognition of the need to apply theory and findings from develop mental and environmental psychology to the design of environments for children. This seems to me to mark a shift in focus and concern from the earlier days of the interaction between environmental designers and psy chologists that occurred some two decades ago and provided the impetus for the establishment of environmental psychology as a subdiscipline. Whether because children-though they are consumers of designed environments are not the architect's clients or because it seemed easier to work with adults who could be asked to make ratings of environmental spaces and comment on them at length, a focus on the child in interaction with en vironments was comparatively slow in developing in the field of environ ment and behavior. As the chapters of the present volume indicate, that situation is no longer true today, and this is a change that all concerned with the well-being and optimal functioning of children will welcome.

How can young children play an active role in developing the design of learning environments? What methods can be used to bring together children’s and practitioners’ views about their environment? What insights can young children offer into good designs for these children’s spaces? With the expansion of early childhood education and the move to 'extended schools', more young children will spend more time than ever before in institutions. Based on two actual building projects, this book is the first of its kind to demonstrate the possibilities of including young children’s perspectives in the design and review of children’s spaces. Situated at the heart of the debate about the relationship between the built environment and its impact on children’s learning and wellbeing, Transforming Children’s Spaces provides insights into how young children see their environment discusses children’s aspirations for future spaces develops the 'Mosaic approach' , pioneered by the author, as a method for listening to young children and adults Emphasising the importance of visual and verbal methods of communication, this fascinating book demonstrates how practitioners and young children can articulate their perspectives, and shows how participatory methods can support new relationships between children, practitioners and architects. This book is essential reading for those who work in children's spaces and for those who design them as well as being of general interest to those studying education and childhood studies.

Create a warm and inviting place where children feel at home. Discover the many ways your home can provide comfortable places where children love to learn and love to be. Filled with no- and low-cost ideas, this book demonstrates many unique and practical possibilities for your home's indoor and outdoor spaces. Chapters are packed with colorful photographs and provide examples and tips for designing learning zones, selecting items, organizing materials, and more. Checklists, resources, and questions are included to help you evaluate your setting, implement changes, and create a place that feels like a second home to the children in your care.

The aim of this project is to enable a 'meeting of minds' between the avant-garde pedagogical philosophy of the Reggio Emilia preschools and innovative experiences within the culture of design and architecture.

* Discover the impact of emerging childcare strategy on architecture and design internationally * Learn from the broad knowledge of the well respected contributors * Specific policy information provides design guidance

Good architecture combines the practical with a sense of delight in the spaces that make up a building. If designed skilfully, a buildingcan inspire and help to make children’s experience of their early years care a secure yet varied one.Many childcare professionals understand the importance of architecture in ensuring good provision for young children and theirfamilies. Whether making minor modifications to an existing facility, embarking on major term improvements, or a new construction, this book will empower early years professionals to work with building professionals to create the best space for young children. It looks at the big things, but more importantly suggests the smaller features that can provide an educationally stimulating environment.Drawing on experience in the UK and Europe, this new edition aims to ensure that advances in children’s architecture will be wellinformed. It has been revised throughout and includes an overview of recent developments, legal compliance, consulting with children,building for communities, local involvement and achieving high quality builds with small budgets.