Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments Paperback – May 1, 2003

This book is my bible for creating any environment for children (home or otherwise). I am a full time preschool teacher who also does counseling and play therapy on the side and I use this book in both professions regularly. The approach of this book is full of ideas that are not only stimulating and engaging in an educational and intellectual sense, but extremely enriching from a mental health standpoint. Children are growing up in a very plastic and digital world and while it is important to introduce and allow them to be a part of that world, what we're doing as a culture is verging more on shallow novelty overload (based on the selfish and lazy needs of adults). This book brings the idea of designing environments back to focusing on curiosity and naturalism which gives children more of a sense of intellectual control and freedom through creation and peace. I know for some of you I'm starting to sound like a peace loving hippie art teacher, but I assure you when I eat granola, it's usually the unhealthy kind I buy at Walmart (I'm also a dude if that makes a difference). But I care about children, and their mental well being, which is why I strongly recommend this book for any teacher, mental health practitioner, or parent.Personally I think teachers have gone over board by controlling the environments in their classrooms too much. Centers are a good example of this. I think the centers need to be there, but the boundaries need to be permeable. The kids should be able to take the blocks to the dress up area, the book center, the art center...any area they please really because you never know what they may be able to create. For example I used a few of the ideas from this book in my class and I'd put rocks, cut sticks, fabric with different textures, stone tiles, and some potpouri in appropriate centers around the room. In the middle of play time I realized one girl had begun passing out different objects to just about every child in the room. Every child this little girl went to was involved in their own play activity, yet they all said "thank you" when she handed them a rock or random piece of a stick. I watched this go on for about 10 minutes dreading the task that this clean up time was going to entail when all of a sudden the little girl said "Ok everyone, come to the carpet" and they all picked up their random trinkets and sat down on the carpet where she handed them all a piece of fabric. They all placed their 5-6 objects on the fabric and looked through them one at a time, sharing them with one another with so much excitement. It took me awhile but I eventually realized that what they were playing was "birthday party." The little trinkets were the little goodie bags that kids get at their friends parties. This was a group of 20 4 year olds all playing one game, all sharing and cooperating, not to mention originally multi-tasking, and they were doing it with rocks and sticks. It was a fascinating example of the type of creative initiative that children have that we adults lack because of our need for control (only certain toys here, only four per center, timed center times, etc..). I'm positive those children learned more in the 20 minute birthday party they put on than in any similar circle I organized all year.I've had several play scheme's play out like this over the years in both my classroom and in play therapy that don't occur when all of the toys and environment are plastic and punched out from a store bought display. There's something about creating with creation that is different than creating with Playskool (no offense to them, I love their toys). When kids see environments made out of things that they see elsewhere in the world it expands the learning environment beyond the classroom and makes otherwise passive children active constructors of their world. When they see adults creating their environment out of familiar items it makes them feel like they can do the same. It makes them feel connected and we undervalue that aspect of child development. This is what this book is about, and it's a one of a kind resource.This book is full of pointed advice, great suggestions, and wonderful pictures of different ideas and environments. Some reviews I've read have complained that the ideas are not feasible or don't have explanations as to why you'd put them in a classroom. To those questions I'd say you fear giving up control of your classroom to the children. Let them figure out why the ideas are important, and if the ideas aren't feasible adapt them so they are. This isn't a book full of punch out bulletin board activities. It's a book of open ended ideas designed to encourage a more open minded approach to teaching and environment. The environment should be a second teacher in the room, and if you design the environment for the children with their perspective in mind you're empowering them to use the environment to be their own teachers and in turn be more internally motivated and passionate learners.

This is a great book. Well-written text and beautiful pictures that make the case for a thoughtful classroom environment. I especially enjoyed the suggestions for getting families involved in the classroom. This would be a great resource for teachers who want to get away from overly "themey" environments and instead create beautiful classroom settings that invite participation and support learning. There are suggestions at the end of each chapter that are helpful and encouraging. This is a book you can read straight through, or pick up and put down at your convenience.This is a "must read" for any early childhood teacher (or any teacher for that matter).

This book has become a favorite of mine. As an early childhood educator, I am concerned about the direction that things are heades, in terms of "cookie cutter" classrooms with the standardization of education. This book provides lots of ideas for keeping the early childhood classroom a soft and nurturing space of exploration. The authors don't propose any one approach to early childhood education. They pull from a variety of classic as well as contemporary theorists. There are great pictures for ideas along with text for reflecting on one's environment.

As a director of a fairly new child development center, I am always looking for new ideas to make our center as comfortable for the children as possible. This book has some wonderful ideas that don't require a lot of money, which is nice because we are always short. It suggests using things you find at yard sales and thrift shops.The advice given does, however require lots of upkeep and adult supervision. It recommends lots of things, such as using lots of natural items in the sensory area like tree bark and rocks and giving the children more freedom to make a mess and explore to their hearts content. This makes it harder on the teachers because there is more clean up and it takes a lot of encouragement on my part to implement these changes, but it is worth it in the end.When the children are happier and have plenty to keep them busy, the teacher's jobs become easier.,

Seeing this book gives me much hope that early childhood centers don't have to look like catalog-ordered institutions. The work displayed in the several pictures provided shows a tremendous dedication and knowledge by the teachers. Some of my favorite ideas: the use of mirrors to allow children to see double images as they play and work with their toys on top of them; the framing of kids artwork like it was the latest abstract show to hit New York; the use of projectors for color, letter and numbers; a space for the teacher to show his/her life outside the classroom. What I thought could have been stronger in the book was the connection between the designs and the learning. One school hung pastel umbrellas on the ceiling of the classrooms. I would have like to of read quotes from children as their curiosity, imagination and intellect got stimulated; the teachers' purpose behind the design and the connection to the curriculum. Were the teachers inspired by the children's interest in rain and umbrellas and the design helped to explain more about rain, tools for keeping us dry, etc.? Other useful, practical things needed in the book: cost of materials for the designs; time put in to make the designs; directions and rules, if any, given to children on usage; and if state regulations prevented teachers from doing a specific project because of safety reasons, how did some teachers/directors work with their state office to approve the project. Finally, how did the overall designs work with the rest of the classroom (we're only shown one picture of one design within a room) and how long were these designs kept before new ones were in place.Overall, you'll be inspired to recreate your room from top to bottom. You won't be disappointed.