I was on early shift and what did I see?

I am very interested in room design and making areas of a daycare room inviting and beautiful.  At the daycare where I work we follow a Reggio inspired philosophy and so we promote natural toys, light, plants, and we include adult furniture mixed with children's furniture.  I know I am not always the best at beautiful room design, meaning that it doesn't always come easy for me and I rely on my co-workers for inspiration.  I have found that I am very visual and it helps if I move things around, stand back and look at it and maybe move things again.  It can take more than one try at times. I love how a conversation between 3 or 4 staff can birth amazing new ideas and changes.  And I love Pinterest for bringing images, ideas, and inspiration to the forefront...kind of at the finger tips.   The sharing of ideas and solutions is just so awesome.

I was on the early shift again. So I took a quick saunter around the three rooms in our center.  I did that once before recently, and documented it here.

Here is some of the beauty I found.

In the infant room.


This mesh tent has invited curious infants to come and explore.  In and out they go, working on balance and strength as they navigate the mattress that lies underneath the tent.  The lights are gorgeous in the early morning.


This is a really long box that once held a washer and dryer.  There are just big cushions inside now and the light rope.  The infants are very comfortable going inside.  I wonder what they will want to do next? I love how the simplest things often bring the most pleasure!

This is what I saw in the toddler room.

Look what they have been working on.  Glueing and glueing and glueing.  Then, painting and painting and painting.  This project has been out and available for several weeks.


This is a great physical outlet for the toddlers who might have extra energy on long, cold winter days.  They have different surfaces to negotiate as they go from carpeted boxes, to cushions to foam blocks.




The 3-5 room has an Atelier.

atelier (plural ateliers)
  1. workshop or studio especially for an artistdesigner or fashion house.






The white, blank paper waiting for amazing creativity to happen.




I think we are going to have busy, happy children today.




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