Soft Spaces: Resources

Books

Design for Living and Learning
by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter

Lavishly illustrated with full color pictures of actual centers, this book is a delight. The authors advocate a relationship-based criteria for planning spaces. "Young children not only benefit from, but deserve to be surrounded by softness, comfort, and meaningful relationships in their childhoods."

 

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

This exceptional book demonstrates how centers can face real-world challenges and make quality care a reality. Readers will be empowered by new ideas on how to make child care programs work for children, families, and staff.  Chapter 5: Dimensions of Children's Settings addresses the need for softness and comfort.

 

Planning Environments for Young Children: Physical Space
by Sybil Kritchevsky and Elizabeth Prescott

This landmark book is out of print—but available as used copies from Amazon, or perhaps your local university library will have it. Short, but seminal, and quoted widely. Early childhood programs have drifted away from these early guidelines, with commercial interests and political agendas rushing in to steer us in a different direction.

 

Think of Something Quiet: A Guide for Achieving Serenity in Early Childhood Classrooms
by Clare Cherry

Written for the early childhood educator, this book contains strategies for achieving a low-stress classroom environment, techniques for responding to the tension and stress children experience, and activities for helping children learn how to reduce their own tension and experience relaxation.

 

Articles On Line

The Physical Environment

A classic article in Child Care Exchange Magazine from Elizabeth Prescott. "A common characteristic of these soft materials is that they provide experiences where the environment responds to the child. You can use your body the way you want to on a rug. You push sand around or pound on clay, and each does what you want it to do."

The Importance of Quiet Time in a Child's Schedule

Written for parents, this concise article might be just what you are looking for as a parent hand-out or staff development discussion-starter.

Creating a Child Care Environment for Success

This .pdf file (needs Acrobat Reader to open) is a 12 page article about all aspects of a child care environment. On page 5 is presented the idea of "child sanctuaries," a phrase that expresses the need for a place that a child can take a break from the larger group.

Landscape for Learning: The Impact of Classroom Design on Infants and Toddlers

An article from Early Childhood News by Louis Torelli and Charles Durrett that includes helpful ideas on private spaces: "While easily supervised by the caregiver, these semi-enclosed activity areas provide for private and semiprivate environments which are critical to the development of the young child's self-concept and personal identity."

Child Care Center Environments

This online article says that the best way to evaluate your room is to get down and see it from a child's eye view. "It has been said that the careful arrangement of the environment is like having another adult to help you with the children. Good environments encourage positive behavior."