Using natural materials and warm, earth colors are some of my favorite classroom decoration ideas. The longer I teach, the less I desire having traditional preschool primary colors in our environment. Each year I have substituted wood for plastic so that we have few plastic pieces left. I’ve shared this in my classroom tour. I bring plants indoors, as well as different textures. It creates a homey environment that makes our toddlers and preschoolers feel welcomed.
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Before I begin, I’d like to address something that is often mentioned when I share photos of my classroom. With the exception of collage, these photos were taken before the children arrived. So no, it does NOT stay this neat and tidy once they enter the room and that is okay. I cannot stress this enough. We have a hands-on policy, meaning that most of the materials are meant to be touched, moved, and explored. If there is something fragile, we discuss it with the children and they know it’s for eyes only.
Another comment I hear often is that some of these items are choking hazards. It’s important for me to point out that we do not put small pieces out for our 2 year old class. If you see them in the photos, they are for our 3 and 4 year olds and only once we feel it’s safe to do so. These photos were taken in the spring when we knew the small objects would not be put in mouths. Never put materials out that you don’t feel safe about. Choking is extremely serious.
These photos were taken when the classroom was set up for our preschoolers. We remove the smaller and/or more delicate pieces when the toddlers are in the classroom.
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The color palette:
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As I add colors to our classroom, I pay attention to what naturally grows outside. Deep shades of green, beiges and browns, perhaps hints of lavender or purple and just a smidgen of red here and there.
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Furniture:
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Wood furniture adds to the natural materials in our classroom with the deep brown earthy tones. My co-teacher had this junior armoir her daughter outgrew. It adds to the homeyness I mentioned earlier, not and it is a great storage piece!
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Lighting:
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I love small lamps in the classroom and wish we never had to use our overhead lights. Unfortunately, with our Pacific Northwest gray days the small lamps just do not provide enough light. I am looking into covers for the overhead lights so they are not so harsh. We also only use half of the overhead lights, as when all of them are on it’s just too harsh.
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Displays:
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We have displays of natural materials on top of our shelves and cabinets. The children love to bring items they’ve found in their yards to add to our collection. We will pick up flowers from the market to place in vases, too. Flowers give that little pop of color that we love.
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Textures:
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I love adding different textures to a collection. Children love to explore smooth, bumpy, soft and hard objects.
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More classroom ideas:
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My classroom design inspiration comes from:
What lovely learning spaces!
i love it, where did you find the large tray with a cover to start your seeds? it is big and prefect! be careful with some of your plants, that one that trails long, forget the name, but i got called on mine by licensing for it being poisonous, had to remove it. i want to change out my center display for a short while and you have given my some good ideas, thanks so much!
Thank you for the heads up on the plant, Tia! The tray I got at a grocery store, but big box nurseries have them as well. I selected one that already had the pellets. The children helped water the pellets and add the seeds. Once they are ready to be transplanted, I replace them with new pellets and seeds. It’s wonderful!
Ok so I love the Reggio approach. I love the elements of nature weaved through out the classroom. I would absolutely LOVE to have beautiful displays on tables and shelves. Would someone please please please show me a picture of what that classroom looks like with children in it? Paint me a portrait of a real life classroom with 12 children, ages 2 and 3 with one teacher. Explain how I can keep those displays beautiful without goin nazi on the children and yelling “PUT IT BACK!” Because my kids, as hard as I try with labeling and repetition, have issues with cleaning up the classroom.
How do you manage all of this “stuff”
Sincerely,
A not so seasoned preschool teacher
Simply. Slowly. We don’t start the year with all these displays. We start very minimally and gradually add more as we feel the children are ready. We like to introduce new materials at our morning meeting and they see that these are special and should be treated with respect. That being said, our displays do NOT stay “pretty”. They get touched. They get moved. And that is okay. What we focus on is respecting these materials, even if they are moved. Start very simple. Show them how the materials are taken care of. Don’t add more until they are ready. Unless you don’t mind them being moved around. Do what you can with what you have. That is always my motto. 🙂
Your space is for 2-3 year olds, how do you deal with the fact that things like loose parts are choking hazards? I provide childcare in my home and children 1-5 yr, I try to just have chokable things out only under constant supervision
We put away what we feel the 2 year olds might put in their mouths. We don’t put small pieces out at all (even with our 3s) until we feel they understand it’s not for putting in the mouth. This particular post was written in the spring, much later in the year, when the 3s were older. Always, always err on the side of caution!