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Home Sweet Home: Transforming Your Space into a Warm and Welcoming Place for Young Children and Families

by Allison Pattee
July/August 2022
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Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/home-sweet/5026685/

*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.

From the moment you walk in the door, an environment sends a message. For child care programs serving young children, the goal is to communicate a sense of feeling welcomed, valued, and important. It is important for this to be reflected in all areas of the physical space, from classrooms to hallways, outdoor spaces to common areas. The physical environment should reflect the diversity of the community your program serves and the children who attend. While incorporating art, books, photographs, and music, you can echo a variety of family structures, languages, abilities, religions, and cultures, where children and family members can see themselves reflected in the environment (LeeKeenan & Ponte, 2018).

Child care centers are often located in settings that were designed for other purposes. For our campus-based child care program that serves families who speak almost a dozen languages, we moved to a building that was once a gymnasium and pool. It was a cold institutional place, in which sounds echoed on the hard surfaces designed for playing basketball and swimming laps. The challenge for us was how to transform this environment to fit our program philosophy of welcoming families of ...

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