Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments

by Deb Curtis, Margie Carter

Give children wondrous places to learn and grow! Drawing inspiration from a variety of approaches—from Waldorf to Montessori to Reggio to Greenman, Prescott, and Olds—the authors outline hundreds of ways to create healthy and inviting physical, social, and emotional environments for children in child care. Full-color photographs of actual early childhood programs demonstrate that the spaces children learn and grow in can be comfortable for children, teachers, and parents alike.

Margie Carter serves on the adjunct faculty at Pacific Oaks College Northwest, Seattle, Washington. Deb Curtis works as a child care teacher at the Burlington Little School in Seattle. Their other books include The Art of Awareness, The Visionary Director, Training Teachers, Spreading the News, and Reflecting Children’s Lives.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Parenting, Teaching

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quote I want to remember:

"When the voices and bodies of young children become increasingly active, teachers tend to respond by restricting choices, emphasizing classroom rules, and threatening punishment. This often starts a chain reaction, and soon our view of children becomes diminished and our desire to control them escalates. But if you remember how valuable children's explorations, dramas, messy play, and conflicts are to their learning, you can make other choices that will keep your planning and responses grounded in a belief that children are capable of remarkable undertakings.
Rather than repeated reminders to pay attention and stay on task, children benefit from an environment and activities that are specifically designed to focus their attention and give them a set of steps to follow for using tools and mastering something they want to accomplish. If we want children to learn to be thinkers, rather than mere rule followers -- and if we want them to conceptualize, concentrate, be intentional in their choices and uses of materials, and collaborate with others -- we need an environment that specifically promotes these things.
The social-emotional environment includes how people relate to one another, how time is structured, and how the teaching and learning process unfolds. The emotional climate is shaped by what teachers choose to pay attention to and make visible and their thoughtfulness in setting up routines, choices for children, and teaching activities . . . [4 areas that need to be examined are: first, time and routines; second, invitations, special interest areas, demonstrations, and modeling; third, meaningful jobs; and fourth, teacher roles (playmate, prop manager, observer and documenter, researcher and collaborator, and coach.]

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It’s written in a way that allows the information to be applied immediately and realistically in the classroom. The abundance of photos and ideas was wonderful. I will be referencing this book for years to come.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read on early childhood learning spaces. Lessons/questions/ideas/inventions for consideration in all lifelong learning environments.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas, simple text.

[Hannah Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a textbook for an early childhood learning environments class. Having a background in architecture, I found lots of the design takeaways and visual examples in the book to be somewhat obvious. I am not an early childhood instructor myself, so I bring a different viewpoint to this design exploration than others in my class who work with small children and don't have design backgrounds. I appreciated all of the thoughtful research and case studies, and connection to education philosophies and community-building best practices.

[Meredith Henning · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is very good at giving reasons for why some early childhood education centers are set up specifically with the child in mind. I love all the pictures and explanations for how certain classrooms are set up. Good reference for ideas and how to keep your learning room exciting and fresh for the little ones :) I highly recommend this if you are inclined towards Montessori, Reggio or just like neat shelves with creative materials set out for exploration with little hands!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking at this more from a homeschooling perspective and although the images were beautiful and the advice good it was more relevant for teachers in a public setting. For people in the public arena working with children I'd say this book would be very useful.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely amazing!!!

If you are slightly interested in setting up a welcoming environment for children, this is a must read. It has detailed, beautiful full-color photos. It was a required book for my Environments class and a definite keeper!!

[Doni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. However, as someone who is not very visually acute, I wished that they would have described the differences they valued in before and after pictures instead of relying solely on the pictures to communicate this.

[Andrea Putman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my go to books when I feel that I am getting burnt out and the daily school routine or when I am stuck on classroom/curriculum ideas. This book is amazingly inspiring!

[Cindy Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Am inspired to transform our preschool into a beautiful, engaging place to work and learn!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Geared at schools, but good resource for creating space at home for play/learning (especially "Sources for Loose Parts and Creative Recyclables​").

[Katrina Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational photos and comments.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly inspirational book to read when setting up or redesigning a classroom! Using a project approach to create invited places to play/work is the focus!

[Mills College Library]

372.21 C9787 2015

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many stunning ideas, grounded in a solid pedagogical perspective of young children and their communities.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great if you are an ECE teacher, a great reference to flick to when you need to

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite teaching resource! Love all the photos.