cHide RubricsRubric Name Assignment 8 RubricThis ta

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Hide Rubrics
Rubric Name: Assignment 8 Rubric
This table lists criteria and criteria group name in the first
column. The first row lists level names and includes scores if
the rubric uses a numeric scoring method.Criteria
Exemplary
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Unacceptable
Part 1: Art-Based Centers Nurture Creative Expression
20 points
The student provides a clear explanation of how art-based
centers nurture creative expression.
15 points
The student provides a mostly clear explanation of how art-
based centers nurture creative expression.
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear explanation of how art-

0 points
The student does not provide an explanation of how art-based
/ 20
Part 2: Adapting Art-Based Centers
30 points
The student provides a clear description of how teachers must
adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.
20 points
The student provides a mostly clear description of how teachers
must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear description of how
teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through
fourth grade.
0 points
The student does not provide a description of how teachers must
/ 30
Part 3: Managing a Center- Based Environment

30 points
The student provides a clear discussion of techniques teachers
can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative
classroom.
20 points
The student provides a mostly clear discussion of techniques
teachers can use to manage a center-based environment in the
creative classroom.
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear discussion of techniques
creative classroom.
0 points
The student does not provide a discussion of techniques
creative classroom.
/ 30
Mechanics - Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling
5 points
Student makes no errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling
that distract the reader from the content.
4 points
Student makes 1-2 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling

2 points
0 points
Student makes more than 4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or
spelling that distract the reader from the content.
/ 5
Writing Style - Organization, Transitions, Tone
5 points
The assignment is written with excellent organization,
thoughtful transitions, and the appropriate tone.
4 points
This writing assignment is adequately organized, but has some
errors in the transitions or the tone.
2 points
This writing assignment is poorly organized, or it contains
ineffective transitions and/or inappropriate tone.
0 points
This writing assignment displays little to no organization or
transitions, and/or does not use the appropriate tone.

/ 5
APA Format - Margins, Font, Spacing, Headings and cover
page.
5 points
The margins, font, spacing, headings, and cover page are all
formatted properly.
4 points
There are 1-2 errors in the formatting of the margins, font,
spacing, headings, or cover page.
2 points
0 points
There are more than 4 errors in the formatting of the margins,
font, spacing, headings, or cover page.
/ 5
APA Format - Citations and References
5 points
All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, and
the references and in-text citations are all properly formatted.
Each reference has an in-text citation and in-text citation has a
reference.

4 points
All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, but
slight errors are present in the format of the in-text citations or
references. Or there may be one in-text citation or reference
missing.
2 points
Some sources used for quotes and facts are either not credible
or there are significant errors in the in-text citations and/or
references. Or there are multiple missing in-text citations or
references.
0 points
The sources used for quotes and facts are not credible and/or
not cited. The in-text citations and/or references are not present.
/ 5
Total
Lesson 7
Theoretical and Research Base: Creative Learning Environments
The work of Urie
Bronfenbrenner (2004)
,
Maria Montessori
(1909,
1964
), Loris
Malaguzzi (1995)
, and

Lev Vygotsky (1967
,
1978
), among others, provide important insights into creative
environments that engage all children. Following is a brief
statement of each of these theorists’ assumptions about the
influence of the environment on children’s creativity and how
their theories might look in early childhood classrooms.
Bronfenbrenner
From Bronfenbrenner we learn about the important interactions
of many environments, such as the family, school,
neighborhood, peers, and media that are all connected and
influence not only one another but also the developing child.
His theory provides one way to view the effects of the social
contexts of children’s lives on the child in the classroom.
An early childhood classroom influenced by Bronfenbrenner’s
theory would include:
· Strong connections between home and school by listening to
what families have to say about their children and their home
interests so that both teachers and children can learn about
every child’s community and culture.
· Families that are involved in children’s learning activities that
you send home.
· Family members that are involved in a variety of roles in the
classroom.
· Strong relationships with the community.
Montessori

From Montessori we learn that children need a carefully
prepared, well-organized environment with authentic, homelike
materials to reflect order and calm. The environment contains
aesthetically pleasing and sensory-rich materials, child-sized
furnishings, and self-correcting materials to be used in a
specific way. Teachers carefully structure the environment for
the children to complete tasks and develop at their own pace.
This girl is building a tower using Montessori cylinders in a
prepared environment
A classroom environment influenced by Montessori would have:
· An aesthetically pleasing classroom with a wide selection of
sensory materials and experiences for self-expression.
· Low shelves with materials that children can access easily and
return materials to their original place.
· Large, open floor spaces.
· Considerable freedom for children to choose activities that
have been prepared by the teacher.
· Teachers who respect children, guide their use of materials,
and offer help if asked.
Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia Schools
Malaguzzi calls the classroom environment the child’s “third
teacher,” which conveys its powerful impact on children’s
thinking and feeling. In Reggio schools, environments are
places of beauty that are designed to promote children’s
relationships, sense of community, and aesthetics. They are also
places that value children’s relationships as a basis of learning.
Reggio teachers respect children’s curiosity, ask focused

questions, document children’s learning, and display children’s
work that reflects their conversations, interests, and
experiences.
This video shows key principles of the Reggio Emilia approach
to early childhood education. Notice the Reggio environment.
How does it impact children’s creative thinking?
Classrooms inspired by Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia schools
would have:
· An aesthetically pleasing environment with lots of light and
welcoming entryways.
· Children collaboratively exploring topics of interest to them
for long periods of time.
· A variety of open-ended materials and media that stimulate
children’s senses and curiosity and encourage investigation,
inquiry, and discovery.
· Places for children’s “in progress” projects or products.
· Displays of children’s work that show children and their work
are valued and respected.
Vygotsky
Vygotsky theorizes that a hands-on, interactive environment is
children’s opportunity to work together. Teachers scaffold
children’s thinking and relationships with one another. They
guide children in creating themes based on their interests and
focus on child-directed play for preschool children and
productive activities in the primary grades.
Environments based on Vygotsky’s ideas would have:

· Small-group work that focuses on social interaction and
learning from one another.
· Choices of projects for which children can seek help i f
needed.
· Dramatic play that includes children’s plans of what they want
to do to increase the complexity of their play.
· Teachers who serve as partners in learning until children can
apply a skill on their own.
Each of these theorists helps us understand the importance of
the environment in promoting children’s creative thinking.
Now, recall some of your own classrooms in which you were
comfortable, felt valued, and looked forward to learning as
compared to those in which you were uncomfortable, felt
devalued, and felt like learning was a chore. Think about those
classrooms as you read about the elements of creative classroom
environments.
An aesthetically pleasing environment with lots of light
impacts children’s creativity
Elements of Creative Learning Environments
Every learning environment contains physical, social,
emotional, and virtual elements that support creative thinking
and arts-based learning. Four main elements are
climate, relationships, space,
and
time
(
Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999
;

DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry, 2010
;
Davies et al., 2013
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Starko, 2014
). Each of these is discussed next.
Climate
Climate
is the emotional and academic feeling one gets from the
environment and dictates to what extent children can be
productive, engaged thinkers and learners. A classroom climate
that
promotes
children’s creativity and the arts has the following:
·
Teachers
who care about children’s creative expression, intentionally
plan active learning experiences that engage children in
interesting projects, have high expectations for all students’
success, support children’s efforts in both the art forms and the
subject areas, and create aesthetically stimulating classrooms.
·
Children
who feel safe enough to take risks, feel valued and appreciated,
can invent, explore and initiate ideas, become engaged in
learning, feel supported by the people in the environment, and
have choices about work to be done. Asking questions, finding
and solving problems are enthusiastically welcomed.
·

Materials
that capture and sustain children’s interest and imagination, are
stored attractively and orderly, and spark ideas and active
learning.
·
Spaces
that are aesthetically pleasing and evoke a warm, homey
quality such as carpeted surfaces; soft, interesting colors and
textures; multiple sources of light, and comfortable furniture in
a safe, flexible, and orderly environment.
Classroom climate
is greatly influenced by children’s relationships and by an
environment’s aesthetic appeal (
;
Gandini, Hill, Cadwell, & Schwall, 2005
;
Isbell & Raines, 2012
;
Kuh, 2014
;
New & Kantor, 2013
). For example, Reggio schools explicitly create environments
to build positive relationships and also appeal to children’s
aesthetic senses. A visitor to such a school might see
environments full of light, color, plants, and mirrors selected
for their aesthetic characteristics. Great care is taken to create a
beautiful environment—detail is given even to such seemingly
inconsequential considerations as how bathrooms are decorated,
how materials are stored, and how lunches and snacks are
presented. Children are supported by the other children, the
teachers, and the families for their unique ideas and abilities.
The Reggio environment is caring, warm, and beautiful and is
taken as seriously as is instruction.

Relationships
Guideline 1 of developmentally appropriate practice explains
the importance of a caring classroom (
Copple & Bredekamp, 2009
). Such an environment values children’s relationships with
each other, with teachers, and within their families.
Relationships affect all aspects of children’s development and
learning and school success. Environments with high-quality
relationships affirm diversity, have an “
ethic of care
,” and connect with children’s families.
·
Affirm diversity:
High-quality relationships help children feel valued so they can
be productive learners. They affirm the diversity of each child,
provide equal access to learning opportunities, and educate
children for a diverse world. The children live values of
cooperation, equality, tolerance, and shared learning (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Williams & Cooney, 2006
).
·
Have an ethic of care:
Caring is at the heart of healthy relationships. You can show
care by learning about children’s interests and offering enough
support so children can become responsible learners. The ethic
of care is aptly discussed by Nel
Noddings (1995)
, who states that caring teachers are an essential part of

responsible education.
·
Connect with children’s families:
It is well accepted that strong families make strong
environments for learning. Involving families shows that you
value their children and want to build respectful, two-way
communication about their children’s learning (
;
National Association for the Education of Young Children
[NAEYC], 2005
). Sending home positive notes, emails, or hands-on learning
activities to be used at home lets families know that you care
about their child’s progress.
Positive relationships among all the people in the learning
environment directly affect how children learn to think,
develop, create, and grow.
Space
Space
sends a message to children about creative thinking. Space
should be organized, have a purpose, respect children, enhance
their learning and creative thinking, and be aesthetically
pleasing. At a minimum, you will need space that
accommodates different numbers of children as well as some
open space where children can engage in dramatic retellings,
share their learning through movement, and enjoy each other’s
creative work. Most teachers use classroom space quite
inventively (
Clayton, 2001
; Crawford, 2004;
;

Starko, 2014
).
Consider the following types of spaces you will need in your
environment.
·
Spaces for a range of group sizes.
Children need spaces to work alone and in small and large
groups. Teachers can use flexible materials and furnishings,
such as easels, movable cabinets, storage shelves, and tables to
define areas and maximize the potential of any room regardless
of its size or shape. If, for example, children are in a school
building that is undergoing renovations and want to reconstruct
what they are seeing with blocks or other large materials,
flexible furnishings allow for spaces to be increased and
decreased in response to the children’s current project needs
and interests.
·
Spaces for quiet and noisy activities.
Well-balanced classroom space separates quiet and noisy
activity and creates safe traffic patterns. It also provides small
spaces necessary for young children to create imaginative play
worlds in which they can engage for long periods of time. These
arrangements give both children and teachers more control and
choice over their creative work and their play.
·
Spaces for privacy.
Some children need a periodic rest from the activity of the
classroom in a place to restore energy or to think quietly before
resuming classroom work. Certain activities, such as listening
to a story tape, may be enjoyed more fully in a secluded place.
It is important to have a special, comfortable place with
pillows, soft animals and furnishings, and soft lighting where

children can be alone. If classrooms lack such places, children
often create their own, such as the first graders who found that
the space underneath their teacher’s seldom used desk was a
favorite place to read.
Figure
9.1
lists ways of creating small spaces to increase the quality of
children’s play and creative thought.
Figure 9.1 Suggestions for Creating Small Spaces
Spaces for sharing work.
These spaces may be physical, such as bulletin boards or
display cases, or virtual such as wikis or blogs where children
can share their learning. Sharing work helps children stay
engaged and communicate their learning—an important 21st-
century skill.
Children often need time alone before resuming classroom
work.
·
Spaces that accommodate children with special needs.
Adapting space for children with special needs helps them feel
part of the classroom community. A child in a
wheelchair
, for example, needs additional space to maneuver or sit at a
table. Children who are
impulsive
often need two distinct spaces—one space to work alone and
one space to be in a group. Children who are ELLs need spaces
where they can collaborate with peers in English so they are not
always working alone. How you arrange and use space impacts

how you will use your time to nurture children’s creative work.
Time
Time
conveys the importance of an activity or experience. More than
200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin referred to time as “the stuff
of life.” The same could be said about time and teaching, for
many teachers think there never is enough time to cover the
material.
There is no doubt that the creative process takes time. Children
need enough time to explore and examine many ideas before
completing them. Time influences three aspects of creative
thinking: self-expression and self-regulation, attention span,
and complex thinking.
·
Time influences children’s self-expression and self-regulation.
When children have enough time during the school day to think
creatively, they become more self-directed learners. Long
blocks of time build children’s ability to persist, concentrate,
and stay motivated with an experience. Teachers who are
sensitive to time factors must decide when to extend or stop an
activity or when to capitalize on a “teachable moment.”
Classroom environments need ample time to foster children’s
imaginative spirit and original thinking.
·
Time affects children’s attention span.
Many teachers erroneously believe that because children have
short attention spans, activities must be changed constantly.
When children are engaged in meaningful learning, they can
concentrate for comparatively long periods of time. In the
schools of Reggio Emilia, for example, very young children
remain with a topic for as long as they show an interest in it.

Often these topics last for several months (
Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998
;
New & Kantor, 2013
). In elementary schools, children remain with highly interactive
and engaging projects and investigations for long periods of
time.
·
Time affects the complexity of children’s thinking.
With ample time, children can use the kinds of complex
thinking processes used by inventors—curiosity, persistence,
imagination, communication, and problem-solving. Higher
levels of play, such as sociodramatic play, require considerable
amounts of time to plan and carry out an activity that is
particularly engaging and meaningful to the child (
;
Garreau & Kennedy, 1991
). Long-time blocks increase children’s ability to move from
exploration to more complex investigative play with materials,
people, and events. To illustrate, one primary-grade teacher
helped her children observe and record changes of plant growth
over time. The children classified those data by similarities and
differences in types of plants, answered questions using
scientific processes, and concluded their study with cooking,
dramatizing, and illustrating the plant growth cycle. In this
example, long blocks of time investigating a process (change in
plant growth) helped the children deepen their conceptual
understanding. These influences on the learning environment —
climate, relationships, space, and time—are critical for
children’s creative processes. Classrooms that value children’s
exploration and inquiry within safe and secure settings support
children’s sense of wonder and their changing needs, interests,
and abilities.
Figure

9.2
contains a checklist for identifying key elements that affect
creative learning environments. What questions do you have
about implementing these environmental factors?
Figure 9.2 Checklist for Elements of Creative Learning
Environments
Climate
· Have I created an aesthetically pleasing environment that
stimulates children’s imagination, supports learning, and
inspires creativity?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Does my environment reflect the identity of the family and
community of the children?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Do the colors, furnishings, natural objects, texture, and
lighting inspire children’s sense of wonder?
Yes
No

In Progress
Relationships
· Do the children feel a sense of belongingness and community?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I regularly showing respect about children’s sense of
wonder, curiosity, and creative problem-solving?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I promoting appreciation and respect among the children
and families?
Yes
No
In Progress
Space
· Is my space organized so the materials are accessible to all
children?

Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I using children’s work to personalize the space?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Have I defined areas that are clear, safe, and that encourage
individual, small group, and large group work?
Yes
No
In Progress
Time
· Does my schedule encourage creative activity through hands-
on learning, in-depth projects, and more complex play?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Is there enough uninterrupted time for children to explore,
experiment, and problem-solve during selected activities?

Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I maximizing flexibility with the time that I have to use?
Yes
No
In Progress
Sources: Based on
Bullard (2014)
;
Copple & Bredekamp (2009)
; DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry (2010a,
2010b); Isbell & Raines (2007);
Jacobs & Crowley (2007)
.
Teachers’ Reflections on Classroom Environments
Preservice Teachers
“As a student teacher, I noticed the children often started
cleaning up at centers almost as soon as they initiated an
activity because so little time was allotted there. When I had
responsibility for full-time teaching, I extended the time blocks
and saw its benefits on children’s creative thinking.”
“I used to think that classrooms should be serious, ‘no
nonsense’ places to learn. I now believe that warm, safe, and

homey environments are more beneficial to fostering creative
thinking.”
Inservice Teachers
“The idea of the environment as the ‘third teacher’ has
prompted joyful wanderings in my own head of the possibilities
associated with this notion. How to make this happen in my
kindergarten class is daunting to me now, but I am convinced of
the need for it and am pursuing it.”
“As a school board member, I was asked to examine the
playground space at one of our elementary schools and hesitated
at first. Playground space just did not shout out creative
thinking or priority to me in this time of standards and
accountability. Now, I realize how the playground can hold the
key to hands-on extensions and expand children’s view of their
life, the world, and the future.”
Your Reflections
· What do you think is the impact of the classroom environment
on children’s and teachers’ creative thinking?
· How might your knowledge and beliefs about creative
environment affect children’s self-expression, and learning?
· Explain how you would go about designing your own
classroom environment and provide a rationale for your
decisions.
Indoor Environments That Foster Creativity and Arts-Based
Learning
Designing the indoor environment for creativity and arts-based
learning begins with knowing the children, what they need to

learn, and how they best can learn. The next consideration
includes four interlocking environments—the physical, social,
cognitive, and digital environments—that together support
children’s creative growth and arts-based learning (
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Saracho, 2012
). The
physical environment
includes such arrangements as furniture placement,
accessibility of stimulating materials, pathways, and large- and
small-group meeting and work areas. It must be a safe place to
be and provide novel and flexible opportunities for creating.
There is also the
social environment
that involves interactions among the people. It includes the
kinds of relationships, respect, and acceptance of individuals,
families, and communities that children experience as well as
children’s culture and language. The
cognitive environment
includes those learning experiences, materials, and
opportunities that enhance creativity. It focuses on the
knowledge, skills, and abilities children need to acquire in order
to think and behave creatively. And the
digital environment
is a simulated, virtual place accessed through computers. It
uses various technology tools, websites, and devices to access
virtual worlds through which children learn and develop. How
these four environments are designed directly affects children’s
creativity and arts-based learning.
Classroom environments that value curiosity and eagerness to
learn provide children with a balance of self-selected, self-
directed, and teacher-selected activities. The following section

describes two important components of indoor environments
that nurture creativity and the arts:
room arrangement
and
arts-based centers
.
Room Arrangement
Room arrangement refers to the way space is organized. It can
be planned, such as the art center and the areas around it, or
unplanned, such as a cubbyhole between two shelving units that
attracts children. Room arrangement affects children’s
creativity, productivity, and interactions with one another and
with materials (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Jacobs & Crowley, 2007
;
Kuh, 2014
).
When arranging space for creative experiences, keep in mind
the following:
1.
The environment communicates expectations.
If you are invited to dinner, you would behave differently at a
cookout with paper plates and plastic utensils from a formal
dinner party with china, silver, and crystal. Room arrangement
works in the same way. Well-organized, carefully arranged
space dictates how children may behave, interact, and use
materials, and affects their work pace. It fosters self-regulation
and student engagement, which creativity and arts-based

learning require. In contrast, poorly organized space invites
interruptions, decreases children’s attention spans, increases the
likelihood of conflicts, and demands more teacher direction.
2.
Space must be easy to supervise.
Teachers need to be able to scan the room from all vantage
points. In this way, you can facilitate children’s behaviors that
support learning goals and redirect those that do not. It is
equally important to distinguish between the child’s and the
adult’s environment. Adults and children view their
surroundings from different perspectives. Both usually attend to
what is at their eye level.
3.
Materials must be accessible, appropriate, and easy to use.
Make sure you have plenty of shelves so that children can reach
and see the materials that are there. One preschool teacher
arranged the manipulative materials such as large Tinkertoys
and shape sorters along low, open shelves that face a carpeted
area away from traffic flow. Because children need a lot of
floor space to play with them, this teacher provided the space
for them to do so. She made her appropriate materials accessible
and easy to use, which enhanced children’s sense of ownership,
encouraged creative problem-solving, and fostered exchanges of
materials from one part of the classroom to another.
4.
Be alert to traffic patterns.
Clear pathways provide for a smooth and easy flow of traffic
throughout the room. When centers are too close to one another
or crowded around the outside of the room, children cannot
freely move among them. To maintain freedom of movement
that keeps children focused on their creative processes, paths
should not be used for any other purpose. Unclear paths often
distract children on their way to a space or lead children to

intrude in others’ ongoing activities and concentration.
Room arrangement is a powerful environmental tool that affects
children’s creativity.
Figure
9.3
shows room arrangements for three age groups: toddlers,
preschoolers/kindergartners, and children in grades 1 to 4. You
can also download free PDF guides for room plans for children
from birth through age 5 by going to the website for
Environments and choosing planning guides.
Figure 9.3 Room Arrangements
This video describes seven principles of design for creating
inspiring and inviting spaces for children. How does Principle
3, Furnishings Define Space, affect children’s creative
thinking? What other principles capture your attention?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RD9XOow20E
Arts-Based Centers
Arts-based centers are inviting, self-contained spaces where
children engage in creative activities. These activities can
reinforce skills and concepts or spur new interests while
promoting children’s critical thinking, communication,
collaboration, and creativity (
Bullard, 2014
;
;

Isbell & Exelby, 2001
;
Mayesky, 2015
;
NAEYC, 2015b
;
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2012)
;
Saracho, 2012
). Good arts-based centers contain a variety of learning
experiences, easily accessible arts-based books, materials,
resources, and supplies that accomplish the following:
· Promote active learning, planning, decision-making, problem-
solving, and originality in all subject areas.
· Increase social and verbal interaction and various forms of
play among peers.
· Offer choices to increase children’s creative thought and help
them manage their time.
· Reflect children’s interests, families, and cultural backgrounds
to motivate learning.
Arts-Based Centers for Different Age Levels
Arts-based centers are appropriate for every child. Each
requires a clear purpose, a range of materials and activities, and
a means of assessment or evaluation. While centers must take
into account individual needs, interests, and levels of learning,
there are unique considerations for children at different ages.
Toddlers
need centers that contain a variety of sensory materials with
different levels of complexity, as well as time for exploration.

They must have low, open shelves to display and help the
children find materials that reflect familiar people and places
matched to their developmental level. Toddlers also need
materials that encourage exploration and large motor
development with climbing and push–pull toys, provide a
private space to watch others play or to rest with a soft toy, and
offer sensory and creative experiences with music, science,
pretense, construction, manipulatives, and sand and water to
encourage different types of play.
Preschoolers and kindergartners
need centers that meet all of the requirements for toddlers and
contain a variety of interesting materials and experiences that
can be used to role-play (such as hats and shoes) and to
construct (such as wood, glue, and blocks). The materials must
reflect the expanding world of their community, their culture,
and their increasing interest in all subject areas; the activities
must promote creative problem-solving, communication, and
collaboration.
First and second graders
need centers that enhance their developing logical thinking and
engage them in focused learning that supports critical thinking,
collaboration, and communication. Centers help integrate
subjects meaningfully across the curriculum, help children
demonstrate competence in a particular area, and feel part of a
peer group. Their active learning experiences should capitalize
on their need to feel competent and successful.
Third and fourth graders
like resources in their centers that include literacy materials,
challenge cards, hands-on learning, and ongoing projects. They
need opportunities to conduct experiments, work on long-term
projects, and use data to support their learning. Regardless of
age, all children require centers to explore opportunities to
connect their learning through art, drama, music, and play.

This child is using modeling material to create.
As you watch this video about preschool centers, notice how the
teacher creates multiple areas for centers. What do you see as
the purpose of her centers, and how do the learning activities
promote creative problem-solving?
Teachers need systems for managing centers. The following
section provides suggestions for managing arts-based centers in
your classroom.
Managing Arts-Based Centers
You will want to introduce centers slowly and teach children
the basic skills and expectations needed to participate in a
center activity. Arts-based centers should promote children’s
self-expression through an art form such as art, music, drama,
and play and contain all the materials needed to complete an
activity, including instructions, checklists, progress sheets, and
options for exploring the concepts and theme. The following
strategies will help you manage an arts-based center (
Bullard, 2014
;
NAEYC, 2015
;
Saracho, 2012
;
Starko, 2014
).
1.
Create centers that are appropriate for a particular group of
children.
Centers that reflect your children’s needs, interests, and
cultures invite participation. You might ask, “What is

appropriate for children to learn at this center?” “What is its
purpose?” “How will the children express what they know?”
Managing centers involves assessing what children know and
can do, inviting their ideas about units of study and help in
collecting items for that unit, and involving children in planning
procedures for its use. For example, in Mr. Kennedy’s second-
grade classroom there are two large child-created displays
related to their unit on insects. One display contains a variety of
three-dimensional imaginative insects that children created at
the art center. Another shows children’s illustrated stories about
their creations. These centers contain interesting and accessible
materials that invite children’s participation, are attractively
stored in color-coded plastic baskets and tubs, and are clearly
labeled to help children keep them properly organized.
2.
Provide guidelines for using the center.
Some teachers provide mini “field trips” before using a center.
These excursions help children understand the center’s
boundaries, highlight the use of materials and equipment,
suggest roles and activities, and give children a sense of how
much time they have for sustained play, exploration, and
investigation. They also help children know what learning goals
are expected. In Mr. Kennedy’s second grade, he organizes
children’s work as well as materials. Children use individual
mailboxes made from recycled 2-liter or gallon jugs with the
tops cut off, egg cartons as scissors holders, and a clothesline to
display their art. Organizing children’s work provides children
with a sense of order that helps them gain a sense of control
over their environment, as illustrated here.
Use planning tools.
Planning tools, such as
planning boards, procedure charts,
and

learning contracts,
are visual and concrete ways to help children focus on the
beginning and end of an activity, develop organizational skills
related to their own activities, manage their time, work
independently and with others, assume responsibility for their
own activities, and reflect on their decisions.
Planning boards
help teachers limit the number of children in a center activity
at any one time, evaluate and change centers as needed, and
observe children’s choices.
Planning boards and procedure charts
can be easily made from pegboard or tagboard, pictures or
labels for centers, and name tags. Some teachers use a magnetic
board with small magnets or magnetic tape strips on the board
and paper clips glued on the back of cards. For children who are
not yet readers, children’s names and the names of the centers
can be illustrated pictorially.
Figure
9.4
illustrates a planning board used with preschoolers,
kindergartners, and first graders;
Figure
9.5
illustrates procedure charts used with primary-grade children.
Figure 9.4 A Planning Board
Figure 9.5 Procedure Charts
1.

Learning contracts
are organizational tools to guide independent study, promote
autonomy, differentiate instruction, and provide opportunities
for self-assessment (
Tomlinson, 2014
). Contracts allow children to choose what work to do, when to
work, with whom to work, and where to work. For example,
after studying different animals, some second graders
contracted to extend their knowledge through art by making
drawings or constructing models of their favorite animal; others
chose to write original songs and raps; still others asked to
create scenarios, such as “Meet My Pet Boa Constrictor.”
Figure
9.6
illustrates learning contracts for preschoolers and
kindergartners;
Figure
9.7
shows learning contracts for first and second graders; and
Figure
9.8
illustrates learning contracts for third and fourth graders.
2.
Assess and facilitate learning.
You can use arts-based centers to observe, assess, and document
children’s learning related to specific outcomes. Centers can
also be used to guide children’s choices, to model behavior for
children who are reluctant to participate in a center project, or
to support children’s ideas and projects. Children can also self-
assess their own progress.
Figure 9.6 Learning Contract for Preschoolers and

Kindergartners
Figure 9.7 Learning Contract for First and Second Graders
Name: Week of:
Topic:
What do I want to know?
How will I find out?
How will I share my learning?
What will I do if I need help?
Teacher signature:
Figure 9.8 Learning Contract for Third and Fourth Graders
1.
Document children’s progress and evaluate center use.
Because children are engaged in a variety of center experiences
at the same time, it is important to have a system in place to
show what children can do, such as a checklist for documenting
children’s literacy learning through play or understanding
mathematical concepts through art. Carefully designed displays
provide another catalyst for student learning. They inspir e
curiosity and underscore children’s accomplishments and pride
in their work. Documentation also helps teachers ask themselves
whether children are engaged in meaningful activity and
whether the centers provide ongoing opportunities and
challenges.

All centers can offer children opportunities to engage in
meaningful learning. Next we discuss the development of arts-
based centers.
Creating Arts-Based Centers
Centers can be permanent, temporary, portable, or rotating.
They include commonly found materials and activities to
support children’s creative processes. The best centers have a
clear purpose, a rich variety of safe materials that invite
exploration, experimentation, problem-solving, and connections
to real life, and a means of assessment or evaluati on.
Art Center
The art center enables children to investigate, plan, and make
art using a wide variety of materials, including children’s
literature with engaging illustrations. Some teachers display
works from famous artists in or near the center to enhance
aesthetic appreciation. The art center should be located near a
water source. If not, use plastic sheeting to cover carpeted areas
or tables when children are using messy materials.
In the art center, children should be actively learning and
express that learning. To illustrate, two preschoolers were
making a menu for their Mexican restaurant theme center. They
used the art center to illustrate the menu and then used it to
elaborate on their play. In a third-grade class, Keenan used the
art center to create a glove finger puppet as a prop for his story
on dragons, while Mrs. Ritchie’s fourth graders created flyers
advertising pets available for adoption to help the local animal
shelter as a follow-up to reading
Shiloh
(
Naylor, 1991

). The children researched facts about the available pets and
created an advertisement for one of them, which included a
drawing of the animal, its age, and what it likes to eat and play
with. In these classrooms, the art center provided a vehicle for
integrating the curriculum.
Block and Construction Center
The block and construction center helps children develop
essential 21st-century, and STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) skills and concepts. It
also increases children’s social and problem-solving skills and
expands their design and engineering skills by representing or
communicating their ideas through blocks. The center should be
located away from busy traffic areas and with ample space for
construction. It should contain a wide assortment of blocks and
accessories, such as human figures, road signs, and small -
wheeled vehicles for young children and a variety of
construction sets and materials for older children. Literacy
materials and tools encourage children to sketch their
“blueprints” on paper, label a building they’ve created, or write
or recreate a story about their experience and share their
constructions with a friend. The book
Block City
(
Stevenson, 2005
) stimulates children’s imaginations about block use. Math and
science materials and tools in this center help children use
knowledge of structures and functions by making designs with
blocks, graphing attributes and types of blocks used in a
construction, or building a maze. Blocks should be accessible
on open shelves marked with paper silhouettes of each block
size and shape. Placing the center near the dramatic play center
for younger children increases the interchange among centers (
Hirsch, 1996
;

NAEYC, 2015a
;
Pollman, 2010
).
Cooking and Baking Center
This center piques children’s curiosity about food and food
preparation and can promote their thinking about healthy eating.
Children should be carefully supervised and use safe cooking
utensils. By making age-appropriate, healthy recipes, children
learn many skills and concepts in the core subject areas as well
as in the arts. For example, when they measure, count, cut a
whole into parts, or divide ingredients, they are doing math;
when they observe changes in foods as they mix, taste, or cook
it, they are doing science; and when they read a recipe as they
prepare food, they are engaged in literacy. The cooking and
baking center should contain recipe books for children at all
developmental levels, such as
The Early Sprouts Cookbook
(
Kalich, Bauer, & McPartlin, 2010
) or
Family Fun Cooking with Kids
(
Cook, 2006
) and a pictograph of the recipe that children are making if they
cannot read or a standard recipe for those who can read.
Figure
9.9
shows a pictograph for making Stone Soup based on the
popular folktale
Stone Soup
(Brown, 1997).

Discovery and Science Center
In this “hands-on” center, children develop scientific and
conceptual understandings by actively exploring materials and
activities that bring science to life. Children gain firsthand
experiences with concepts about animals, vegetation, and
minerals, as well as the equipment used to study them such as
scales, magnets, and simple measurement tools. Materials in
this center may include boxes of collected items, such as shells
or rocks, for sorting, classifying, comparing and contrasting,
old appliances or radios with different tools to take apart the
used items, and games for classifying or categorizing objects
from the natural environment (like seeds, leaves, or insects).
Often children use these materials for ongoing projects in other
centers. To illustrate, one kindergartner took the magnifying
glass from the discovery center to examine sick animals she was
tending in the dramatic play area. A fourth grader added
information about his plant’s growth to the classroom graph.
The discovery and science center also includes experiences with
sand, rice, and water that offer many opportunities for teaching
about safety issues with the materials being used.
Children develop scientific understandings by exploring
scientific materials.
WavebreakMediaMicro/Fotolia
Figure 9.9 Recipe for Stone Soup
Drama Center
The drama center encourages children to use their imagination
and problem-solving ability while experimenting with roles,
behaviors, social skills, and communication. It also promotes

career and cultural awareness as children explore various
occupations and cultures. Drama centers are often transformed
into thematic units of study, such as a bakery during a unit on
economics, a shoe store during a unit on measurement, and an
artist’s studio during a unit on famous artists. Whatever the
theme, a drama center provides rich opportunities for building
literacy and math skills and concepts. Adding pencils, pads,
literature books, and other print materials encourages children’s
voluntary use of literacy and numeracy. Prop boxes are
appropriate in this center and enhance children’s creative work.
Library and Literacy Center
This center invites children to read a variety of print materials
and should be located in a quiet area of the classroom. It should
be an attractive, inviting, aesthetically pleasing area stocked
with books as well as digital and visual images such as
graphics, animation sound, and video that match children’s
interests and their topics of study. Some teachers use a rocking
chair, a seat removed from a car, or an old bathtub filled with
pillows as well as displays of children’s art that illustrates book
jackets or characters from their favorite books to create a
comfortable area for browsing and reading.
The center should also contain printed signs and questions that
invite children to explore the book selections. Some teachers
use the Sunday comics, old catalogs, puppets and prop boxes for
retelling stories, recycled copies of children’s magazines, and
mobiles of information about a featured author. Interesting
writing materials, such as recycled colored paper from a print
shop and unusual pens and pencils, should be available. For
younger children
, this center encourages early literacy play—an important
precursor to learning to read and write. For
older children
, this center provides opportunities to self-select books that

range from easy-to-read materials to high-quality literature, to
match students’ ability and interest levels as well as
opportunities to discuss, share, and enact literature. Literacy
centers can display photographs of children and families in the
classroom, classroom events, and a class photo album to
stimulate conversation about the classroom community and to
build cultural awareness.
A literacy center should invite children to enjoy books together.
Manipulative and Math Center
This center should capture children’s natural curiosity to
observe, classify, sort, and order. It should contain materials
and provide experiences that help children inquire and solve
mathematical problems.
Manipulative materials
such as buttons, colored blocks, counting rods or frames,
cubes, and geoboards encourage children’s growing
mathematical understandings such as numbers, geometry,
measurement, classification, ordering, and comparing. Locate
the center near low, open shelves that contain an organized
system for storing manipulatives and math games such as
dominoes. Writing materials, a whiteboard, and a flannel board
should also be available for children to create their own math
stories and explore and practice mathematical skills and
concepts (
Pollman, 2010
). In this center, for example,
younger
children
might measure objects and determine the longest or shortest

using nonstandard units of measure such as picture cards or
buttons; older children can estimate in standard units and
compare and record their findings using a ruler, recording the
data, and explaining their strategy. You will also want to
include a variety of quality children’s books that reinforce
mathematical concepts, such as
One Dragon’s Dream, A Counting Book
(
Pavey, 2009
),
Emily’s First 100 Days of School
(
Wells, 2000
), or Anno’s
Counting Book
(
Anno, 1977
) for counting; books for problem-solving such as
Monster Math Picnic
(
Maccarone, 1998
); books for sorting and classifying such as
Together
(
Hutchins, 2009
); or books for creating patterns such as
Growing Patterns
(
Campbell, 2010
). For more specific suggestions on math center activities,
search the website for K-5 Math Teaching Resources.
Media and Music Center
This center should offer children
something to do

such as inventing music with simple musical instruments or
PVC pipes;
something to listen to
such as music and instruments from other cultures;
something to learn about
such as composers or instruments; and
something to share or take home
such as drawings of instruments or a take-home bag containing
materials to make a homemade instrument (
Jalongo & Isenberg, 2012
;
Saracho, 2012
). Electronic media, such as CDs, computers, audiotapes, MP3
players, and videotapes can be used as vehicles for playful
expression with music and movement. The center needs to be
located near an electrical outlet. Many teachers use laminated
posters with rebus-type instructions on operating and caring for
the equipment. Computers, placed on tabletops at eye level,
should be arranged so that two or three children may work
together at any one time. The media and music center activates
children’s musical intelligence and offers diverse learners an
important avenue for learning. It should be as open and
accessible as other centers so that children can use the
equipment for play and investigation.
Sand, Water, and Sensory Center
In this center that can be used both indoors and outdoors,
children use sensory materials to control their world and think
creatively. Indoor sensory centers that use
sand and water
need a table located near a water source and away from a wall
so children can work on all four sides. Accessories for sand and
water centers include assorted cups and molds, small vehicles,
bulbs and syringes, and assorted sifters and funnels. Sensory
centers that use

dry, tactile materials
can use any type of plastic tub or even a sturdy cardboard box.
Materials for sensory exploration may include rice, assorted
papers and fabrics of different textures (hard, soft, bumpy,
rough, smooth, silky), or Styrofoam peanuts.
Figure
9.10
shows four-year-old Trevor’s drawing of playing at the sand
table and Trisha’s drawing of herself at the water table.
Figure 9.10 Head Start Children’s Interpretation of the Sand and
Water Table
(a) Four-year-old Trevor illustrates a sand table. Notice the
enclosed area for the table with the sand inside.
Technology Center
The technology center can expand a child’s understanding about
a topic or reinforce concepts already learned. Age-appropriate
software maximizes children’s inventive thinking, spatial and
visual learning, self-expression, ability to be part of a team, and
creation of high-quality products, all of which are essential
skills for the 21st century (
NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center, 2012
). Selecting appropriate apps, Internet sites, or virtual
manipulatives is also important. Whether it is an information
site, which helps children gain new knowledge and answer
questions; a communication site, which puts children in touch
with others; or a publication site, which provides a place for
children to post their work, all sites must be evaluated using
stringent criteria and specific evaluation tools.
Writing Center

In this center children experiment with writing and illustrating
in many forms, from scribbling or drawing to composing poems
and stories. Sometimes they come here from other centers to
make signs or captions for their work. Arts-based writing
centers contain whiteboards, staplers, glue, pencils, markers and
crayons, and an assortment of papers in various sizes, shapes,
and colors for creating, writing, and illustrating. Magazines,
newspapers, and old catalogs are also available for children to
illustrate stories or add to their creations. Some teachers keep a
box of children’s drawings for others to use to create stories.
Arts-based centers offer children more than just opportunitie s to
engage in an activity; they offer children the chance to explore,
investigate, and think in new and creative ways. It is unlikely
that you will use all of these centers simultaneously. Most
teachers use about six permanent centers that align with thei r
curriculum and periodically transform them to support ongoing
units of study.
Find out more about centers for preschool children by watching
this video. How do these centers accommodate children’s
diverse ways of learning? What other arts-based materials
would you add?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCCBIvgWQ0
Be sensitive to children’s pace of learning and help them move
comfortably from one activity to another by paying attention to
transitions
and
routines.
Transitions and Routines in a Creative Environment
Transitions
are times during the day when children move from one activity

to the next.
Routines
are regular and predictable events that form the basis of the
daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. They are integral to a safe
and supportive creative learning environment. Clear transitions
and routines help children sense the passage of time (such as
snack follows cleanup or math follows lunch), prepare for the
day (such as singing a good morning song or chant), stay
focused, and anticipate events (such as playing a musical
selection at the end of each day).
Transitions and routines consume 20 to 35% of a preschooler’s
day and about 15% of an elementary child’s day. Unless
intentionally planned, they can be difficult and stressful periods
for both children and teachers. Developmentally appropriate
transitions and routines are essential and differ from other
activities in purpose, length, frequency, children’s ages, and the
available physical facilities. Thoughtfully planned transitions
and routines provide a predictable environment that minimizes
chaos and empowers children.
Incorporating the arts for transitions and routines engages
children and adds meaning to the experience. For example, you
can use familiar music to move
young children
to a new activity, such as singing the song “Riding in an
Airplane” by Raffi, for preschool children who then can pretend
to fly to the art tables equipped with paper, markers, and
photographs of airplanes and make appropriate airplane noises
along the way. This will connect their study of transportation
with music and art and assure a positive transition. For
elementary children
, you can use drama to create a morning class news show with
children assuming different roles such as news reporter, weather
reporter, and travel reporter who can report on characters from
literature or events from social studies.

Figure
9.11
provides tips for managing transitions and routines in a
creative environment.
Just as teachers regularly consider designing the indoor
environment, they need to consider the design of the outdoor
environment. An engaging outdoor environment stimulates
innovative and imaginative thinking and other creative habits of
mind. In the next section, we examine the outdoor environment.
Figure 9.11 Tips for Managing Transition and Routines
Sources: Based on
Bullard (2014)
;
Clayton (2001)
;
;
Hemmeter, Ostosky, Artman, & Kinder (2008)
;
Howell & Reinhard, 2015
;
NAEYC (2005)
.
Outdoor Environments That Foster Creativity and Arts-Based
Learning
Outdoor environments that foster creativity and arts-based
learning require you to decide how you and the children may
use the space. Outdoor spaces open possibilities for children to
explore, investigate, follow their interests, and perhaps start an
authentic project (

Frost, Wortham, & Reifel, 2012
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Rivkin & Stein, 2014
;
Tovey, 2007
).
Research shows that outdoor learning improves children’s
ability to focus, pay attention to “green spaces” that influence
their health and well-being, and improve their achievement,
autonomy, sense of responsibility, and behavior. Outdoor
learning also contributes to children’s ability to problem-solve,
cooperate, observe, and navigate with challenging and novel
materials. These skills are foundational to early childhood
practice (
Beames, Higgins, & Nicol, 2012
;
Davies et al., 2013
).
Well-planned outdoor spaces stimulate children’s sense of
wonder, imagination, and appreciation of their natural world.
They offer more complexity, such as uneven ground, different
plants and colors, or weather changes. They also allow children
to use natural materials and focus more on challenges and
problem-solving skills. During outdoor play, children have large
spaces for whole body movement, such as running and climbing,
can engage with nature and the outdoors, such as examining
local animals, habitats, seeds, bugs, or other vegetation, focus
on child-initiated activity, and have fewer noise restrictions
than they do indoors. Learning outdoors helps children to make
connections using many multiple intelligences (

Gardner, 2009
) and promotes the 21st-century skills of creativity and
innovation, communication and collaboration, and critical
thinking, and problem-solving (
Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills, 2012
). Thus, you will need ample time for children to explore,
investigate, experiment, and problem-solve in space that is
flexible. Outdoor environments benefit all children and should
be utilized year-round.
Features of Creative Outdoor Environments
Think about what Ms. Ogur, a preschool teacher did to enrich
her outdoor space by adding some complexity and variety to it.
She brought out a wagon; created an obstacle course from old,
worn tires; and made some simple traffic signs out of scrap
lumber and paint. She also brought out the police officer’s hat
from the dramatic play center and markers and scrap paper from
the literacy center. From these simple additions, the children
created elaborate play about accidents, parking, and speeding.
Some children even created and handed out parking tickets. On
other occasions, the children used the wagon as an ambulance to
transport an accident victim to the hospital, where another
elaborate scenario was enacted. Ms. Ogur even used the traffic
signs to reinforce bicycle safety.
Ms. Ogur illustrates how a resourceful teacher can create a
stimulating outdoor environment even with limited resources.
She also demonstrates how well-planned outdoor spaces can
spark children’s curiosity, imagination, and problem-solving
ability with a variety of stimulating materials and equipment.
Good outdoor spaces promote all forms of play (functional,
constructive, dramatic, and games), offer children numerous
possibilities for social interaction and gross motor development,
and are developmentally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing (

;
Garrick, 2009
;
Greenman, 2005
;
).
Creative outdoor environments have three features that enhance
creativity and arts-based learning. They include
nature, equipment and materials,
and
safety and supervision.
Nature
Nature is an overlooked learning tool. It provides opportunities
for children to carefully observe specific sensory elements in
the environment and is a natural place for all children to
investigate objects and living things. Smelling flowers,
collecting leaves, acorns, or bugs, or listening to birds all
delight children, spark their imaginations and interest, and
inspire their sense of wonder and capitalize on their
naturalistic intelligence
(
Gardner, 2009
;
;
Wilson, 2012
;
Wirth & Rosenow, 2012
).
Using nature as a learning tool has many benefits. Children of
all ages learn to appreciate nature, improve their concentration,

engage in more imaginative and constructive play, problem-
solving, and positive social behaviors. Although access to
nature and natural outdoor spaces varies based on where your
school or center is, every teacher can create natural spaces that
range from very simple to moderately or very complex spaces.
These spaces can be used on blacktops, rooftops, fields, or
woods. In
Figure
9.12
, Leanna’s Tree Collage, 5-year-old Leanna uses different-
colored tissue paper or cotton to show what trees look like in
different seasons. Notice also how she adds a snowman to the
winter picture and flowers to the spring picture.
You can transform any outdoor space with some of the
following:
· Use container gardens of edible plants, flowers, or spices in
small spaces or where you only have a blacktop.
· Provide small pails for children to collect items on a
scavenger or a treasure hunt.
· Plant a class or school garden with vegetables or flowers.
· Take nature hikes and provide ziplock bags to collect natural
items.
There are many resources for nature-based learning. Community
Playthings in collaboration with the Nature Action
Collaborative for Children has a practical booklet entitled
The Wisdom of Nature
, which you can download from the Community Playthings
website. This site also has several nature-based articles and
blogs with ideas and resources for the outdoor environment. For

other resources, explore the website for
children and nature
.
Equipment and Materials
Outdoor equipment and materials can be fixed or complex.
Fixed equipment has an obvious use such as a swing or a
tricycle; complex equipment has two or more different materials
to manipulate such as water and a bucket or sand, digging tools,
and water. The more complex the equipment or material, the
more opportunities children have to use their imaginations and
solve authentic problems. Equipment and materials should
invite children to play, hold their interest over time, and
promote creative thought through all four forms of play (
;
Frost & Woods, 2015
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Greenman, 2005
). Because materials and space can often be used more flexibly
in outdoor spaces, children naturally use their imaginations and
invent their own games with found materials, such as stones,
flowers, or leaves.
Equipment should be sturdy, safe, and age appropriate.
Materials should be open-ended and have
movable parts, complexity,
and
diversity.
Movable parts
are pieces that children can manipulate and use to improvise.
Lightweight objects of different sizes, shapes, and textures;

boards or ramps; and organic materials such as sand and water
can be moved from place to place within the area as children
choose. They add complexity, flexibility, diversity, novelty, and
challenge to the environment—all important ingredients for
creativity, socialization, and learning.
Complexity
refers to the number of possibilities of the material.. The more
possibilities the material has, the more likely it is to hold
children’s interest and attention because children can do more
with it (
Kritchevsky et al., 1977
). For example, a large tire swing that can hold two or more
children offers more options than a swing on a swing set.
Diversity
includes the
number of ways
materials can be used, regardless of their complexity. It
influences how children get started in their activity and offers
children necessary choices to create their own forms of play (
;
Kuh, 2014
). Many teachers use play crates to add diversity to the
outdoors.
Figure9.13
provides examples of outdoor props and play crates.
Figure 9.13 Props and Play Crates for the Outdoor Environment
Safety and Supervision
When children are outdoors they are more likely to engage in
gross motor play and take different risks from indoors. You will

want to ensure that children have adequate sunscreen before
venturing outdoors. Providing safe equipment and materials and
overseeing children is essential.
The National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS) has
identified four elements of playground safety. These include
S
upervision,
A
ge-appropriate designs, equipment, and materials,
F
all surfaces, and
E
quipment and materials. These SAFE elements apply to children
of all ages and abilities and all types and locations of
playgrounds. You can access safety tips by age level, resources,
and an annual report card to assess your own playground’s
safety at the website for the National Program for Playground
Safety.
Safe outdoor environments
· Are well designed and adequately maintained.
· Have storage facilities, suitable surfacing materials, and
accessibility.
· Provide features children prefer, such as dramatic play
materials and nature areas.
· Focus on all developmental areas.
· Are developmentally appropriate.
· Contain 8 to 10 inches of fall-absorbing material, such as pea
gravel, under and around all moving equipment because falls are

the number one cause of playground injuries to children (
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2010
). Be sure to include a retaining border to hold the material and
replenish it frequently.
Children need to be safe and well-supervised while outdoors.
A well-supervised environment is also essential and has the
same ratio of adults outdoors as indoors. Well- supervised
spaces have adults who do the following:
· Monitor the outdoor environment.
· Have knowledge of injury prevention and first aid.
· Inspect equipment and materials for safety and need of repair.
· Circulate around the area rather than standing in a group and
talking.
· Set clear, reasonable limits about what children may do, such
as sitting down on the slide.
· Ensure that children use the equipment and materials safely.
· Challenge children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional
skills.
Figure 9.14
is a checklist of criteria to use for your outdoor space.
These features of creative outdoor environments apply to all
children. However, some adaptations may be needed for specific
age groups and children with special needs.
Creative Outdoor Spaces for Children of Different Ages and

Abilities
Like indoor environments, creative outdoor environments must
be designed with children’s ages and developmental levels in
mind. They support a range of goals, including a sense of
competence, cooperation, creativity, and problem-solving
through a variety of activities.
Infant to Toddler Years
Outdoor spaces for
infants and toddlers
should meet their rapidly increasing motor and social
development, their boundless energy and curiosity, and their
clear need for autonomy. Infant and toddler outdoor
environments have
unique safety
issues (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Gonzalez-Mena, 2013
). For this age group, pay special attention to the following:
·
Ground cover
that cannot be ingested, such as pea gravel.
·
Hazardous material
that may have accumulated overnight, such as broken objects,
sharp edges, or foreign objects.
·
Swing seats

that include a strap to prevent falling.
·
Safety barriers
that protect infants and toddlers from traffic, falls, and pools of
water.
·
Shade
for sun- and heat-sensitive infants.
·
Hard-surfaces
for wheel toys to push and pull.
Infants and toddlers also need opportunities for a range of
sensory exploration with a few simple, safe, age-appropriate
choices. Adding materials of different textures, such as sticks,
bugs, or tree bark, or clear pathways to walk on, touch, and
explore, inspires exploration and play. They need stimulating
equipment close to the ground, such as tunnels or simple
climbing structures; dramatic play options; movable parts for
stacking, gathering, and dumping; and natural experiences with
living plants and animals (
;
).
Intriguing additions for
toddler outdoor environments
include the following:
· Hanging inflatable objects from a tree and having children try
to “catch one” with a cardboard tube.

· Painting the pathways, equipment, or fence with small buckets
of water and large brushes.
· Washing dishes and furniture with pans of warm, soapy water,
sponges, and scrub brushes.
Preschool to Kindergarten Years
Creative outdoor environments for
preschoolers and kindergartners
should promote all four forms of play: functional, constructive,
dramatic, and games with rules to support these children’s need
for vigorous gross motor play and increased interest in role-
playing and games. It should contain an accessible storage
facility for portable materials, a grassy area for group games, a
place for privacy to meet children’s need for solitary and
parallel play, and a variety of child-sized equipment for motor
development (
Debord, Hestenes, Moore, Cosco, & McGinnis, 2002
;
). The best outdoor spaces for preschool and kindergarten
children include a complex superstructure with a combination of
movable parts (e.g., raw materials such as sand, water, and
assorted boards) and climbing structures with many moving
parts, such as swings, bars, ladders, and structures with
potential for dramatic play.
Try some of these activities to add novelty and complexity to
the outdoor environment:
· Create nature areas for children to focus on the aesthetic
aspects of the outdoors.
· Use shoebox lids and white glue to make collages of natural
materials found on or near the outdoor environment.

· Turn wheeled vehicles into another vehicle by taping on a sign
and adding appropriate props nearby to stimulate dramatic play.
· Provide a large, empty carton and other appropriate props to
create a service station area for wheeled vehicles, a bank drive-
through, or a roadside produce stand.
· Add props and play crates designed for outdoor play that
stimulate creativity and the imagination as shown in
Figure
9.13
.
· Provide bubbles with an assortment of recycled materials,
such as berry baskets and straws, for bubble wands.
· Encourage children to paint along the fence by clipping easel
paper on it; leave the paintings up for an art show.
· Read
A Rose for Pinkerton
(
Kellogg, 1981
) and
Pet Show
(
Keats, 1972
); then have a pet show with children’s stuffed animals. Make
judges’ clipboards out of cardboard and clothespins, stands for
the animals out of recycled ice-cream tubs, and prize ribbons
out of recycled gift wrap.
First Grade to Fourth Grade

school-age children
should promote investigation, problem-solving, and
imagination. These children prefer structures with numerous
physical challenges, such as climbers, equipment, and spaces
for social development, and safe places for group games. Some
suggestions that challenge school-age children in outdoor areas
· Plan and conduct a scavenger hunt. Use a variety of clues that
incorporate riddles, listening, or writing. Tie the scavenger hunt
into the unit of study where possible.
· Provide chalk so that children can make outdoor games, such
as hopscotch or foursquare, or create shadow drawings.
· Tie-dye old T-shirts and dry them along a fence. Then use
another color for more complex and symmetrical designs.
· Do a shadow play in the afternoon. Invite children to enact
various roles and use cardboard silhouettes for props. Have the
audience watch the show on the ground.
· Assign “fitness” homework, such as walking, hopping,
jumping rope, counting steps, or stretching that improves
fitness.
· Create a nature area, such as a butterfly garden, to connect
with classroom projects.
Creative outdoor environments foster children’s creative
thinking and arts-based learning through intentional uses of
space, activities, experiences, and materials. Teachers who
believe in the power of the environment for learning assume
roles that guide children’s creativity.

Outdoor environments have many benefits and should be
utilized year-round.
Teachers’ Roles: Designing a Creative Environment
What teachers believe about creativity and the arts influences
the classroom environment. Much of what you have already read
in this chapter and in previous chapters should help you design
your own creative learning space. Teachers like Ms. Lynette,
Ms. Keier, Mr. Rapoza, and Ms. Ogur, whom you met earlier in
this chapter, intentionally plan environments that support
children’s creativity and imagination. They know that the more
children can wonder, be curious, and make connectio ns to
possibilities, the more they will develop their creativity.
Research shows that children’s creative and critical thinking
skills develop early and that these skills provide the foundation
for their later learning and development across all domains and
across all content areas (
Epstein, 2014
;
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Tovey, 2007
;
Whittaker, 2014
). Early childhood teachers, who intentionally plan and arrange
environments, support the development of these characteristics.
Making decisions about what to use, how to use it, and when to
use it reflect your beliefs and values.
Environments that foster creativity and arts-based learning also
address 21st-century skills and standards. These skills include

the innovative skills of creativity, critical thinking,
collaboration, and communication as well as a focus on the
STEAM content areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, the
Arts and Math (
Lindeman & Anderson, 2015
;
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2012
). Other skills, such as imagination, curiosity, self-regulation,
and collaboration are also crucial (
Garriock, 2011
;
Jerald, 2009
).
Picture the following second-grade classroom. The day begins
with centers containing activities and projects selected by the
children as part of their unit of study on the solar system. Some
children are constructing models of planets; others are
researching the distances between each planet and the sun; still
others are investigating moon shapes and illustrating the
different phases; and some are publishing original books, plays,
and poetry about what they see in the night sky. Following
centers, the children gather in a circle for their morning
meeting. Mrs. Lee, the teacher, likes the group circle
arrangement for whole group because it minimizes distractions
and creates a sense of belonging. She places traditional, whole -
group activities (such as problem-solving, planning events of
the day, sharing, and academic or social skill development)
after centers to capture children’s high interest in starting to
learn early in the day.
Notice how Mrs. Lee’s second graders choose of selected
learning activities and have many opportunities to talk with
their teachers and peers. Her classroom has a flexible schedule
and organization, contains a variety of interest centers, and has
well-managed transitions and routines. Mrs. Lee’s arrangement

supports children’s creativity.
An environment that fosters creativity and the arts is a mind-
set—a way of thinking about how to teach and what is important
for all children to learn. The following suggestions will help
promote children’s creative habits of mind and allow them to
function comfortably, productively, and effectively together.
1.
Consider the environment a powerful learning tool.
Knowledgeable teachers anticipate how children might use
space, time, relationships, and materials. Predicting behavior in
this way promotes children’s independence, active involvement,
and sustained attention. The environment can also be used to
manage tasks. A predictable schedule, for example, helps
children learn the rhythm of the day and feel able to participate.
Carefully arranged and displayed materials invite children’s
participation with a minimum of adult intervention. One
preschool teacher uses children’s photographs for taking
attendance and rebus recipes for preparing snacks. Such tools
reduce the amount of time teachers devote to routine
administrative tasks, freeing them to focus on children’s
creativity and the arts. What other aspects of room arrangement
might be important to consider when teaching young children?
2.
Ensure that your classroom climate supports children’s risk-
taking.
When teachers celebrate children’s ideas and thinking, they
send the message that creative thinking is valued. In such an
environment, children are more likely to try new materials and
express themselves in different ways. Teachers who encourage
children’s creative expression are more likely to emphasize the
importance of the process children use in creating rather than on
the final product, supporting children’s thinking by asking
open-ended questions, using rich language and new vocabulary,

and developing children’s background knowledge.
3.
Model and promote the 21st-century skills of critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, and creativity.
To model
critical thinking
and
problem-solving
you might think out loud and say, “I know we want to have
birds come to our outdoor space. I wonder what we can do to
invite them. What would they like to have? What do they eat?
Do they play?” For
communication
, provide opportunities for children to present their work for an
authentic audience. Consider inviting children to design, make,
and present a book as a gift to a younger child, or share work
with a partner or the class. You can also ensure opportunities
for
collaboration
that encourage working together in small groups toward a
common goal. As children work together, their self-expression
and originality increase as they build upon each other’s ideas.
And finally, you will want to tap into children’s creativity with
open-ended materials and tools, such as multimedia, clay,
recycled items, wood pieces, or wire to articulate their ideas
and thoughts.
4.
Use the virtual world appropriately.
Virtual worlds provide an important environment for children
to develop their creativity and learn across all domains. Just as
face-to-face environments differ according to age and
developmental needs, so should virtual environments.
Developmentally appropriate virtual environments provide
opportunities for children to engage in experiences that would

not otherwise be available to them (
;
Kuh, 2014
).
Watch this video, which shows elementary-school children
exploring a website with galleries of instruments created by
children all over the United States. How is this teacher
promoting 21st-century skills in the children as they locate
materials, design, and pitch levels of instruments before they
design their own?
Teachers who design creative learning environments maximize
student participation and engagement, support learner-centered
teaching, reward imaginative ideas, and encourage children’s
self-evaluation.
Adapting Creative Environments for Diverse Learners
All children need environments that foster a sense of curiosity,
wonder, and acceptance of cultural diversity and disabilities.
With some simple adaptations, it is easy to create arts-based
environments that support diverse learners (
Deiner, 2013
;
Salend, 2016
;
Saracho, 2012
). We first suggest modifications for
indoor physical environments
, then suggest ways to modify
center activities
, and finally suggest ways to modify
outdoor environments
to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Tips for Modifying the Indoor Physical Environment to Support
Diverse Learners
Use the following tips to modify the indoor physical
environment to ensure greater inclusivity:
· Understand the child’s exceptionality so that appropriate
accommodations allow for full participation and a focus on the
child’s abilities.
· Provide a “buddy” who can help introduce and model
classroom routines and activities.
· Modify the space, furniture location, noise, and light.
· Adjust centers with some simple changes in materials,
equipment, and careful planning.
· Use technology and interactive media to provide equitable
access for all children.
Adaptations for Children with Physical Disabilities
· Provide large spaces in which children can easily move and
work.
· Maintain clear pathways in the classroom for easy movement.
· Position tables so that children in wheelchairs are at the same
level as their peers.
Adaptations for Children with Hearing Impairments
· Seat children away from noisy backgrounds, such as windows,
doors, and heating or cooling systems.

· Encourage children to move freely so they can hear better and
see the faces of their peers.
· Use carpet and corkboard walls to reduce classroom noise.
Adaptations for Children with Visual Impairments
· Orient children to the location of materials, centers, pathways,
and exits using the child’s seat as a focal point.
· Familiarize children to the school environment once they are
oriented to the classroom.
· Designate a peer “sight guide” for special activities, such as
fire drills and assemblies.
· Use lighting that does not cast shadows or a glare on
schoolwork and activities.
· Play tactile games with blocks, toys, and materials with a
variety of textures and forms.
Tips for Modifying Specific Centers for Diverse Learners
Be sure that all materials, question charts, and center
instructions contain both text and visual icons to illustrate
concepts and problems to solve. You will also want to provide
audio-recorded directions so that both readers and nonreaders
know what to do. Use the tips that follow to m modify center
activities for greater inclusion.
Art Center
· Provide textured papers for children with visual impairments.

· Have books from different cultures and countries that have
engaging illustrations.
· Offer large paper for children with small motor challenges.
· Use glue sticks instead of liquid glue.
Literacy and Writing Centers
· Integrate art, music, or drama as a way to respond to a book,
poem, or other literacy activity.
· Use pencil grips, pads of paper and large-lined paper (lines
may need to be of a different color or “raised” off the paper).
· Have felt-tip pens instead of pencils for children with limited
motor abilities.
· Provide letter magnets, stamps, and stencils to encourage
exploration of letters and their placement within words.
Math/Science Center
· Integrate the arts through content area study.
· Provide a wide range of differently sized manipulatives to
accommodate students with fine motor or dexterity challenges
as well as to understand basic, abstract, and symbolic concepts.
· Arrange activities so other students can model or assist
struggling peers in a group setting.
· Include a variety of measuring instruments such as rulers, tape
measures, and yardsticks.
Technology Center

· Incorporate websites or software that can read directions or
text on the screen.
· Choose software that has levels of difficulty ranging from
easy to hard.
· Teach children to enable the computer to read back what they
have written. Most word processing products have this
capability built in.
Tips for Modifying the Outdoor Environment to Support
Diverse Learners
To meet the American with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) (1990)
requirement for accessibility and to provide an inclusive
environment, outdoor spaces must be accessible to all children.
This includes developmentally appropriate access to materials,
equipment, and natural features including gardens, sand, and
water (
;
;
Wellhousen, 2002
). Consider the following tips to modify outdoor environments
for greater inclusivity:
· Ensure opportunities for quality social interactions by having
enough resources to promote social play skills such as balls,
bean bags, and play crates for imaginative play.
· Consider access (e.g., all entryways should be as level as
possible) and surfaces (e.g., children with mobility challenges
need a smooth, stable surface to walk on and something
relatively soft to fall on).

· Provide challenges with differing degrees of difficulty, such
as balance beams of different lengths, simple obstacle courses,
or noncompetitive games.
· Visit sites such as the Discovery Garden, an inclusive outdoor
space located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison or the
Camden Children’s Garden to explore and discover the natural
world to learn about gardening for children
Adaptations for Children with Physical Challenges
· Position playground equipment so that children can attain
maximum range of reach, motion, muscle control, and visual
contact.
· Place equipment on a low table at wheelchair height that is
sturdy enough to withstand leaning for a child in a wheelchair.
· Define areas with visible barriers, marked pathways, and
widened pathways. Take special safety precautions for children
with mobility devices if they have to navigate grassy or pebble
surfaces.
Adaptations for Children with Visual or Hearing Impairments
· Mark areas with audible and visual cues (such as wind chimes
or bells) or have a playmate wear a brightly colored vest to
provide visual clues.
· Attach Braille labels to materials to help children with low
vision.
Adaptations for Children with Diverse Cognitive Needs
· Keep vocabulary simple, incorporate noncompetitive games,

and shorten obstacle courses.
· Provide additional supervision for monitoring safety on
equipment, limiting the number of materials available for
choice, and communicating clear boundaries to those children
who require it.
· Offer games that meet children’s varying needs. Games with
simple rules and simple equipment can be technology based,
movement oriented, or role plays. They motivate children to
practice skills and concepts and optimize cooperation. For
children with an
intellectual disability
, play games that have simple rules and use simple equipment
such as tag or simple toss and throw games. You can use yarn
balls, a balloon, underinflated beach balls, and scoopers for
catching made from recycled bleach bottles. An obstacle course
for children with
hearing impairments
helps them learn prepositions such as
over, under,
and
through
. A relay race for children with
visual impairments
during which children walk, run, and hop with a partner
develops both large motor skills and cooperation with peers.
All children need to learn in a carefully designed environment.
That kind of environment builds trust, supports creativity and
the arts and reflects national standards.
Check Your Understanding 9.5
Click here to gauge your understanding of the concepts in this
section.

Meeting Standards for Creative Environments
Professional organizations for teachers and most states have
standards for high-quality classroom environments. These
standards indicate that the environment should support
children’s self- expression and thinking. It should also help
children feel ownership in their learning by having some input
into their work and its completion, assessment, and display.
Figure
9.15
provides quality indicators of classroom environments, guided
by national standards. It includes examples that foster positive
relationships, positive learning outcomes, a positive emotional
climate, and a positive physical environment. Use
Figure
9.15
to discuss other examples that contribute to these key
indicators of creative environments.
Figure 9.15 Indicators of Creative Environments
While the following four standards come from different
professional organizations, each addresses the same essential
elements. Read the standards to identify the common elements
among them. What else would you add from this chapter? Then,
choose an age level (infants–toddlers, preschool–kindergarten,
first–fourth grade) for which you will create a “state-of-the-art”
environment. Now, write a scenario for one of the following
that includes:
· All indicators for a particular age level.

· Some indicators for the same age level.
· No indicators for the same age level.
Compare and contrast your scenario with a peer and recommend
three changes based on your conversation. Be willing to add
other indicators and examples from the chapter that would
provide evidence for your choices.
National Standards on Classroom Environments
(NAEYC)
Standard 1: Learning and Development
Teachers use their understanding of young children’s
characteristics, needs, and the multiple interacting influences on
development and learning to create environments that are
healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging for each child.
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Initial Preparation
Standard 2: Learning Environments
Teachers create active learning environments that promote
students’ cognitive, social, and emotional growth.
The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium
(InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards
Teachers Create Active Learning Environments That Promote
Collaboration, Positive Social Interactions and Self-Motivation.

Conclusion
The environment has an important role in promoting creative
thought and the arts. It is generally a child-centered, active
place that meets children’s needs. Creative environments should
be filled with numerous materials, resources, and opportunities
for children to invent, solve problems, and communicate their
ideas and work with a variety of audiences. They should also be
places for children to work with peers collaboratively to solve
open-ended, authentic problems.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSAbout Creative
Environments
Can I have a creative learning environment even if I am not
particularly creative?
In her book
Why Our Schools Need the Arts
, Jessica Hoffman
Davis (2008)
talks about how every teacher, regardless of artistic ability,
needs to teach the arts. Early childhood educators cannot be an
expert in all the subjects they teach, including the arts. But
every early childhood teacher can capitalize on young
children’s natural creativity with a variety of artistic media and
observe what children are learning. Ask yourself some of these
questions: In what ways do I support children’s learning and
build an arts-based environment? Do I provide opportunities for
children to respond in unusual ways to projects and activities?
Can I identify the most creative children in my class? An arts-
based environment helps children learn how to learn. You want
to feel comfortable inviting children into arts-based and to
model appropriate attitudes toward the arts. By respecting
children’s works of art as their way of interpreting their world,

promoting children’s imagination and expression through “what
if” questions and activities, and encouraging children’s
imaginative ideas and self-evaluation, you can surely view
yourself as a creative teacher.
Is recess necessary for today’s elementary classroom?
According to the National Association for Sport and Physical
Education (NASPE, 2012), daily physical activity for children
of all ages is important. Recess should be at least 20 minutes
per day, which meets one-third of the recommended daily 60
minutes of regular, age-appropriate physical activity including
outside play when possible. Even with the endorsements of
various other national associations, such as the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the International Play
Association, recess has been jeopardized as important. Recess is
an essential component of the total educational experience for
preschoolers, kindergartners, and school-age children. It
provides them with discretionary time and opportunities to
engage in physical activity that develops healthy bodies and
minds (NASPE, 2012); improves children’s ability to perform
academically (
Pellegrini, 2005
); influences children’s behavior and learning; and contributes
to their social development. (
Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009
). Unstructured physical play is a developmentally appropriate
outlet for reducing stress in children’s lives; it improves
children’s attentiveness, decreases restlessness, and improves
resilience (
NAECS-SDE, 2002
). Unstructured recess periods with choices and free play
combined with structured physical activity are the best for
children. Unfortunately, recess is being cut to allow for more
academic time focused on test preparation.

How can I ease English language learners into my classroom
routines?
Only when students feel comfortable with your classroom
routines will optimal second-language acquisition and academic
learning occur. Using
Maslow’s (1970)
hierarchy of human needs as a foundation, you want to ensure
safety, security, and a sense of belonging. To help second-
language learners feel safe and secure, you might assign a
personal buddy, who speaks the child’s language and follows
the predictable routines in your classroom, to each newcomer.
This plan creates a sense of security for all students but is
especially important for students who are new to the language
and culture of the school. In fact, your predictable routines may
be the first stable feature some students have experienced in a
long time. To help second-language learners achieve a sense of
belonging, you might seat new students in the middle or front of
the room, integrating them early in cooperative groups, and help
them follow predictable routines.
All children need environments that foster creativity and the
arts in which they can plan for their own learning, identify
resources and materials, and interact with one another.
Chapter Summary
·
Explain the theoretical and research base of creative learning
environments.
The works of Urie
, Maria Montessori (1909,
1964
), Loris
Malaguzzi (1995)

, and Lev Vygotsky (
1967
,
1978
), among others, provide important insights into designing
creative environments that engage all children. Each theorist
helps us understand the impact of the physical, social,
cognitive, and digital environments that together support
children’s creativity growth and arts-based learning.
·
Plan an indoor environment for creativity and arts-based
learning,
Designing the
indoor environment
for creativity and arts-based learning begins with knowing the
children, what they need to learn, and how they best can learn.
Important components of indoor environments are
room arrangement,
a positive management system, arts-based centers, and
transitions and routines.
·
Create an outdoor environment that supports creativity and the
arts.
Outdoor environments need the same attention to equipment and
materials, safety, space, supervision, and storage as indoor
environments. Children need an outdoor environment that holds
their interest over time and challenges their imagination.
·
Identify teachers’ roles in providing an inviting, creative
learning environment.
Teachers intentionally plan environments so that children can
wonder, be curious, and make connections to possibilities in
order to develop their creativity. Research shows that children’s

creative and critical thinking skills develop early and provide
the foundation for their later learning and development across
all domains and across all content areas.
·
Adapt the learning environment to meet the needs of each child.
With some simple adjustments to the indoor and outdoor
environments, it is easy to adapt arts-based and creative
environments to support the needs of diverse learners.
Chapter Quiz 9:
chapter.
Discuss: Perspectives on Creative Environments
1. Visualize your ideal classroom, both indoors and outdoors.
Select an age range. How will you arrange desks or tables? Are
there centers available? What else do you see in your “minds -
eye”? Describe your rationale for your environment. Then
create a digital representation of it. Use a word processing
program, presentation software, or a concept map for this. You
may also want to download classroom architect, a tool to outline
your environment, from the website classroom4teachers.
2. Some teachers admit that they never think much about the
outdoor environment and treat it only as a way to have children
expend energy. What do you think of this practice? Why?
3. In your creative environment, what would you say to a parent
or a colleague who said, “But they are just playing or drawing
or making music! When will they learn something?”
4. Locate a teacher’s blog discussing one of the important
features of creative environments. How do the blog entries

compare to what you have just read in this chapter?
Assess: Using Published Rating Scales to Assess Classroom
Environments
1. Published rating scales and accreditation procedures provide
guidelines and indicators for assessing creative environments
for children of all ages. These scales provide the salient items
and criteria needed to evaluate high-quality classroom
environments. From your library, select one of the following
eight scales to evaluate a virtual classroom environment or your
classroom’s indoor or outdoor environment.
§
DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry (2010)
.
Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments
(ROSIE). Lewinsville, NC: Gryphon House.
Focuses on evaluating what is aesthetically beautiful and
inspiring in the classroom environment through different lenses
of color, light, furnishings, displays, textures, and focal points.
§ Frost, J. L. (1997). Playground Rating System (revised). In
Frost, Wortham, & Reifel (2012)
.
Play and Development
(appendix). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.
This appendix, which may be downloaded as a pdf, serves as a
planning and evaluation tool for playgrounds. It contains 51
items to evaluate three different areas of playground quality.
These areas are playground contents, playground safety, and the
role of the adult on the playground. Each item is rated on a
scale from 0 (“nonexistent”) to 5 (“All elements exist: Excellent
function).

§
Harms, T., & Jacobs, E. V. & White, D. R. (2013)
.
School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale: Updated Edition
. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Contains 47 items organized within seven categories that
include Space and Furnishings, Health and Safety, Activities,
Interactions, Program Structure, Staff Development, and Special
Needs.
§ Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (2007).
Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale
(rev. ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Provides ratings for space, materials, and learning activities
among the six categories addressed to ensure that the
environment is developmentally appropriate for young children.
Each item is rated “Inadequate” (does not meet custodial needs)
to “Excellent” (high-quality care).
§ Harms, T., Cryer, D. & Clifford, R. M. (2004).
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
Provides guidelines for assessing the quality of the physical and
social environments for young children in seven areas, such as
room arrangement, furnishings, displays, and creative activities.
Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale
Contains criteria for furnishings and displays for children,
space, learning activities, and program structure rated from
“Inadequate” (not meeting custodial care needs) to “Excellent”
(describing high-quality care).
§ Jones, E. (1977).

Dimensions of teaching-learning environments.
Pasadena, CA: Pacific Oaks.
Describes the physical setting and the teacher’s behavior along
four dimensions: soft/hard, simple/complex, intrusion/seclusion,
and high mobility/low mobility.
§
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
(2005)
.
NAEYC early childhood program standards and accreditation
criteria: The mark of quality in early childh
c
Hide Rubrics
Rubric Name: Assignment 8 Rubric
This table lists criteria and criteria group name in the first
column. The first row lists level names and includes scores if
the rubric uses a numeric scoring method.Criteria
Exemplary
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Unacceptable
Part 1: Art-Based Centers Nurture Creative Expression
20 points

The student provides a clear explanation of how art-based
15 points
The student provides a mostly clear explanation of how art-
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear explanation of how art-
0 points
The student does not provide an explanation of how art-based
/ 20
Part 2: Adapting Art-Based Centers
30 points
The student provides a clear description of how teachers must
20 points
The student provides a mostly clear description of how teachers
must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through fourth grade.
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear description of how
teachers must adapt art-based centers for toddlers through

fourth grade.
0 points
The student does not provide a description of how teachers must
/ 30
Part 3: Managing a Center- Based Environment
30 points
The student provides a clear discussion of techniques teachers
can use to manage a center-based environment in the creative
classroom.
20 points
The student provides a mostly clear discussion of techniques
creative classroom.
10 points
The student provides a weak or unclear discussion of techniques
creative classroom.
0 points
The student does not provide a discussion of techniques
creative classroom.
/ 30

Mechanics - Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling
5 points
Student makes no errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling
4 points
2 points
0 points
Student makes more than 4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or
spelling that distract the reader from the content.
/ 5
Writing Style - Organization, Transitions, Tone
5 points
The assignment is written with excellent organization,
thoughtful transitions, and the appropriate tone.
4 points
This writing assignment is adequately organized, but has some
errors in the transitions or the tone.

2 points
This writing assignment is poorly organized, or it contains
ineffective transitions and/or inappropriate tone.
0 points
This writing assignment displays little to no organization or
transitions, and/or does not use the appropriate tone.
/ 5
APA Format - Margins, Font, Spacing, Headings and cover
page.
5 points
The margins, font, spacing, headings, and cover page are all
formatted properly.
4 points
2 points
0 points
There are more than 4 errors in the formatting of the margins,
font, spacing, headings, or cover page.

/ 5
APA Format - Citations and References
5 points
All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, and
the references and in-text citations are all properly formatted.
Each reference has an in-text citation and in-text citation has a
reference.
4 points
All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, but
slight errors are present in the format of the in-text citations or
references. Or there may be one in-text citation or reference
missing.
2 points
Some sources used for quotes and facts are either not credible
or there are significant errors in the in-text citations and/or
references. Or there are multiple missing in-text citations or
references.
0 points
The sources used for quotes and facts are not credible and/or
not cited. The in-text citations and/or references are not present.
/ 5
Total
Lesson 7

Theoretical and Research Base: Creative Learning Environments
The work of Urie
,
Maria Montessori
(1909,
1964
), Loris
Malaguzzi (1995)
, and
Lev Vygotsky (1967
,
1978
), among others, provide important insights into creative
environments that engage all children. Following is a brief
statement of each of these theorists’ assumptions about the
influence of the environment on children’s creativity and how
their theories might look in early childhood classrooms.
Bronfenbrenner
From Bronfenbrenner we learn about the important interactions
of many environments, such as the family, school,
neighborhood, peers, and media that are all connected and
influence not only one another but also the developing child.
His theory provides one way to view the effects of the social
contexts of children’s lives on the child in the classroom.
An early childhood classroom influenced by Bronfenbrenner’s
theory would include:
· Strong connections between home and school by listening to
what families have to say about their children and their home
interests so that both teachers and children can learn about
every child’s community and culture.

· Families that are involved in children’s learning activities that
you send home.
· Family members that are involved in a variety of roles in the
classroom.
· Strong relationships with the community.
Montessori
From Montessori we learn that children need a carefully
prepared, well-organized environment with authentic, homelike
materials to reflect order and calm. The environment contains
aesthetically pleasing and sensory-rich materials, child-sized
furnishings, and self-correcting materials to be used in a
specific way. Teachers carefully structure the environment for
the children to complete tasks and develop at their own pace.
This girl is building a tower using Montessori cylinders in a
prepared environment
A classroom environment influenced by Montessori would have:
· An aesthetically pleasing classroom with a wide selection of
sensory materials and experiences for self-expression.
· Low shelves with materials that children can access easily and
return materials to their original place.
· Large, open floor spaces.
· Considerable freedom for children to choose activities that
have been prepared by the teacher.
· Teachers who respect children, guide their use of materials,

and offer help if asked.
Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia Schools
Malaguzzi calls the classroom environment the child’s “third
teacher,” which conveys its powerful impact on children’s
thinking and feeling. In Reggio schools, environments are
places of beauty that are designed to promote children’s
relationships, sense of community, and aesthetics. They are also
places that value children’s relationships as a basis of l earning.
Reggio teachers respect children’s curiosity, ask focused
questions, document children’s learning, and display children’s
work that reflects their conversations, interests, and
experiences.
This video shows key principles of the Reggio Emilia approach
to early childhood education. Notice the Reggio environment.
How does it impact children’s creative thinking?
Classrooms inspired by Malaguzzi and Reggio Emilia schools
would have:
· An aesthetically pleasing environment with lots of light and
welcoming entryways.
· Children collaboratively exploring topics of interest to them
for long periods of time.
· A variety of open-ended materials and media that stimulate
children’s senses and curiosity and encourage investigation,
inquiry, and discovery.
· Places for children’s “in progress” projects or products.
· Displays of children’s work that show children and their work
are valued and respected.

Vygotsky
Vygotsky theorizes that a hands-on, interactive environment is
children’s opportunity to work together. Teachers scaffold
children’s thinking and relationships with one another. They
guide children in creating themes based on their interests and
focus on child-directed play for preschool children and
productive activities in the primary grades.
Environments based on Vygotsky’s ideas would have:
· Small-group work that focuses on social interaction and
learning from one another.
· Choices of projects for which children can seek help if
needed.
· Dramatic play that includes children’s plans of what they want
to do to increase the complexity of their play.
· Teachers who serve as partners in learning until children can
apply a skill on their own.
Each of these theorists helps us understand the importance of
the environment in promoting children’s creative thinking.
Now, recall some of your own classrooms in which you were
comfortable, felt valued, and looked forward to learning as
compared to those in which you were uncomfortable, felt
devalued, and felt like learning was a chore. Think about those
classrooms as you read about the elements of creative classroom
environments.
An aesthetically pleasing environment with lots of light
impacts children’s creativity

Elements of Creative Learning Environments
Every learning environment contains physical, social,
emotional, and virtual elements that support creative thinking
and arts-based learning. Four main elements are
climate, relationships, space,
and
time
(
Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999
;
;
Davies et al., 2013
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Starko, 2014
). Each of these is discussed next.
Climate
Climate
is the emotional and academic feeling one gets from the
environment and dictates to what extent children can be
productive, engaged thinkers and learners. A classroom climate
that
promotes
children’s creativity and the arts has the following:
·
Teachers
who care about children’s creative expression, intentionally
plan active learning experiences that engage children in
interesting projects, have high expectations for all students’
success, support children’s efforts in both the art forms and the

subject areas, and create aesthetically stimulating classrooms.
·
Children
who feel safe enough to take risks, feel valued and appreciated,
can invent, explore and initiate ideas, become engaged in
learning, feel supported by the people in the environment, and
have choices about work to be done. Asking questions, finding
and solving problems are enthusiastically welcomed.
·
Materials
that capture and sustain children’s interest and imagination, are
stored attractively and orderly, and spark ideas and active
learning.
·
Spaces
that are aesthetically pleasing and evoke a warm, homey
quality such as carpeted surfaces; soft, interesting colors and
textures; multiple sources of light, and comfortable furniture in
a safe, flexible, and orderly environment.
Classroom climate
is greatly influenced by children’s relationships and by an
environment’s aesthetic appeal (
;
Gandini, Hill, Cadwell, & Schwall, 2005
;
Isbell & Raines, 2012
;
Kuh, 2014
;
New & Kantor, 2013
). For example, Reggio schools explicitly create environments

to build positive relationships and also appeal to children’s
aesthetic senses. A visitor to such a school might see
environments full of light, color, plants, and mirrors selected
for their aesthetic characteristics. Great care is taken to create a
beautiful environment—detail is given even to such seemingly
inconsequential considerations as how bathrooms are decorated,
how materials are stored, and how lunches and snacks are
presented. Children are supported by the other children, the
teachers, and the families for their unique ideas and abilities.
The Reggio environment is caring, warm, and beautiful and is
taken as seriously as is instruction.
Relationships
Guideline 1 of developmentally appropriate practice explains
the importance of a caring classroom (
). Such an environment values children’s relationships with
each other, with teachers, and within their families.
Relationships affect all aspects of children’s development and
learning and school success. Environments with high-quality
relationships affirm diversity, have an “
ethic of care
,” and connect with children’s families.
·
Affirm diversity:
High-quality relationships help children feel valued so they can
be productive learners. They affirm the diversity of each child,
provide equal access to learning opportunities, and educate
children for a diverse world. The children live values of
cooperation, equality, tolerance, and shared learning (
Bullard, 2014
;
;

Williams & Cooney, 2006
).
·
Have an ethic of care:
Caring is at the heart of healthy relationships. You can show
care by learning about children’s interests and offering enough
support so children can become responsible learners. The ethic
of care is aptly discussed by Nel
Noddings (1995)
, who states that caring teachers are an essential part of
responsible education.
·
Connect with children’s families:
It is well accepted that strong families make strong
environments for learning. Involving families shows that you
value their children and want to build respectful, two-way
communication about their children’s learning (
;
[NAEYC], 2005
). Sending home positive notes, emails, or hands-on learning
activities to be used at home lets families know that you care
about their child’s progress.
Positive relationships among all the people in the learning
environment directly affect how children learn to think,
develop, create, and grow.
Space
Space
sends a message to children about creative thinking. Space
should be organized, have a purpose, respect children, enhance

their learning and creative thinking, and be aesthetically
pleasing. At a minimum, you will need space that
accommodates different numbers of children as well as some
open space where children can engage in dramatic retelli ngs,
share their learning through movement, and enjoy each other’s
creative work. Most teachers use classroom space quite
inventively (
Clayton, 2001
; Crawford, 2004;
;
Starko, 2014
).
Consider the following types of spaces you will need in your
environment.
·
Spaces for a range of group sizes.
Children need spaces to work alone and in small and large
groups. Teachers can use flexible materials and furnishings,
such as easels, movable cabinets, storage shelves, and tables to
define areas and maximize the potential of any room regardless
of its size or shape. If, for example, children are in a school
building that is undergoing renovations and want to reconstruct
what they are seeing with blocks or other large materials,
flexible furnishings allow for spaces to be increased and
decreased in response to the children’s current project needs
and interests.
·
Spaces for quiet and noisy activities.
Well-balanced classroom space separates quiet and noisy
activity and creates safe traffic patterns. It also provides small
spaces necessary for young children to create imaginative play
worlds in which they can engage for long periods of time. These

arrangements give both children and teachers more control and
choice over their creative work and their play.
·
Spaces for privacy.
Some children need a periodic rest from the activity of the
classroom in a place to restore energy or to think quietly before
resuming classroom work. Certain activities, such as listening
to a story tape, may be enjoyed more fully in a secluded place.
It is important to have a special, comfortable place with
pillows, soft animals and furnishings, and soft lighting where
children can be alone. If classrooms lack such places, children
often create their own, such as the first graders who found that
the space underneath their teacher’s seldom used desk was a
favorite place to read.
Figure
9.1
lists ways of creating small spaces to increase the quality of
children’s play and creative thought.
Figure 9.1 Suggestions for Creating Small Spaces
Spaces for sharing work.
These spaces may be physical, such as bulletin boards or
display cases, or virtual such as wikis or blogs where children
can share their learning. Sharing work helps children stay
engaged and communicate their learning—an important 21st-
century skill.
Children often need time alone before resuming classroom
work.
·

Spaces that accommodate children with special needs.
Adapting space for children with special needs helps them feel
part of the classroom community. A child in a
wheelchair
, for example, needs additional space to maneuver or sit at a
table. Children who are
impulsive
often need two distinct spaces—one space to work alone and
one space to be in a group. Children who are ELLs need spaces
where they can collaborate with peers in English so they are not
always working alone. How you arrange and use space impacts
how you will use your time to nurture children’s creative work.
Time
Time
conveys the importance of an activity or experience. More than
200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin referred to time as “the stuff
of life.” The same could be said about time and teaching, for
many teachers think there never is enough time to cover the
material.
There is no doubt that the creative process takes time. Children
need enough time to explore and examine many ideas before
completing them. Time influences three aspects of creative
thinking: self-expression and self-regulation, attention span,
and complex thinking.
·
Time influences children’s self-expression and self-regulation.
When children have enough time during the school day to think
creatively, they become more self-directed learners. Long
blocks of time build children’s ability to persist, concentrate,
and stay motivated with an experience. Teachers who are
sensitive to time factors must decide when to extend or stop an
activity or when to capitalize on a “teachable moment.”

Classroom environments need ample time to foster children’s
imaginative spirit and original thinking.
·
Time affects children’s attention span.
Many teachers erroneously believe that because children have
short attention spans, activities must be changed constantly.
When children are engaged in meaningful learning, they can
concentrate for comparatively long periods of time. In the
schools of Reggio Emilia, for example, very young children
remain with a topic for as long as they show an interest in it.
Often these topics last for several months (
;
New & Kantor, 2013
). In elementary schools, children remain with highly interactive
and engaging projects and investigations for long periods of
time.
·
Time affects the complexity of children’s thinking.
With ample time, children can use the kinds of complex
thinking processes used by inventors—curiosity, persistence,
imagination, communication, and problem-solving. Higher
levels of play, such as sociodramatic play, require considerable
amounts of time to plan and carry out an activity that is
particularly engaging and meaningful to the child (
;
Garreau & Kennedy, 1991
). Long-time blocks increase children’s ability to move from
exploration to more complex investigative play with materials,
people, and events. To illustrate, one primary-grade teacher
helped her children observe and record changes of plant growth
over time. The children classified those data by similarities and
differences in types of plants, answered questions using

scientific processes, and concluded their study with cooking,
dramatizing, and illustrating the plant growth cycle. In this
example, long blocks of time investigating a process (change in
plant growth) helped the children deepen their conceptual
understanding. These influences on the learning environment—
climate, relationships, space, and time—are critical for
children’s creative processes. Classrooms that value children’s
exploration and inquiry within safe and secure settings support
children’s sense of wonder and their changing needs, interests,
and abilities.
Figure
9.2
contains a checklist for identifying key elements that affect
creative learning environments. What questions do you have
about implementing these environmental factors?
Figure 9.2 Checklist for Elements of Creative Learning
Environments
Climate
· Have I created an aesthetically pleasing environment that
stimulates children’s imagination, supports learning, and
inspires creativity?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Does my environment reflect the identity of the family and
community of the children?
Yes

No
In Progress
· Do the colors, furnishings, natural objects, texture, and
lighting inspire children’s sense of wonder?
Yes
No
In Progress
Relationships
· Do the children feel a sense of belongingness and community?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I regularly showing respect about children’s sense of
wonder, curiosity, and creative problem-solving?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I promoting appreciation and respect among the children
and families?

Yes
No
In Progress
Space
· Is my space organized so the materials are accessible to all
children?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I using children’s work to personalize the space?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Have I defined areas that are clear, safe, and that encourage
individual, small group, and large group work?
Yes
No
In Progress
Time

· Does my schedule encourage creative activity through hands-
on learning, in-depth projects, and more complex play?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Is there enough uninterrupted time for children to explore,
experiment, and problem-solve during selected activities?
Yes
No
In Progress
· Am I maximizing flexibility with the time that I have to use?
Yes
No
In Progress
Sources: Based on
Bullard (2014)
;
Copple & Bredekamp (2009)
; DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry (2010a,
2010b); Isbell & Raines (2007);
Jacobs & Crowley (2007)
.
Teachers’ Reflections on Classroom Environments

Preservice Teachers
“As a student teacher, I noticed the children often started
cleaning up at centers almost as soon as they initiated an
activity because so little time was allotted there. When I had
responsibility for full-time teaching, I extended the time blocks
and saw its benefits on children’s creative thinking.”
“I used to think that classrooms should be serious, ‘no
nonsense’ places to learn. I now believe that warm, safe, and
homey environments are more beneficial to fostering creative
thinking.”
Inservice Teachers
“The idea of the environment as the ‘third teacher’ has
prompted joyful wanderings in my own head of the possibilities
associated with this notion. How to make this happen in my
kindergarten class is daunting to me now, but I am convinced of
the need for it and am pursuing it.”
“As a school board member, I was asked to examine the
playground space at one of our elementary schools and hesitated
at first. Playground space just did not shout out creative
thinking or priority to me in this time of standards and
accountability. Now, I realize how the playground can hold the
key to hands-on extensions and expand children’s view of their
life, the world, and the future.”
Your Reflections
· What do you think is the impact of the classroom environment
on children’s and teachers’ creative thinking?
· How might your knowledge and beliefs about creative

environment affect children’s self-expression, and learning?
· Explain how you would go about designing your own
classroom environment and provide a rationale for your
decisions.
Indoor Environments That Foster Creativity and Arts-Based
Learning
Designing the indoor environment for creativity and arts-based
learning begins with knowing the children, what they need to
learn, and how they best can learn. The next consideration
includes four interlocking environments—the physical, social,
cognitive, and digital environments—that together support
children’s creative growth and arts-based learning (
;
Kuh, 2014
;
Saracho, 2012
). The
physical environment
includes such arrangements as furniture placement,
accessibility of stimulating materials, pathways, and large- and
small-group meeting and work areas. It must be a safe place to
be and provide novel and flexible opportunities for creating.
There is also the
social environment
that involves interactions among the people. It includes the
kinds of relationships, respect, and acceptance of individuals,
families, and communities that children experience as well as
children’s culture and language. The
cognitive environment
includes those learning experiences, materials, and
opportunities that enhance creativity. It focuses on the
knowledge, skills, and abilities children need to acquire in order

to think and behave creatively. And the
digital environment
is a simulated, virtual place accessed through computers. It
uses various technology tools, websites, and devices to access
virtual worlds through which children learn and develop. How
these four environments are designed directly affects children’s
creativity and arts-based learning.
Classroom environments that value curiosity and eagerness to
learn provide children with a balance of self-selected, self-
directed, and teacher-selected activities. The following section
describes two important components of indoor environments
that nurture creativity and the arts:
room arrangement
and
arts-based centers
.
Room Arrangement
Room arrangement refers to the way space is organized. It can
be planned, such as the art center and the areas around it, or
unplanned, such as a cubbyhole between two shelving units that
attracts children. Room arrangement affects children’s
creativity, productivity, and interactions with one another and
with materials (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Jacobs & Crowley, 2007
;
Kuh, 2014
).
When arranging space for creative experiences, keep in mind

the following:
1.
The environment communicates expectations.
If you are invited to dinner, you would behave differently at a
cookout with paper plates and plastic utensils from a formal
dinner party with china, silver, and crystal. Room arrangement
works in the same way. Well-organized, carefully arranged
space dictates how children may behave, interact, and use
materials, and affects their work pace. It fosters self-regulation
and student engagement, which creativity and arts-based
learning require. In contrast, poorly organized space invites
interruptions, decreases children’s attention spans, increases the
likelihood of conflicts, and demands more teacher direction.
2.
Space must be easy to supervise.
Teachers need to be able to scan the room from all vantage
points. In this way, you can facilitate children’s behaviors that
support learning goals and redirect those that do not. It is
equally important to distinguish between the child’s and the
adult’s environment. Adults and children view their
surroundings from different perspectives. Both usually attend to
what is at their eye level.
3.
Materials must be accessible, appropriate, and easy to use.
Make sure you have plenty of shelves so that children can reach
and see the materials that are there. One preschool teacher
arranged the manipulative materials such as large Tinkertoys
and shape sorters along low, open shelves that face a carpeted
area away from traffic flow. Because children need a lot of
floor space to play with them, this teacher provided the space
for them to do so. She made her appropriate materials accessible
and easy to use, which enhanced children’s sense of ownership,
encouraged creative problem-solving, and fostered exchanges of

materials from one part of the classroom to another.
4.
Be alert to traffic patterns.
Clear pathways provide for a smooth and easy flow of traffic
throughout the room. When centers are too close to one another
or crowded around the outside of the room, children cannot
freely move among them. To maintain freedom of movement
that keeps children focused on their creative processes, paths
should not be used for any other purpose. Unclear paths often
distract children on their way to a space or lead children to
intrude in others’ ongoing activities and concentration.
Room arrangement is a powerful environmental tool that affects
children’s creativity.
Figure
9.3
shows room arrangements for three age groups: toddlers,
preschoolers/kindergartners, and children in grades 1 to 4. You
can also download free PDF guides for room plans for children
from birth through age 5 by going to the website for
Environments and choosing planning guides.
Figure 9.3 Room Arrangements
This video describes seven principles of design for creating
inspiring and inviting spaces for children. How does Principle
3, Furnishings Define Space, affect children’s creative
thinking? What other principles capture your attention?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RD9XOow20E

Arts-Based Centers
Arts-based centers are inviting, self-contained spaces where
children engage in creative activities. These activities can
reinforce skills and concepts or spur new interests while
promoting children’s critical thinking, communication,
collaboration, and creativity (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Isbell & Exelby, 2001
;
Mayesky, 2015
;
NAEYC, 2015b
;
Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2012)
;
Saracho, 2012
). Good arts-based centers contain a variety of learning
experiences, easily accessible arts-based books, materials,
resources, and supplies that accomplish the following:
· Promote active learning, planning, decision-making, problem-
solving, and originality in all subject areas.
· Increase social and verbal interaction and various forms of
play among peers.
· Offer choices to increase children’s creative thought and help
them manage their time.
· Reflect children’s interests, families, and cultural backgrounds
to motivate learning.

Arts-Based Centers for Different Age Levels
Arts-based centers are appropriate for every child. Each
requires a clear purpose, a range of materials and activities, and
a means of assessment or evaluation. While centers must take
into account individual needs, interests, and levels of learning,
there are unique considerations for children at different ages.
Toddlers
need centers that contain a variety of sensory materials with
different levels of complexity, as well as time for exploration.
They must have low, open shelves to display and help the
children find materials that reflect familiar people and places
matched to their developmental level. Toddlers also need
materials that encourage exploration and large motor
development with climbing and push–pull toys, provide a
private space to watch others play or to rest with a soft toy, and
offer sensory and creative experiences with music, science,
pretense, construction, manipulatives, and sand and water to
encourage different types of play.
Preschoolers and kindergartners
need centers that meet all of the requirements for toddlers and
contain a variety of interesting materials and experiences that
can be used to role-play (such as hats and shoes) and to
construct (such as wood, glue, and blocks). The materials must
reflect the expanding world of their community, their culture,
and their increasing interest in all subject areas; the activities
must promote creative problem-solving, communication, and
collaboration.
First and second graders
need centers that enhance their developing logical thinking and
engage them in focused learning that supports critical thinking,
collaboration, and communication. Centers help integrate
subjects meaningfully across the curriculum, help children

demonstrate competence in a particular area, and feel part of a
peer group. Their active learning experiences should capitalize
on their need to feel competent and successful.
Third and fourth graders
like resources in their centers that include literacy materials,
challenge cards, hands-on learning, and ongoing projects. They
need opportunities to conduct experiments, work on long-term
projects, and use data to support their learning. Regardless of
age, all children require centers to explore opportunities to
connect their learning through art, drama, music, and play.
This child is using modeling material to create.
As you watch this video about preschool centers, notice how the
teacher creates multiple areas for centers. What do you see as
the purpose of her centers, and how do the learning activities
promote creative problem-solving?
Teachers need systems for managing centers. The following
section provides suggestions for managing arts-based centers in
your classroom.
Managing Arts-Based Centers
You will want to introduce centers slowly and teach children
the basic skills and expectations needed to participate in a
center activity. Arts-based centers should promote children’s
self-expression through an art form such as art, music, drama,
and play and contain all the materials needed to complete an
activity, including instructions, checklists, progress sheets, and
options for exploring the concepts and theme. The following
strategies will help you manage an arts-based center (
Bullard, 2014
;
NAEYC, 2015

;
Saracho, 2012
;
Starko, 2014
).
1.
Create centers that are appropriate for a particular group of
children.
Centers that reflect your children’s needs, interests, and
cultures invite participation. You might ask, “What is
appropriate for children to learn at this center?” “What is its
purpose?” “How will the children express what they know?”
Managing centers involves assessing what children know and
can do, inviting their ideas about units of study and help in
collecting items for that unit, and involving children in planning
procedures for its use. For example, in Mr. Kennedy’s second-
grade classroom there are two large child-created displays
related to their unit on insects. One display contains a variety of
three-dimensional imaginative insects that children created at
the art center. Another shows children’s illustrated stories about
their creations. These centers contain interesting and accessible
materials that invite children’s participation, are attractively
stored in color-coded plastic baskets and tubs, and are clearly
labeled to help children keep them properly organized.
2.
Provide guidelines for using the center.
Some teachers provide mini “field trips” before using a center.
These excursions help children understand the center’s
boundaries, highlight the use of materials and equipment,
suggest roles and activities, and give children a sense of how
much time they have for sustained play, exploration, and
investigation. They also help children know what learning goals
are expected. In Mr. Kennedy’s second grade, he organizes
children’s work as well as materials. Children use individual

mailboxes made from recycled 2-liter or gallon jugs with the
tops cut off, egg cartons as scissors holders, and a clothesline to
display their art. Organizing children’s work provides children
with a sense of order that helps them gain a sense of control
over their environment, as illustrated here.
Use planning tools.
Planning tools, such as
planning boards, procedure charts,
and
learning contracts,
are visual and concrete ways to help children focus on the
beginning and end of an activity, develop organizational skills
related to their own activities, manage their time, work
independently and with others, assume responsibility for their
own activities, and reflect on their decisions.
Planning boards
help teachers limit the number of children in a center activity
at any one time, evaluate and change centers as needed, and
observe children’s choices.
Planning boards and procedure charts
can be easily made from pegboard or tagboard, pictures or
labels for centers, and name tags. Some teachers use a magnetic
board with small magnets or magnetic tape strips on the board
and paper clips glued on the back of cards. For children who are
not yet readers, children’s names and the names of the centers
can be illustrated pictorially.
Figure
9.4
illustrates a planning board used with preschoolers,
kindergartners, and first graders;
Figure

9.5
illustrates procedure charts used with primary-grade children.
Figure 9.4 A Planning Board
Figure 9.5 Procedure Charts
1.
Learning contracts
are organizational tools to guide independent study, promote
autonomy, differentiate instruction, and provide opportunities
for self-assessment (
Tomlinson, 2014
). Contracts allow children to choose what work to do, when to
work, with whom to work, and where to work. For example,
after studying different animals, some second graders
contracted to extend their knowledge through art by making
drawings or constructing models of their favorite animal; others
chose to write original songs and raps; still others asked to
create scenarios, such as “Meet My Pet Boa Constrictor.”
Figure
9.6
illustrates learning contracts for preschoolers and
kindergartners;
Figure
9.7
shows learning contracts for first and second graders; and
Figure
9.8
illustrates learning contracts for third and fourth graders.

2.
Assess and facilitate learning.
You can use arts-based centers to observe, assess, and document
children’s learning related to specific outcomes. Centers can
also be used to guide children’s choices, to model behavior for
children who are reluctant to participate in a center project, or
to support children’s ideas and projects. Children can also self-
assess their own progress.
Figure 9.6 Learning Contract for Preschoolers and
Kindergartners
Name: Week of:
Topic:
What do I want to know?
How will I find out?
How will I share my learning?
What will I do if I need help?
Teacher signature:
Figure 9.8 Learning Contract for Third and Fourth Graders
1.
Document children’s progress and evaluate center use.

Because children are engaged in a variety of center experiences
at the same time, it is important to have a system in place to
show what children can do, such as a checklist for documenting
children’s literacy learning through play or understanding
mathematical concepts through art. Carefully designed displays
provide another catalyst for student learning. They inspire
curiosity and underscore children’s accomplishments and pride
in their work. Documentation also helps teachers ask themselves
whether children are engaged in meaningful activity and
whether the centers provide ongoing opportunities and
challenges.
All centers can offer children opportunities to engage in
meaningful learning. Next we discuss the development of arts-
based centers.
Creating Arts-Based Centers
Centers can be permanent, temporary, portable, or rotating.
They include commonly found materials and activities to
support children’s creative processes. The best centers have a
clear purpose, a rich variety of safe materials that invite
exploration, experimentation, problem-solving, and connections
to real life, and a means of assessment or evaluation.
Art Center
The art center enables children to investigate, plan, and make
art using a wide variety of materials, including children’s
literature with engaging illustrations. Some teachers display
works from famous artists in or near the center to enhance
aesthetic appreciation. The art center should be located near a
water source. If not, use plastic sheeting to cover carpeted areas
or tables when children are using messy materials.
In the art center, children should be actively learning and

express that learning. To illustrate, two preschoolers were
making a menu for their Mexican restaurant theme center. They
used the art center to illustrate the menu and then used it to
elaborate on their play. In a third-grade class, Keenan used the
art center to create a glove finger puppet as a prop for his story
on dragons, while Mrs. Ritchie’s fourth graders created flyers
advertising pets available for adoption to help the local animal
shelter as a follow-up to reading
Shiloh
(
Naylor, 1991
). The children researched facts about the available pets and
created an advertisement for one of them, which included a
drawing of the animal, its age, and what it likes to eat and play
with. In these classrooms, the art center provided a vehicle for
integrating the curriculum.
Block and Construction Center
The block and construction center helps children develop
essential 21st-century, and STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) skills and concepts. It
also increases children’s social and problem-solving skills and
expands their design and engineering skills by representing or
communicating their ideas through blocks. The center should be
located away from busy traffic areas and with ample space for
construction. It should contain a wide assortment of blocks and
accessories, such as human figures, road signs, and small-
wheeled vehicles for young children and a variety of
construction sets and materials for older children. Literacy
materials and tools encourage children to sketch their
“blueprints” on paper, label a building they’ve created, or write
or recreate a story about their experience and share their
constructions with a friend. The book
Block City
(

Stevenson, 2005
) stimulates children’s imaginations about block use. Math and
science materials and tools in this center help children use
knowledge of structures and functions by making designs with
blocks, graphing attributes and types of blocks used in a
construction, or building a maze. Blocks should be accessible
on open shelves marked with paper silhouettes of each block
size and shape. Placing the center near the dramatic play center
for younger children increases the interchange among centers (
Hirsch, 1996
;
NAEYC, 2015a
;
Pollman, 2010
).
Cooking and Baking Center
This center piques children’s curiosity about food and food
preparation and can promote their thinking about healthy eating.
Children should be carefully supervised and use safe cooking
utensils. By making age-appropriate, healthy recipes, children
learn many skills and concepts in the core subject areas as well
as in the arts. For example, when they measure, count, cut a
whole into parts, or divide ingredients, they are doing math;
when they observe changes in foods as they mix, taste, or cook
it, they are doing science; and when they read a recipe as they
prepare food, they are engaged in literacy. The cooking and
baking center should contain recipe books for children at all
developmental levels, such as
The Early Sprouts Cookbook
(
Kalich, Bauer, & McPartlin, 2010
) or
Family Fun Cooking with Kids
(

Cook, 2006
) and a pictograph of the recipe that children are making if they
cannot read or a standard recipe for those who can read.
Figure
9.9
shows a pictograph for making Stone Soup based on the
popular folktale
Stone Soup
(Brown, 1997).
Discovery and Science Center
In this “hands-on” center, children develop scientific and
conceptual understandings by actively exploring materials and
activities that bring science to life. Children gain firsthand
experiences with concepts about animals, vegetation, and
minerals, as well as the equipment used to study them such as
scales, magnets, and simple measurement tools. Materials in
this center may include boxes of collected items, such as shells
or rocks, for sorting, classifying, comparing and contrasting,
old appliances or radios with different tools to take apart the
used items, and games for classifying or categorizing objects
from the natural environment (like seeds, leaves, or insects).
Often children use these materials for ongoing projects in other
centers. To illustrate, one kindergartner took the magnifying
glass from the discovery center to examine sick animals she was
tending in the dramatic play area. A fourth grader added
information about his plant’s growth to the classroom graph.
The discovery and science center also includes experiences with
sand, rice, and water that offer many opportunities for teaching
about safety issues with the materials being used.
Children develop scientific understandings by exploring
scientific materials.

WavebreakMediaMicro/Fotolia
Figure 9.9 Recipe for Stone Soup
Drama Center
The drama center encourages children to use their imagination
and problem-solving ability while experimenting with roles,
behaviors, social skills, and communication. It also promotes
career and cultural awareness as children explore various
occupations and cultures. Drama centers are often transformed
into thematic units of study, such as a bakery during a unit on
economics, a shoe store during a unit on measurement, and an
artist’s studio during a unit on famous artists. Whatever the
theme, a drama center provides rich opportunities for building
literacy and math skills and concepts. Adding pencils, pads,
literature books, and other print materials encourages children’s
voluntary use of literacy and numeracy. Prop boxes are
appropriate in this center and enhance children’s creative work.
Library and Literacy Center
This center invites children to read a variety of print materials
and should be located in a quiet area of the classroom. It should
be an attractive, inviting, aesthetically pleasing area stocked
with books as well as digital and visual images such as
graphics, animation sound, and video that match children’s
interests and their topics of study. Some teachers use a rocking
chair, a seat removed from a car, or an old bathtub filled with
pillows as well as displays of children’s art that illustrates book
jackets or characters from their favorite books to create a
comfortable area for browsing and reading.
The center should also contain printed signs and questions that

invite children to explore the book selections. Some teachers
use the Sunday comics, old catalogs, puppets and prop boxes for
retelling stories, recycled copies of children’s magazines, and
mobiles of information about a featured author. Interesting
writing materials, such as recycled colored paper from a print
shop and unusual pens and pencils, should be available. For
younger children
, this center encourages early literacy play—an important
precursor to learning to read and write. For
older children
, this center provides opportunities to self-select books that
range from easy-to-read materials to high-quality literature, to
match students’ ability and interest levels as well as
opportunities to discuss, share, and enact literature. Literacy
centers can display photographs of children and families in the
classroom, classroom events, and a class photo album to
stimulate conversation about the classroom community and to
build cultural awareness.
A literacy center should invite children to enjoy books together.
This center should capture children’s natural curiosity to
observe, classify, sort, and order. It should contain materials
and provide experiences that help children inquire and solve
mathematical problems.
Manipulative materials
such as buttons, colored blocks, counting rods or frames,
cubes, and geoboards encourage children’s growing
mathematical understandings such as numbers, geometry,
measurement, classification, ordering, and comparing. Locate
the center near low, open shelves that contain an organized

system for storing manipulatives and math games such as
dominoes. Writing materials, a whiteboard, and a flannel board
should also be available for children to create their own math
stories and explore and practice mathematical skills and
concepts (
Pollman, 2010
). In this center, for example,
younger
children
might measure objects and determine the longest or shortest
using nonstandard units of measure such as picture cards or
buttons; older children can estimate in standard units and
compare and record their findings using a ruler, recording the
data, and explaining their strategy. You will also want to
include a variety of quality children’s books that reinforce
mathematical concepts, such as
One Dragon’s Dream, A Counting Book
(
Pavey, 2009
),
Emily’s First 100 Days of School
(
Wells, 2000
), or Anno’s
Counting Book
(
Anno, 1977
) for counting; books for problem-solving such as
Monster Math Picnic
(
Maccarone, 1998
); books for sorting and classifying such as
Together
(
Hutchins, 2009

); or books for creating patterns such as
Growing Patterns
(
Campbell, 2010
). For more specific suggestions on math center activities,
search the website for K-5 Math Teaching Resources.
Media and Music Center
This center should offer children
something to do
such as inventing music with simple musical instruments or
PVC pipes;
something to listen to
such as music and instruments from other cultures;
something to learn about
such as composers or instruments; and
something to share or take home
such as drawings of instruments or a take-home bag containing
materials to make a homemade instrument (
Jalongo & Isenberg, 2012
;
Saracho, 2012
). Electronic media, such as CDs, computers, audiotapes, MP3
players, and videotapes can be used as vehicles for playful
expression with music and movement. The center needs to be
located near an electrical outlet. Many teachers use laminated
posters with rebus-type instructions on operating and caring for
the equipment. Computers, placed on tabletops at eye level,
should be arranged so that two or three children may work
together at any one time. The media and music center activates
children’s musical intelligence and offers diverse lear ners an
important avenue for learning. It should be as open and
accessible as other centers so that children can use the
equipment for play and investigation.

Sand, Water, and Sensory Center
In this center that can be used both indoors and outdoors,
children use sensory materials to control their world and think
creatively. Indoor sensory centers that use
sand and water
need a table located near a water source and away from a wall
so children can work on all four sides. Accessories for sand and
water centers include assorted cups and molds, small vehicles,
bulbs and syringes, and assorted sifters and funnels. Sensory
centers that use
dry, tactile materials
can use any type of plastic tub or even a sturdy cardboard box.
Materials for sensory exploration may include rice, assorted
papers and fabrics of different textures (hard, soft, bumpy,
rough, smooth, silky), or Styrofoam peanuts.
Figure
9.10
shows four-year-old Trevor’s drawing of playing at the sand
table and Trisha’s drawing of herself at the water table.
Figure 9.10 Head Start Children’s Interpretation of the Sand and
Water Table
(a) Four-year-old Trevor illustrates a sand table. Notice the
enclosed area for the table with the sand inside.
Technology Center
The technology center can expand a child’s understanding about
a topic or reinforce concepts already learned. Age-appropriate
software maximizes children’s inventive thinking, spatial and
visual learning, self-expression, ability to be part of a team, and
creation of high-quality products, all of which are essential
skills for the 21st century (

NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center, 2012
). Selecting appropriate apps, Internet sites, or virtual
manipulatives is also important. Whether it is an information
site, which helps children gain new knowledge and answer
questions; a communication site, which puts children in touch
with others; or a publication site, which provides a place for
children to post their work, all sites must be evaluated using
stringent criteria and specific evaluation tools.
Writing Center
In this center children experiment with writing and illustrating
in many forms, from scribbling or drawing to composing poems
and stories. Sometimes they come here from other centers to
make signs or captions for their work. Arts-based writing
centers contain whiteboards, staplers, glue, pencils, markers and
crayons, and an assortment of papers in various sizes, shapes,
and colors for creating, writing, and illustrating. Magazines,
newspapers, and old catalogs are also available for children to
illustrate stories or add to their creations. Some teachers keep a
box of children’s drawings for others to use to create stories.
Arts-based centers offer children more than just opportunities to
engage in an activity; they offer children the chance to explore,
investigate, and think in new and creative ways. It is unlikely
that you will use all of these centers simultaneously. Most
teachers use about six permanent centers that align with their
curriculum and periodically transform them to support ongoing
units of study.
Find out more about centers for preschool children by watching
this video. How do these centers accommodate children’s
diverse ways of learning? What other arts-based materials
would you add?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xCCBIvgWQ0

Be sensitive to children’s pace of learning and help them move
comfortably from one activity to another by paying attention to
transitions
and
routines.
Transitions and Routines in a Creative Environment
Transitions
are times during the day when children move from one activity
to the next.
Routines
are regular and predictable events that form the basis of the
daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. They are integral to a safe
and supportive creative learning environment. Clear transitions
and routines help children sense the passage of time (such as
snack follows cleanup or math follows lunch), prepare for the
day (such as singing a good morning song or chant), stay
focused, and anticipate events (such as playing a musical
selection at the end of each day).
Transitions and routines consume 20 to 35% of a preschooler’s
day and about 15% of an elementary child’s day. Unless
intentionally planned, they can be difficult and stressful periods
for both children and teachers. Developmentally appropriate
transitions and routines are essential and differ from other
activities in purpose, length, frequency, children’s ages, and the
available physical facilities. Thoughtfully planned transitions
and routines provide a predictable environment that minimizes
chaos and empowers children.
Incorporating the arts for transitions and routines engages
children and adds meaning to the experience. For example, you
can use familiar music to move
young children

to a new activity, such as singing the song “Riding in an
Airplane” by Raffi, for preschool children who then can pretend
to fly to the art tables equipped with paper, markers, and
photographs of airplanes and make appropriate airplane noises
along the way. This will connect their study of transportation
with music and art and assure a positive transition. For
elementary children
, you can use drama to create a morning class news show with
children assuming different roles such as news reporter, weather
reporter, and travel reporter who can report on characters from
literature or events from social studies.
Figure
9.11
provides tips for managing transitions and routines in a
creative environment.
Just as teachers regularly consider designing the indoor
environment, they need to consider the design of the outdoor
environment. An engaging outdoor environment stimulates
innovative and imaginative thinking and other creative habits of
mind. In the next section, we examine the outdoor environment.
Figure 9.11 Tips for Managing Transition and Routines
Sources: Based on
Bullard (2014)
;
Clayton (2001)
;
;
Hemmeter, Ostosky, Artman, & Kinder (2008)
;
Howell & Reinhard, 2015
;

NAEYC (2005)
.
Outdoor Environments That Foster Creativity and Arts-Based
Learning
Outdoor environments that foster creativity and arts-based
learning require you to decide how you and the children may
use the space. Outdoor spaces open possibilities for children to
explore, investigate, follow their interests, and perhaps start an
authentic project (
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Kuh, 2014
;
;
Tovey, 2007
).
Research shows that outdoor learning improves children’s
ability to focus, pay attention to “green spaces” that influence
their health and well-being, and improve their achievement,
autonomy, sense of responsibility, and behavior. Outdoor
learning also contributes to children’s ability to problem-solve,
cooperate, observe, and navigate with challenging and novel
materials. These skills are foundational to early childhood
practice (
Beames, Higgins, & Nicol, 2012
;
Davies et al., 2013
).
Well-planned outdoor spaces stimulate children’s sense of

wonder, imagination, and appreciation of their natural world.
They offer more complexity, such as uneven ground, different
plants and colors, or weather changes. They also allow children
to use natural materials and focus more on challenges and
problem-solving skills. During outdoor play, children have large
spaces for whole body movement, such as running and climbing,
can engage with nature and the outdoors, such as examining
local animals, habitats, seeds, bugs, or other vegetation, focus
on child-initiated activity, and have fewer noise restrictions
than they do indoors. Learning outdoors helps children to make
connections using many multiple intelligences (
Gardner, 2009
) and promotes the 21st-century skills of creativity and
innovation, communication and collaboration, and critical
thinking, and problem-solving (
Partnership for 21st Century Learning Skills, 2012
). Thus, you will need ample time for children to explore,
investigate, experiment, and problem-solve in space that is
flexible. Outdoor environments benefit all children and should
be utilized year-round.
Features of Creative Outdoor Environments
Think about what Ms. Ogur, a preschool teacher did to enrich
her outdoor space by adding some complexity and variety to it.
She brought out a wagon; created an obstacle course from old,
worn tires; and made some simple traffic signs out of scrap
lumber and paint. She also brought out the police officer’s hat
from the dramatic play center and markers and scrap paper from
the literacy center. From these simple additions, the children
created elaborate play about accidents, parking, and speeding.
Some children even created and handed out parking tickets. On
other occasions, the children used the wagon as an ambulance to
transport an accident victim to the hospital, where another
elaborate scenario was enacted. Ms. Ogur even used the traffic
signs to reinforce bicycle safety.

Ms. Ogur illustrates how a resourceful teacher can create a
stimulating outdoor environment even with limited resources.
She also demonstrates how well-planned outdoor spaces can
spark children’s curiosity, imagination, and problem-solving
ability with a variety of stimulating materials and equipment.
Good outdoor spaces promote all forms of play (functional,
constructive, dramatic, and games), offer children numerous
possibilities for social interaction and gross motor development,
and are developmentally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing (
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Greenman, 2005
;
).
Creative outdoor environments have three features that enhance
creativity and arts-based learning. They include
nature, equipment and materials,
and
safety and supervision.
Nature
Nature is an overlooked learning tool. It provides opportunities
for children to carefully observe specific sensory elements in
the environment and is a natural place for all children to
investigate objects and living things. Smelling flowers,
collecting leaves, acorns, or bugs, or listening to birds all
delight children, spark their imaginations and interest, and
inspire their sense of wonder and capitalize on their
naturalistic intelligence
(

Gardner, 2009
;
;
Wilson, 2012
;
Wirth & Rosenow, 2012
).
Using nature as a learning tool has many benefits. Children of
all ages learn to appreciate nature, improve their concentration,
engage in more imaginative and constructive play, problem-
solving, and positive social behaviors. Although access to
nature and natural outdoor spaces varies based on where your
school or center is, every teacher can create natural spaces that
range from very simple to moderately or very complex spaces.
These spaces can be used on blacktops, rooftops, fields, or
woods. In
Figure
9.12
, Leanna’s Tree Collage, 5-year-old Leanna uses different-
colored tissue paper or cotton to show what trees look like in
different seasons. Notice also how she adds a snowman to the
winter picture and flowers to the spring picture.
You can transform any outdoor space with some of the
following:
· Use container gardens of edible plants, flowers, or spices in
small spaces or where you only have a blacktop.
· Provide small pails for children to collect items on a
scavenger or a treasure hunt.
· Plant a class or school garden with vegetables or flowers.

· Take nature hikes and provide ziplock bags to collect natural
items.
There are many resources for nature-based learning. Community
Playthings in collaboration with the Nature Action
Collaborative for Children has a practical booklet entitled
The Wisdom of Nature
, which you can download from the Community Playthings
website. This site also has several nature-based articles and
blogs with ideas and resources for the outdoor environment. For
other resources, explore the website for
children and nature
.
Equipment and Materials
Outdoor equipment and materials can be fixed or complex.
Fixed equipment has an obvious use such as a swing or a
tricycle; complex equipment has two or more different materials
to manipulate such as water and a bucket or sand, digging tools,
and water. The more complex the equipment or material, the
more opportunities children have to use their imaginations and
solve authentic problems. Equipment and materials should
invite children to play, hold their interest over time, and
promote creative thought through all four forms of play (
;
Frost & Woods, 2015
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Greenman, 2005
). Because materials and space can often be used more flexibly
in outdoor spaces, children naturally use their imaginations and
invent their own games with found materials, such as stones,

flowers, or leaves.
Equipment should be sturdy, safe, and age appropriate.
Materials should be open-ended and have
movable parts, complexity,
and
diversity.
Movable parts
are pieces that children can manipulate and use to improvise.
Lightweight objects of different sizes, shapes, and textures;
boards or ramps; and organic materials such as sand and water
can be moved from place to place within the area as children
choose. They add complexity, flexibility, diversity, novelty, and
challenge to the environment—all important ingredients for
creativity, socialization, and learning.
Complexity
refers to the number of possibilities of the material.. The more
possibilities the material has, the more likely it is to hold
children’s interest and attention because children can do more
with it (
Kritchevsky et al., 1977
). For example, a large tire swing that can hold two or more
children offers more options than a swing on a swing set.
Diversity
includes the
number of ways
materials can be used, regardless of their complexity. It
influences how children get started in their activity and offers
children necessary choices to create their own forms of play (
;
Kuh, 2014
). Many teachers use play crates to add diversity to the

outdoors.
Figure9.13
provides examples of outdoor props and play crates.
Figure 9.13 Props and Play Crates for the Outdoor Environment
Safety and Supervision
When children are outdoors they are more likely to engage in
gross motor play and take different risks from indoors. You will
want to ensure that children have adequate sunscreen before
venturing outdoors. Providing safe equipment and materials and
overseeing children is essential.
The National Program for Playground Safety (NPPS) has
identified four elements of playground safety. These include
S
upervision,
A
ge-appropriate designs, equipment, and materials,
F
all surfaces, and
E
quipment and materials. These SAFE elements apply to children
of all ages and abilities and all types and locations of
playgrounds. You can access safety tips by age level, resources,
and an annual report card to assess your own playground’s
safety at the website for the National Program for Playground
Safety.
Safe outdoor environments
· Are well designed and adequately maintained.
· Have storage facilities, suitable surfacing materials, and

accessibility.
· Provide features children prefer, such as dramatic play
materials and nature areas.
· Focus on all developmental areas.
· Are developmentally appropriate.
· Contain 8 to 10 inches of fall-absorbing material, such as pea
gravel, under and around all moving equipment because falls are
the number one cause of playground injuries to children (
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2010
). Be sure to include a retaining border to hold the material and
replenish it frequently.
Children need to be safe and well-supervised while outdoors.
A well-supervised environment is also essential and has the
same ratio of adults outdoors as indoors. Well- supervised
spaces have adults who do the following:
· Monitor the outdoor environment.
· Have knowledge of injury prevention and first aid.
· Inspect equipment and materials for safety and need of repair.
· Circulate around the area rather than standing in a group and
talking.
· Set clear, reasonable limits about what children may do, such
as sitting down on the slide.
· Ensure that children use the equipment and materials safely.

· Challenge children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional
skills.
Figure 9.14
is a checklist of criteria to use for your outdoor space.
These features of creative outdoor environments apply to all
children. However, some adaptations may be needed for specific
age groups and children with special needs.
Creative Outdoor Spaces for Children of Different Ages and
Abilities
Like indoor environments, creative outdoor environments must
be designed with children’s ages and developmental levels in
mind. They support a range of goals, including a sense of
competence, cooperation, creativity, and problem-solving
through a variety of activities.
Infant to Toddler Years
Outdoor spaces for
infants and toddlers
should meet their rapidly increasing motor and social
development, their boundless energy and curiosity, and their
clear need for autonomy. Infant and toddler outdoor
environments have
unique safety
issues (
Bullard, 2014
;
;
Gonzalez-Mena, 2013
). For this age group, pay special attention to the following:

·
Ground cover
that cannot be ingested, such as pea gravel.
·
Hazardous material
that may have accumulated overnight, such as broken objects,
sharp edges, or foreign objects.
·
Swing seats
that include a strap to prevent falling.
·
Safety barriers
that protect infants and toddlers from traffic, falls, and pools of
water.
·
Shade
for sun- and heat-sensitive infants.
·
Hard-surfaces
for wheel toys to push and pull.
Infants and toddlers also need opportunities for a range of
sensory exploration with a few simple, safe, age-appropriate
choices. Adding materials of different textures, such as sticks,
bugs, or tree bark, or clear pathways to walk on, touch, and
explore, inspires exploration and play. They need stimulating
equipment close to the ground, such as tunnels or simple
climbing structures; dramatic play options; movable parts for
stacking, gathering, and dumping; and natural experiences with
living plants and animals (

;
).
Intriguing additions for
toddler outdoor environments
· Hanging inflatable objects from a tree and having children try
to “catch one” with a cardboard tube.
· Painting the pathways, equipment, or fence with small buckets
of water and large brushes.
· Washing dishes and furniture with pans of warm, soapy water,
sponges, and scrub brushes.
Preschool to Kindergarten Years
preschoolers and kindergartners
should promote all four forms of play: functional, constructive,
dramatic, and games with rules to support these children’s need
for vigorous gross motor play and increased interest in role-
playing and games. It should contain an accessible storage
facility for portable materials, a grassy area for group games, a
place for privacy to meet children’s need for solitary and
parallel play, and a variety of child-sized equipment for motor
development (
Debord, Hestenes, Moore, Cosco, & McGinnis, 2002
;
). The best outdoor spaces for preschool and kindergarten
children include a complex superstructure with a combination of
movable parts (e.g., raw materials such as sand, water, and
assorted boards) and climbing structures with many moving

parts, such as swings, bars, ladders, and structures with
potential for dramatic play.
Try some of these activities to add novelty and complexity to
the outdoor environment:
· Create nature areas for children to focus on the aesthetic
aspects of the outdoors.
· Use shoebox lids and white glue to make collages of natural
materials found on or near the outdoor environment.
· Turn wheeled vehicles into another vehicle by taping on a sign
and adding appropriate props nearby to stimulate dramatic play.
· Provide a large, empty carton and other appropriate props to
create a service station area for wheeled vehicles, a bank drive -
through, or a roadside produce stand.
· Add props and play crates designed for outdoor play that
stimulate creativity and the imagination as shown in
Figure
9.13
.
· Provide bubbles with an assortment of recycled materials,
such as berry baskets and straws, for bubble wands.
· Encourage children to paint along the fence by clipping easel
paper on it; leave the paintings up for an art show.
· Read
A Rose for Pinkerton
(
Kellogg, 1981

) and
Pet Show
(
Keats, 1972
); then have a pet show with children’s stuffed animals. Make
judges’ clipboards out of cardboard and clothespins, stands for
the animals out of recycled ice-cream tubs, and prize ribbons
out of recycled gift wrap.
First Grade to Fourth Grade
school-age children
should promote investigation, problem-solving, and
imagination. These children prefer structures with numerous
physical challenges, such as climbers, equipment, and spaces
for social development, and safe places for group games. Some
suggestions that challenge school-age children in outdoor areas
· Plan and conduct a scavenger hunt. Use a variety of clues that
incorporate riddles, listening, or writing. Tie the scavenger hunt
into the unit of study where possible.
· Provide chalk so that children can make outdoor games, such
as hopscotch or foursquare, or create shadow drawings.
· Tie-dye old T-shirts and dry them along a fence. Then use
another color for more complex and symmetrical designs.
· Do a shadow play in the afternoon. Invite children to enact
various roles and use cardboard silhouettes for props. Have the
audience watch the show on the ground.
· Assign “fitness” homework, such as walking, hopping,
jumping rope, counting steps, or stretching that improves

fitness.
· Create a nature area, such as a butterfly garden, to connect
with classroom projects.
Creative outdoor environments foster children’s creative
thinking and arts-based learning through intentional uses of
space, activities, experiences, and materials. Teachers who
believe in the power of the environment for learning assume
roles that guide children’s creativity.
Outdoor environments have many benefits and should be
utilized year-round.
Teachers’ Roles: Designing a Creative Environment
What teachers believe about creativity and the arts influences
the classroom environment. Much of what you have already read
in this chapter and in previous chapters should help you design
your own creative learning space. Teachers like Ms. Lynette,
Ms. Keier, Mr. Rapoza, and Ms. Ogur, whom you met earlier in
this chapter, intentionally plan environments that support
children’s creativity and imagination. They know that the more
children can wonder, be curious, and make connections to
possibilities, the more they will develop their creativity.
Research shows that children’s creative and critical thinking
skills develop early and that these skills provide the foundation
for their later learning and development across all domains and
across all content areas (
Epstein, 2014
;
;
Garrick, 2009
;
Kuh, 2014

;
Tovey, 2007
;
Whittaker, 2014
). Early childhood teachers, who intentionally plan and arrange
environments, support the development of these characteristics.
Making decisions about what to use, how to use it, and when to
use it reflect your beliefs and values.
Environments that foster creativity and arts-based learning also
address 21st-century skills and standards. These skills include
the innovative skills of creativity, critical thinking,
collaboration, and communication as well as a focus on the
STEAM content areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, the
Arts and Math (
Lindeman & Anderson, 2015
;
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2012
). Other skills, such as imagination, curiosity, self-regulation,
and collaboration are also crucial (
Garriock, 2011
;
Jerald, 2009
).
Picture the following second-grade classroom. The day begins
with centers containing activities and projects selected by the
children as part of their unit of study on the solar system. Some
children are constructing models of planets; others are
researching the distances between each planet and the sun; still
others are investigating moon shapes and illustrating the
different phases; and some are publishing original books, plays,
and poetry about what they see in the night sky. Following
centers, the children gather in a circle for their morning
meeting. Mrs. Lee, the teacher, likes the group circle
arrangement for whole group because it minimizes distractions

and creates a sense of belonging. She places traditional, whole-
group activities (such as problem-solving, planning events of
the day, sharing, and academic or social skill development)
after centers to capture children’s high interest in starting to
learn early in the day.
Notice how Mrs. Lee’s second graders choose of selected
learning activities and have many opportunities to talk with
their teachers and peers. Her classroom has a flexible schedule
and organization, contains a variety of interest centers, and has
well-managed transitions and routines. Mrs. Lee’s arrangement
supports children’s creativity.
An environment that fosters creativity and the arts is a mind-
set—a way of thinking about how to teach and what is important
for all children to learn. The following suggestions will help
promote children’s creative habits of mind and allow them to
function comfortably, productively, and effectively together.
1.
Consider the environment a powerful learning tool.
Knowledgeable teachers anticipate how children might use
space, time, relationships, and materials. Predicting behavior in
this way promotes children’s independence, active involvement,
and sustained attention. The environment can also be used to
manage tasks. A predictable schedule, for example, helps
children learn the rhythm of the day and feel able to participate.
Carefully arranged and displayed materials invite children’s
participation with a minimum of adult intervention. One
preschool teacher uses children’s photographs for taking
attendance and rebus recipes for preparing snacks. Such tools
reduce the amount of time teachers devote to routine
administrative tasks, freeing them to focus on children’s
creativity and the arts. What other aspects of room arrangement
might be important to consider when teaching young children?

2.
Ensure that your classroom climate supports children’s risk-
taking.
When teachers celebrate children’s ideas and thinking, they
send the message that creative thinking is valued. In such an
environment, children are more likely to try new materials and
express themselves in different ways. Teachers who encourage
children’s creative expression are more likely to emphasize the
importance of the process children use in creating rather than on
the final product, supporting children’s thinking by asking
open-ended questions, using rich language and new vocabulary,
and developing children’s background knowledge.
3.
Model and promote the 21st-century skills of critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, and creativity.
To model
critical thinking
and
problem-solving
you might think out loud and say, “I know we want to have
birds come to our outdoor space. I wonder what we can do to
invite them. What would they like to have? What do they eat?
Do they play?” For
communication
, provide opportunities for children to present their work for an
authentic audience. Consider inviting children to design, make,
and present a book as a gift to a younger child, or share work
with a partner or the class. You can also ensure opportunities
for
collaboration
that encourage working together in small groups toward a
common goal. As children work together, their self-expression
and originality increase as they build upon each other’s ideas.
And finally, you will want to tap into children’s creativity with
open-ended materials and tools, such as multimedia, clay,

recycled items, wood pieces, or wire to articulate their ideas
and thoughts.
4.
Use the virtual world appropriately.
Virtual worlds provide an important environment for children
to develop their creativity and learn across all domains. Just as
face-to-face environments differ according to age and
developmental needs, so should virtual environments.
Developmentally appropriate virtual environments provide
opportunities for children to engage in experiences that would
not otherwise be available to them (
;
Kuh, 2014
).
Watch this video, which shows elementary-school children
exploring a website with galleries of instruments created by
children all over the United States. How is this teacher
promoting 21st-century skills in the children as they locate
materials, design, and pitch levels of instruments before they
design their own?
Teachers who design creative learning environments maximize
student participation and engagement, support learner-centered
teaching, reward imaginative ideas, and encourage children’s
self-evaluation.
Adapting Creative Environments for Diverse Learners
All children need environments that foster a sense of curiosity,
wonder, and acceptance of cultural diversity and disabilities.
With some simple adaptations, it is easy to create arts-based
environments that support diverse learners (
Deiner, 2013

;
Salend, 2016
;
Saracho, 2012
). We first suggest modifications for
indoor physical environments
, then suggest ways to modify
center activities
, and finally suggest ways to modify
outdoor environments
to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Tips for Modifying the Indoor Physical Environment to Support
Diverse Learners
Use the following tips to modify the indoor physical
environment to ensure greater inclusivity:
· Understand the child’s exceptionality so that appropriate
accommodations allow for full participation and a focus on the
child’s abilities.
· Provide a “buddy” who can help introduce and model
classroom routines and activities.
· Modify the space, furniture location, noise, and light.
· Adjust centers with some simple changes in materials,
equipment, and careful planning.
· Use technology and interactive media to provide equitable
access for all children.
Adaptations for Children with Physical Disabilities
· Provide large spaces in which children can easily move and

work.
· Maintain clear pathways in the classroom for easy movement.
· Position tables so that children in wheelchairs are at the same
level as their peers.
Adaptations for Children with Hearing Impairments
· Seat children away from noisy backgrounds, such as windows,
doors, and heating or cooling systems.
· Encourage children to move freely so they can hear better and
see the faces of their peers.
· Use carpet and corkboard walls to reduce classroom noise.
Adaptations for Children with Visual Impairments
· Orient children to the location of materials, centers, pathways,
and exits using the child’s seat as a focal point.
· Familiarize children to the school environment once they are
oriented to the classroom.
· Designate a peer “sight guide” for special activities, such as
fire drills and assemblies.
· Use lighting that does not cast shadows or a glare on
schoolwork and activities.
· Play tactile games with blocks, toys, and materials with a
variety of textures and forms.
Tips for Modifying Specific Centers for Diverse Learners

Be sure that all materials, question charts, and center
instructions contain both text and visual icons to illustrate
concepts and problems to solve. You will also want to provide
audio-recorded directions so that both readers and nonreaders
know what to do. Use the tips that follow to m modify center
activities for greater inclusion.
Art Center
· Provide textured papers for children with visual impairments.
· Have books from different cultures and countries that have
engaging illustrations.
· Offer large paper for children with small motor challenges.
· Use glue sticks instead of liquid glue.
Literacy and Writing Centers
· Integrate art, music, or drama as a way to respond to a book,
poem, or other literacy activity.
· Use pencil grips, pads of paper and large-lined paper (lines
may need to be of a different color or “raised” off the paper).
· Have felt-tip pens instead of pencils for children with limited
motor abilities.
· Provide letter magnets, stamps, and stencils to encourage
exploration of letters and their placement within words.
Math/Science Center
· Integrate the arts through content area study.

· Provide a wide range of differently sized manipulatives to
accommodate students with fine motor or dexterity challenges
as well as to understand basic, abstract, and symbolic concepts.
· Arrange activities so other students can model or assist
struggling peers in a group setting.
· Include a variety of measuring instruments such as rulers, tape
measures, and yardsticks.
Technology Center
· Incorporate websites or software that can read directions or
text on the screen.
· Choose software that has levels of difficulty ranging from
easy to hard.
· Teach children to enable the computer to read back what they
have written. Most word processing products have this
capability built in.
Tips for Modifying the Outdoor Environment to Support
Diverse Learners
To meet the American with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) (1990)
requirement for accessibility and to provide an inclusive
environment, outdoor spaces must be accessible to all children.
This includes developmentally appropriate access to materials,
equipment, and natural features including gardens, sand, and
water (
;
;
Wellhousen, 2002

). Consider the following tips to modify outdoor environments
for greater inclusivity:
· Ensure opportunities for quality social interactions by having
enough resources to promote social play skills such as balls,
bean bags, and play crates for imaginative play.
· Consider access (e.g., all entryways should be as level as
possible) and surfaces (e.g., children with mobility challenges
need a smooth, stable surface to walk on and something
relatively soft to fall on).
· Provide challenges with differing degrees of difficulty, such
as balance beams of different lengths, simple obstacle courses,
or noncompetitive games.
· Visit sites such as the Discovery Garden, an inclusive outdoor
space located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison or the
Camden Children’s Garden to explore and discover the natural
world to learn about gardening for children
Adaptations for Children with Physical Challenges
· Position playground equipment so that children can attain
maximum range of reach, motion, muscle control, and visual
contact.
· Place equipment on a low table at wheelchair height that is
sturdy enough to withstand leaning for a child in a wheelchair.
· Define areas with visible barriers, marked pathways, and
widened pathways. Take special safety precautions for children
with mobility devices if they have to navigate grassy or pebble
surfaces.
Adaptations for Children with Visual or Hearing Impairments

· Mark areas with audible and visual cues (such as wind chimes
or bells) or have a playmate wear a brightly colored vest to
provide visual clues.
· Attach Braille labels to materials to help children with low
vision.
Adaptations for Children with Diverse Cognitive Needs
· Keep vocabulary simple, incorporate noncompetitive games,
and shorten obstacle courses.
· Provide additional supervision for monitoring safety on
equipment, limiting the number of materials available for
choice, and communicating clear boundaries to those children
who require it.
· Offer games that meet children’s varying needs. Games with
simple rules and simple equipment can be technology based,
movement oriented, or role plays. They motivate children to
practice skills and concepts and optimize cooperation. For
children with an
intellectual disability
, play games that have simple rules and use simple equipment
such as tag or simple toss and throw games. You can use yarn
balls, a balloon, underinflated beach balls, and scoopers for
catching made from recycled bleach bottles. An obstacle course
for children with
hearing impairments
helps them learn prepositions such as
over, under,
and
through
. A relay race for children with
visual impairments

during which children walk, run, and hop with a partner
develops both large motor skills and cooperation with peers.
All children need to learn in a carefully designed environment.
That kind of environment builds trust, supports creativity and
the arts and reflects national standards.
Check Your Understanding 9.5
section.
Meeting Standards for Creative Environments
Professional organizations for teachers and most states have
standards for high-quality classroom environments. These
standards indicate that the environment should support
children’s self- expression and thinking. It should also help
children feel ownership in their learning by having some input
into their work and its completion, assessment, and display.
Figure
9.15
provides quality indicators of classroom environments, guided
by national standards. It includes examples that foster positive
relationships, positive learning outcomes, a positive emotional
climate, and a positive physical environment. Use
Figure
9.15
to discuss other examples that contribute to these key
indicators of creative environments.
Figure 9.15 Indicators of Creative Environments

While the following four standards come from different
professional organizations, each addresses the same essential
elements. Read the standards to identify the common elements
among them. What else would you add from this chapter? Then,
choose an age level (infants–toddlers, preschool–kindergarten,
first–fourth grade) for which you will create a “state-of-the-art”
environment. Now, write a scenario for one of the following
that includes:
· All indicators for a particular age level.
· Some indicators for the same age level.
· No indicators for the same age level.
Compare and contrast your scenario with a peer and recommend
three changes based on your conversation. Be willing to add
other indicators and examples from the chapter that would
provide evidence for your choices.
National Standards on Classroom Environments
(NAEYC)
Standard 1: Learning and Development
Teachers use their understanding of young children’s
characteristics, needs, and the multiple interacting influences on
development and learning to create environments that are
healthy, respectful, supportive, and challenging for each child.
Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Initial Preparation

Teachers create active learning environments that promote
students’ cognitive, social, and emotional growth.
The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium
(InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards
Teachers Create Active Learning Environments That Promote
Collaboration, Positive Social Interactions and Self-Motivation.
Conclusion
The environment has an important role in promoting creative
thought and the arts. It is generally a child-centered, active
place that meets children’s needs. Creative environments should
be filled with numerous materials, resources, and opportunities
for children to invent, solve problems, and communicate their
ideas and work with a variety of audiences. They should also be
places for children to work with peers collaboratively to solve
open-ended, authentic problems.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSAbout Creative
Environments
Can I have a creative learning environment even if I am not
particularly creative?
In her book
Why Our Schools Need the Arts
, Jessica Hoffman
Davis (2008)
talks about how every teacher, regardless of artistic ability,
needs to teach the arts. Early childhood educators cannot be an
expert in all the subjects they teach, including the arts. But

every early childhood teacher can capitalize on young
children’s natural creativity with a variety of artistic media and
observe what children are learning. Ask yourself some of these
questions: In what ways do I support children’s learning and
build an arts-based environment? Do I provide opportunities for
children to respond in unusual ways to projects and activities?
Can I identify the most creative children in my class? An arts-
based environment helps children learn how to learn. You want
to feel comfortable inviting children into arts-based and to
model appropriate attitudes toward the arts. By respecting
children’s works of art as their way of interpreting their world,
promoting children’s imagination and expression through “what
if” questions and activities, and encouraging children’s
imaginative ideas and self-evaluation, you can surely view
yourself as a creative teacher.
Is recess necessary for today’s elementary classroom?
According to the National Association for Sport and Physical
Education (NASPE, 2012), daily physical activity for children
of all ages is important. Recess should be at least 20 minutes
per day, which meets one-third of the recommended daily 60
minutes of regular, age-appropriate physical activity including
outside play when possible. Even with the endorsements of
various other national associations, such as the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the International Play
Association, recess has been jeopardized as important. Recess is
an essential component of the total educational experience for
preschoolers, kindergartners, and school-age children. It
provides them with discretionary time and opportunities to
engage in physical activity that develops healthy bodies and
minds (NASPE, 2012); improves children’s ability to perform
academically (
Pellegrini, 2005
); influences children’s behavior and learning; and contributes
to their social development. (

Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009
). Unstructured physical play is a developmentally appropriate
outlet for reducing stress in children’s lives; it improves
children’s attentiveness, decreases restlessness, and improves
resilience (
NAECS-SDE, 2002
). Unstructured recess periods with choices and free play
combined with structured physical activity are the best for
children. Unfortunately, recess is being cut to allow for more
academic time focused on test preparation.
How can I ease English language learners into my classroom
routines?
Only when students feel comfortable with your classroom
routines will optimal second-language acquisition and academic
learning occur. Using
Maslow’s (1970)
hierarchy of human needs as a foundation, you want to ensure
safety, security, and a sense of belonging. To help second-
language learners feel safe and secure, you might assign a
personal buddy, who speaks the child’s language and follows
the predictable routines in your classroom, to each newcomer.
This plan creates a sense of security for all students but is
especially important for students who are new to the language
and culture of the school. In fact, your predictable routines may
be the first stable feature some students have experienced in a
long time. To help second-language learners achieve a sense of
belonging, you might seat new students in the middle or front of
the room, integrating them early in cooperative groups, and help
them follow predictable routines.
All children need environments that foster creativity and the
arts in which they can plan for their own learning, identify
resources and materials, and interact with one another.

Chapter Summary
·
Explain the theoretical and research base of creative learning
environments.
The works of Urie
, Maria Montessori (1909,
1964
), Loris
Malaguzzi (1995)
, and Lev Vygotsky (
1967
,
1978
), among others, provide important insights into designing
creative environments that engage all children. Each theorist
helps us understand the impact of the physical, social,
cognitive, and digital environments that together support
children’s creativity growth and arts-based learning.
·
Plan an indoor environment for creativity and arts-based
learning,
Designing the
indoor environment
for creativity and arts-based learning begins with knowing the
children, what they need to learn, and how they best can learn.
Important components of indoor environments are
room arrangement,
a positive management system, arts-based centers, and
transitions and routines.
·
Create an outdoor environment that supports creativity and the
arts.

Outdoor environments need the same attention to equipment and
materials, safety, space, supervision, and storage as indoor
environments. Children need an outdoor environment that holds
their interest over time and challenges their imagination.
·
Identify teachers’ roles in providing an inviting, creative
learning environment.
Teachers intentionally plan environments so that children can
wonder, be curious, and make connections to possibilities in
order to develop their creativity. Research shows that children’s
creative and critical thinking skills develop early and provide
the foundation for their later learning and development across
all domains and across all content areas.
·
Adapt the learning environment to meet the needs of each child.
With some simple adjustments to the indoor and outdoor
environments, it is easy to adapt arts-based and creative
environments to support the needs of diverse learners.
Chapter Quiz 9:
chapter.
Discuss: Perspectives on Creative Environments
1. Visualize your ideal classroom, both indoors and outdoors.
Select an age range. How will you arrange desks or tables? Are
there centers available? What else do you see in your “minds -
eye”? Describe your rationale for your environment. Then
create a digital representation of it. Use a word processing
program, presentation software, or a concept map for this. You
may also want to download classroom architect, a tool to outline
your environment, from the website classroom4teachers.

2. Some teachers admit that they never think much about the
outdoor environment and treat it only as a way to have children
expend energy. What do you think of this practice? Why?
3. In your creative environment, what would you say to a parent
or a colleague who said, “But they are just playing or drawing
or making music! When will they learn something?”
4. Locate a teacher’s blog discussing one of the important
features of creative environments. How do the blog entries
compare to what you have just read in this chapter?
Assess: Using Published Rating Scales to Assess Classroom
Environments
1. Published rating scales and accreditation procedures provide
guidelines and indicators for assessing creative environments
for children of all ages. These scales provide the salient items
and criteria needed to evaluate high-quality classroom
environments. From your library, select one of the following
eight scales to evaluate a virtual classroom environment or your
classroom’s indoor or outdoor environment.
§
DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry (2010)
.
Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments
(ROSIE). Lewinsville, NC: Gryphon House.
Focuses on evaluating what is aesthetically beautiful and
inspiring in the classroom environment through different lenses
of color, light, furnishings, displays, textures, and focal points.
§ Frost, J. L. (1997). Playground Rating System (revised). In
Frost, Wortham, & Reifel (2012)

.
Play and Development
(appendix). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall.
This appendix, which may be downloaded as a pdf, serves as a
planning and evaluation tool for playgrounds. It contains 51
items to evaluate three different areas of playground quality.
These areas are playground contents, playground safety, and the
role of the adult on the playground. Each item is rated on a
scale from 0 (“nonexistent”) to 5 (“All elements exist: Excellent
function).
§
Harms, T., & Jacobs, E. V. & White, D. R. (2013)
.
School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale: Updated Edition
Contains 47 items organized within seven categories that
include Space and Furnishings, Health and Safety, Activities,
Interactions, Program Structure, Staff Development, and Special
Needs.
Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale
Provides ratings for space, materials, and learning activities
among the six categories addressed to ensure that the
environment is developmentally appropriate for young children.
Each item is rated “Inadequate” (does not meet custodial needs)
to “Excellent” (high-quality care).
§ Harms, T., Cryer, D. & Clifford, R. M. (2004).
Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
Provides guidelines for assessing the quality of the physical and
social environments for young children in seven areas, such as

room arrangement, furnishings, displays, and creative activities.
Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale
Contains criteria for furnishings and displays for children,
space, learning activities, and program structure rated from
“Inadequate” (not meeting custodial care needs) to “Excellent”
(describing high-quality care).
§ Jones, E. (1977).
Dimensions of teaching-learning environments.
Pasadena, CA: Pacific Oaks.
Describes the physical setting and the teacher’s behavior along
four dimensions: soft/hard, simple/complex, intrusion/seclusion,
and high mobility/low mobility.
§
National Association for the Education of Young Children.
(2005)
.
NAEYC early childhood program standards and accreditation
criteria: The mark of quality in early childhood education.
Washington, DC: Author.
Standard 9
,
Topic 9A, The Physical Environment
,
contains 15 criteria for assessing the equipment, materials, and
furnishings of the indoor and outdoor environment.
2. Revisit
Figure
9.15
on p.

364
, Indicators of Creative Environments, to assess the quality of
the physical environment, relationships, climate, and learning
outcomes in your field experience or student teaching
classroom. What changes would you recommend after reading
this chapter?
ood education.
Washington, DC: Author.
Standard 9
,
Topic 9A, The Physical Environment
,
contains 15 criteria for assessing the equipment, materials, and
furnishings of the indoor and outdoor environment.
2. Revisit
Figure
9.15
on p.
364
, Indicators of Creative Environments, to assess the quality of
the physical environment, relationships, climate, and learning
outcomes in your field experience or student teaching
classroom. What changes would you recommend after reading
this chapter?

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