Promoting Resilience in Young Children through the Play and Learning Environment

Have you ever found yourself relaxing by a running stream or enjoying the splendor of watching an early morning sunrise? Or have you ever found yourself tensing up as soon as you enter a bright, crowded grocery or department store? Our environment can affect our mood, how we interact with others, our behavior, and even our resilience and ability to “bounce back.”

Young children are also sensitive to their surrounding environment. Their behavior and their development are affected by how we arrange both our indoor and outdoor spaces. When designing classroom environments, it is important to take into consideration the likes, dislikes, and cultures of the children and families enrolled in the program. The same is true for the home environment. Well-designed spaces that allow for movement, active, imaginative, and quiet play contribute to children’s overall development and well-being.

What research says

Adults play a central role in creating a warm and caring program environment that encourages both emotional and social learning. By establishing this supportive climate, teachers can help young children discover themselves and begin to establish positive relationships (Epstein, 2009).

Well-organized, well-equipped, and well-maintained environments support program quality by fostering the learning, comfort, health and safety of those who use the program. Program quality is enhanced by also creating a welcoming and accessible setting for children, families, and staff (Hyson, 2008).

Higher classroom quality has been linked with increases in expressive language skills (Mashburn et al., 2008), fewer behavioral problems (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Bryant & Clifford, 2000; Rimm-Kaufman, LaParo, Downer & Pianta, 2005); and higher behavioral engagement (Downer, Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2005; Pianta et al., 2002).

The best way to think about your environment is to think about how it can help you achieve your goals with children.

Goal 1: Our rooms should make children feel welcome and safe.

• Keep toys and materials clean, carefully stored, and not broken. This makes children feel that they too will be kept safe.
• Give children a place to keep their own belongings. This makes them feel welcome and included.
• Hang pictures of children’s family members at eye level. This makes them feel more at home in the classroom.
• Hang pictures of children and adults from different ethnic groups and cultures, especially those represented in your program. This shows children that all people are welcome at your school.
• Keep books, pillows, clothes, and other home-like artifacts in the classroom. This gives children a message of respect and acceptance of different cultures.

Goal 2: Our rooms should encourage self-directed play and imagination.

• Keep toys and materials on low, open shelves that children can reach easily. This allows them to feel secure in finding what they want to use.
• Teach children to be creative and use their imaginations when they are faced with the challenge of not having enough materials and supplies. For example, a block can become a milk carton for their housekeeping play and a shoe can become a pretend telephone.

Goal 3: Our rooms should be arranged so that children can be away from others when needed.

• Provide a supervised place for children to go for privacy if they feel tired of interacting with their peers. Many children are in child care for 10 to 12 hours a day, and may occasionally need a break from other children.