A child’s development is influenced by a wide range of factors that are governed by both nature and nurture. Understanding some of these factors can help parents address their child’s needs. The environment a child grows up in, attention, affection given by parents, acceptance by parents in daily life, overall diet can be a major influence on his/her life. Below mentioned information can help us to learn more about the role of the environment in child development and how we can provide the right kind.
Introduction
The physical environment for children refers to the physical components of the area in which youngsters grow, work, and play. The physical environment can be virtually anything concrete that children may encounter in their lives. Though physical in nature, the environment can influence young people’s mental and emotional health as well as physical well-being. This is distinct from the emotional, cultural, or learning environments in which children find themselves.
Age-Related Developmental Needs
Safe, responsive, and nurturing environments are an important part of supporting the learning and development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Such environments also help to prevent challenging behaviours and serve as a core component of interventions for infants and young children with identified disabilities. From age two to five, children are affected by the different environmental factors that impact healthy emotional development. Without a healthy social and emotional environment, children will not feel safe about taking risks and exploring the world, and this kind of emotional security is critical for those developmental skills. Children who struggle with an unstable situation at home can develop attachment issues that can impede their emotional development and lead to mental health issues later on. Children thrive in environments that are suited to their interests and developmental stages. In the Reggio Emilia approach, the environment is viewed as a place that is welcoming, authentic aesthetically pleasing, culturally representative of community, embraces nature and filled with purposeful materials. The layout of the environment promotes relationships, communication, collaboration, and exploration through play (L.B. Cadwell, 1997).
Early childhood is the time when children first become aware of differences among people and start to form opinions and attitudes about these differences. Children benefit from environments that have high amounts of rich discourse and print-related experiences. Exposure to meaningful, age-appropriate reading experiences that children can both observe and engage in is related to literacy development. Environments that provide opportunities to explore cultural diversity include baskets, pillows, jewellery made from a variety of materials, puppets, rugs, wall hangings, eating and cooking utensils, recordings of music in many languages and other objects that reflect the world’s cultures. Children can explore diversity in family structure, gender roles, and abilities if their environment contains materials such as dolls, books, dress-up clothes, puzzles, manipulatives, and dramatic play materials that depict a variety of family structures, gender roles, and people with a variety of disabilities.
Importance of aesthetically pleasing environment
Considering the aesthetics of the environment is an important consideration when planning an early childhood programme. This is important not only for children but also for the teachers who work there and the parents who participate. Gonzalez-Mena and W.D. Eyre (1994) stated that aesthetics is a worthy but often unconsidered goal when designing the visual environment for infants and toddlers [and pre-schoolers]. Children are more likely to grow up with an eye for beauty the adults around them demonstrate that they value aesthetics. Aesthetic preferences are very individual but are also cultural. Consequently we need to consider what we like as individuals, but we also need to carefully consider how our environments reflect the culturally and socially diverse communities we serve. Children’s well-being and sense of belonging is, I believe, very much influenced by the things they see in the environment that are familiar to them, that reflect their communities and what they know about their communities and culture.
Some ideas for consideration in setting up aesthetically pleasing and culturally reflective environments may include:
1) Paying attention to props in family making sure there are lots of different opportunities for play – dress ups/dramatic play equipment. Consider how these represent our different cultures.
2) Keeping spaces uncluttered and presenting things well and having a variety different art types around e.g. sculpture, masks, wall hangings from different countries etc.
3) Different images of fairies/gods/mythical creatures from other cultures.
4) Providing lots of different cultural artefacts and props for fantasy play.
5) Music from different cultures for background music or for singing and dancing.
6) Art e.g. real prints and paintings by adult artists e.g. parents who are artists, as well as reproductions.
7) Display photography – images of nature/art/animals/children doing things/children and their families/buildings/scenery/shadows/different cultural groups.
8) Display maps and flags from different countries.
9) Include recycled grocery packaging for dramatic play props – boxes/tins.
10) Use material with different ethnic prints for couch covers, cushions etc.
References
Cadwell, L. B. (1997). Bringing Reggio Emilia home: An innovative approach to early childhood education . New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Gonzalez-Mena, J., & Eyer, D. W. (2012). Infants, toddlers, and caregivers: A curriculum of respectful, responsive, relationship-based care and education (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
This blog post was prepared by Arashdeep Singh (Tykes 2 teacher)
