What considerations should be taken into account when designing environments that accommodate children's senses?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

When planning colors for the classroom, it is important to think about the amount of time children might spend an environment each day and the program objectives. Brightly colored walls can interfere with the child's ability to concentrate, and therefore more subdued colors such as beige, salmon, and gray can have an overall calming effect, harnessing children's attention and concentration. Sensory rich environments can provide children with a variety of tactile experiences giving children important information about their world. Incorporating a variety of textures with verbal labels can provide important information connecting sensory experiences with vocabulary. Allowing children to explore a variety of tastes give some information about likes and dislikes and augments their developing vocabularies. It is important to note the younger children are driven to place everything in her mouth and therefore safety is paramount. Allergies are an important consideration, and taste-learning experiences must take information about allergies into account. Regarding the sense of smell, smell stimulates the brain in different ways. Incorporating the sense of smell into the environment by adding scented Play-Doh and paints, having potpourri and using slow cookers with apple slices and spices in the environment can provide important stimuli. Sounds can be sensitively incorporated into the environment and children can be taught to tune in appropriately. It is important not to overstimulate, and sounds in the environment need to complement the activity.