Setting up the your classroom can have a big impact on the children in the classroom and the overall feel of your daycare center. While there are different strategies about the initial room setups, it's important to consider how often the decor should change and evolve based on different themes and values that you are trying to promote.
Let's take a look at a few different approaches classroom decor:
Especially when used in combination with another theme below, seasonal themes provide an ever changing opportunity to keeps curriculum fresh while keeping children engaged. Example seasonal themes that provide ample opportunities might be based on holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, or Easter.
These season themes can often be matched with a natural theme that isn't tied to season. Example natural themes might be "Under the Sea" where children can learn about fish, crustaceans, and turtles. A "Rainforest" theme might show different animals and how they adapt to their habitate while a "Farm Animals" might talk about how we utilize animals for milk and wool (I'd probably recommend skipping the "Where does meat come from?" question).
Wall art gives an opportunity to inspire children and stimulate their artistic. It's important to focus and hang this art at a child's eye level. Wall are also gives the ability to provide additional passive education by showcasing posters about animals, planets, or the alphabet. While motivational quotes can also enhance a classroom you'll need to make sure that your children are of reading age!
Setting up cozy spaces provides a natural way to create districntion between different parts of the room. This also might provide comfort to certain children that excel and find comfort in certain skills. For example, certain older children might find that a reading nook provides them a quiet space with comfortable seating and bookshelves.
For centers that have available areas, setting up a dramatic play area can help kids as they develop their imaginations. A dramatic play area can have toys that encourage opened free play or a bit more structure with a pretend kitchen, doctor's office, or store.
Adding natural elements to your room will help develop your room into a welcoming space so that it doesn't feel cold and sterile. Natural elements such as plants add greenery to the classroom and provide something for kids to "care for" with potted plants or a small herb garden.
Incorporating natural materials like wood, stones, and feathers help bring additional warmth. You can also bring nature inside the classroom by using pictures, videos, or samples of natural objects.
Finally, children feel comfortable when they have ownership of their space. You can help drive this in the classroom by displaying photos of the children and staff. Having a child's favorite toy as an element of the room's decor or finding a cultural representation emparts to a child that they are welcome in the classroom and that you understand their emotions and needs.
Remember, the most important thing is to create a space that is inviting, stimulating, and safe for children to learn and grow.