Principles of a Prepared Environment

Before we go on a tour of your home to put it together, we must first review some of the basic principles of the prepared environment. As other articles come up in the future, refer back to this one as a refresher on how to best use your prepared environment.

SHELVING

The last article was about the use of shelving instead of the commonly used toy box. Now we will go further in depth on how to optimally use your new shelving. 

The first thing to do after your shelves are in place is to decide what will be placed on them. When choosing toys and activities, you need to think about how your child will use them. How long will this toy keep her engaged? Will he be able to do this activity mostly without help? Is this toy something she will learn from again and again?

Once you narrow down which toys you will use, it's time to put them out. Keeping toys and activities IN something (such as a basket or small tub) on the shelf is best. This way your child can put the activity back in the basket and then on the shelf. Also, having toys in something will keep the shelves looking neat. 

Remember: Make sure that there aren't too many things out on the shelves. This is over-stimulating and counter productive to the natural way of learning. So, only put as many things on the shelves as look neat and uncrowded. DON'T FORGET to rotate the toys and activities in order to keep your child engaged.

ART

Something to remember is that your toddler is much shorter than you are. If you want to hang artwork or pictures, hang some of them at her level. She can appreciate the art more when she can see it and she won't feel that she is living in a world that she doesn't "fit" in.

OPEN SPACE

Your toddler will learn independence and more involved thinking if he is able to move around his environment freely. Designate what spaces your toddler is allowed to play in by making it baby proof and putting up boundaries to spaces he is not to play in. Then allow him to play and explore that space freely.

Also, furniture and other adult trappings should be spread up and not congested. This gives her room to roam, climb and move more freely.

CHILD-SIZED

When at all possible, duplicate adult-sized things within a space with child-sized things. We will go more into this when we go on our tour through your home but it's a principle to keep in mind at all times. Your child lives in a world where everything is made for adults so they don't get to practically use many items until they are much bigger; BUT this is the time in which it is easiest for them to learn skills.  

As you live life, think about life from their perspective. Could you add a child-sized armchair to your living room? Could you build a rough work bench to go beside Daddy's in the garage? Could you purchase a small broom and dust pan to hang beside the household broom? Keep thinking and you will come up with many more possibilities than it's possible to write here.