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Introduction:
The learning environment plays an important role in education and development of
children. The environment's setup can dramatically affect children's attitudes
toward and habits of learning. Children need an environment that is organized,
stimulating, and comfortable in order to learn effectively. Creating such an
environment requires arranging a practical physical layout, providing diverse
materials and supplies, and encouraging children to have a sense of belonging and
ownership.
Every teacher knows that a safe, clean, comfortable and attractive classroom can
stimulate learning and help build a classroom community.
Many standards and regulations have been established to maintain the effectiveness
of the learning environment for young children, which differ from country to
another. This paper discusses the importance of the physical environment, the
standards of early childhood settings and the challenges that professionals face.







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The importance of physical environment in early childhood education setting:
Nowadays, parents are busy and work for many hours, so most of the day the child
spends his time in early childhood centre, so the centre should meets the child's
basic needs, supports and encourages children to engage in activities that implement
the program's curriculum. Further, the environment is designed to enable staff to
facilitate the optimum learning for children. Moreover, the environment makes
parents feel welcome, involved, and empowered.
An early childhood environment includes many things. It's a safe place where
children are protected from the harm and are easily supervised. And it's where
important activities of the day like playing, eating, sleeping, washing hands, and
going to the bathroom take place. Children should be provided with multiple sources
of stimulation to encourage the development of physical, cognitive, emotional,
language aesthetic and social skills. (Wardle, (n.d)).
The physical environment enhances children's sense of freedom and independence.
Beyond the basics, however, an environment for young children implements and
supports a program's philosophy and curriculum. (Colbert, (n.d)).
Furthermore, early childhood physical environment can influence how children
behave and how they feel. There are many key issues that should be considered
while designing early childhood Centres which are:
- Safety and health: safety is the first thing to consider related to the physical
environment. Starting with the materials used to build the building itself and
including all other materials used whether in the class room or other areas. The
centre should provide safe and age appropriate materials for children that are free
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of toxics. Also the outdoor materials should be durable, wide enough and have
suitable height.
Another thing is that first aids and some necessary medication in case of accidents
must be available. Moreover the building has to be provided with fire detectors, fire
alarm, and emergency exits...etc. In term of health, cleanness should be considered.
All areas in the centre should be cleaned daily. Furthermore choosing and preparing
healthy food can help maintain the health of children.
- Space: the organization of physical space is an effective predictor of program
quality because it affects what children can do and the way in which they use
materials. According to NAEYC standards, indoor area space should be at least 35
square feet per child without the furniture. The outdoor space should be two to
three times this number- 75-105 square foot per child. Inappropriate use of space or
organization can lead to increasing aggressive behaviour and decreasing social
interaction and non-involvement with tasks. (Marjorie, 2007)
- Comfort: children learn and engage in activities best when they feel comfortable,
so it is important to ensure that all areas are comfortable enough for children. For
instance: the temperature, the air is fresh and the light is adequate.
- Material size: furnishings and tools should be appropriate for the size of children.
For example the chairs and the tables, children feel uncomfortable if their feet
cannot touch the floor. (Developing a child care centre, 2004)

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- Attractiveness: the learning environment has to be appealing to all senses. An
attractive environment is exciting, it invites children to engage, reflects the
variations of culture and representing the community of children in the room.
The early childhood centre is composed of many areas that are beneficial for both
children and staff which are: classrooms, library, bathrooms, and other multipurpose
rooms and an outside area.
Classroom: the area of the classroom should be large enough to allow each
child has his/her space so that children can participate in different types of
activities. Also the classroom should be organized to different interesting
and meaningful areas like: language area, science area, art area...etc.
Moreover, there should be sufficient equipments and materials in each
area. Another important thing is that activities should be displayed for
children on shelved that are at the child height; therefore, children can
depend on themselves. It also makes observation of children easier for the
teacher. Moreover it is important to have bathroom inside the classroom
area because it will be easier for children to use and for teachers to
observe. Toilets and sinks should appropriate for the child size in order to
enable independent access and use. (Butin, 2009)
Moreover, the classroom have to be exposed to some natural light(sun
light) through the windows, besides the light lambs thus to provide
adequate lighting.
Library: it is important to support literacy learning. Appropriate and
different types of books should be provided in the library for both children
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and teachers. Teachers can share different books with children and they
can organize visits to the library. Therefore children develop positive
attitude toward books and toward reading.
Napping area: children under age six should have opportunity to sleep and
rest without being disturbed so the nap room should be located in a quiet
area, next to the library for example. One important matter is that children
should be provided with individual bed and blankets for each child and
teachers have to ensure that children do not share the same bed or bed
prior to washing the bed linen. (Moravec, 2003)

Gym room: gym may seem not necessary for some people; however it is
very important class for children. They can exercise and participate in
different games that are not in the outdoor playground. Also exercising
improves children lifelong fitness. As a result, the gym room size should be
adequate with the number of children to allow them to move freely. Also,
different and useful materials should be provided for activities such as:
balls, hoopsetc. children should have the opportunity to engage in
different exercises.
Store: The centre shall have adequate storage facilities for indoor
equipment. There can be a store for classroom unused materials and
another store for storage of cleaners, flammable and harmful substances. It
is important to lock these stores so that teachers can prevent poisoning
incidents and to emphasize safety of children. (summary of licensing, 2006)
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Kitchen: the kitchen should includes equipment that will function primarily
only to prepare simple meals for children. The kitchen should be accessible
to staff, and other adults. For safety reasons, children will not be in this
space unless guided by an adult and dangers such as hot oil are not
present. The kitchen should be placed in a central location with access to
the service entrance and separate from the classrooms. (Moravec,2003)
The outdoor area: An outdoor space should allow for both free and
structured play. Rubber flooring or another resilient surface should be used
throughout to prevent major accidents and injuries. Age appropriate and
safe equipment and materials should be provided that allow children to
engage in different activities that affect the development of the whole
child domains; for instance: sand area, water tables area, garden, climbing
boards, swings, slides, seesaws, easels, chalks and tricyclesetc. the
proper organization of these equipments can lead to safe and stimulating
playground. (developing a child care center, 2004)
Fences: Play yards must be enclosed by fences to define the play yard,
allow teachers to supervise children easily. Ensure that children cannot
impulsively run out into dangerous situations. The design and height of
fencing should prevent children from climbing or crawling under it.
(standards for centre based long day care, 1993)
Shading: the play area should be exposed to sunlight but Shading is also
recommended to avoid excessive sun for young children. Shading
structures and materials that may be used include trees, exterior screened
rooms, park shelters and structures and umbrellas. (butin, 2009)
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Challenges:
Although there are many standards that have been established by the NAEYC and
other organizations, the challenge here is that there are too many standards.
Therefore early childhood educators or teachers find it difficult to apply them.
An important issue in terms of materials and equipments is that they are expensive
so it will be difficult for countries that have no enough financial support. (Marjorie,
2007).
Challenges in Oman:
The early childhood education facilities in Oman are following the private sector. The
early childhood education has been considered- recently; in other words it is a new
field in Oman. There are many challenges in term of the physical environment. First
of all, many of early childhood settings are not prepared for children or not design to
consider children's development stages. These buildings are ordinary houses and
hired by the owner of the kindergarten. The rooms or the classrooms are not that
wide. It means that the space for each child is not appropriate. It is difficult for the
teachers to organize the materials inside the classroom. Another important issue
exists is that the bathrooms and sinks are not child size so that the teachers need to
supervise and guide children more. But the chairs the tables are child size.
In term of safety, the ground outside are made of concrete so it is hazardous.
Children may be hurt if they fill down. Moreover the equipments those children play
with such as swings, slides...etc are made of metal. Therefore teachers should be
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aware that in summer days children cannot play with these equipments. Although all
these challenges have been mentioned, it does not mean that all kindergartens
setting are this way. There are some of them designed appropriately for children;
most of them are located in the capital city. Also as it is mentioned before that the
early childhood field is new, the government started to but rules for establishing
kindergartens though there are still no kindergartens that are following the
government. Actually the most significant issue is the financial support.
Recommendations:
- Enough funding should be dictated for building early childhood centers
- Standards and regulations should be followed carefully while building a child
care center.
- Assessing the effectiveness of the standards regularly and trying to adapt
them to the environment where the early childhood center is located.
- Supervise the centers from time to another to make sure that they are
applying standards.
- Spread awareness about early childhood centers among parent and society in
general.






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Conclusion:
To conclude, the organization of the physical environment can influence both
children and teachers in the early childhood center so it is important to follow the
standards that guarantee safety and learning of children. It had been mentioned that
an early childhood center includes different areas both in the indoor and the
outdoor that are beneficial for children and these areas need to be safe and
stimulating.














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References:
Kostelnik, Marjorie J., Soderman, Anna K., Whirem, Alice P. (2007). Developmentally
Appropriate Curriculum. New Jersey: PEARSON.
Butin, Dan, Woolums, Jennifer. (2009). Early childhood centers. Retrieved
www.ncef.org/pubs/earlychild.pdf , 2011 from
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December 2
d). Retrieved December 9th,2011 from Colbert, Judith.(n.
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID
Moravec, Joseph. (2003). Child care center design guide. Retrieved December 2
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www.ncef.org/rl/earlychildcenters.cfm from 2011
Wardle, Francis.(n.d).Retrieved December 8th, 2011 from
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Standards for centre based long day care. (1993). Retrieved December 8
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