Our setting is a big airy room with high ceilings. We've partitioned the space up into 'areas' but how do we create 'cosy' spaces that work for the children and encourage communication?
Most of us have childhood memories of a cosy place in which to hide ourselves away. Perhaps it was under the kitchen table, behind the settee, or outside in a den. It might have been somewhere we shared with others, or went to on our own with a book or a favourite teddy. There seems to be a need within all of us, from an early age to find a space that 'fits' us.
As adults, it's easy to forget just how it feels to be small in a big space. Partitions and dividers help to create corners and discrete areas for different activities, but children still need somewhere to cosy up and bring the world in close around them. Sometimes they will find it for themselves in the setting, avoiding your carefully created book corner and nestling under a table or behind a cupboard to read a book or play with a favourite toy.
Get down on the floor and try to get a child's eye view of the setting. Where would you head to if you wanted to feel safe and secure? What parts of the room would stimulate and excite you? What would provoke you to want to explore? Where would you go for comfort and relaxation? Where could you have a quiet conversation? Where does the sun shine through the window and where is it naturally darker and cooler? You can make the most of all this information to respond to the limitations and potential presented by your big airy space.
SAFE AND CONTAINED
Busy environments with lots going on can be overwhelming for small children. Some children will want to shut the hubbub out, whereas others will want to feel safely contained in a space that allows them to look out at the world and watch what's going on around them from a safe vantage point. It is a physical need that is linked, in turn, to our need for emotional 'containment' and can be missing for some children in a large space, where the lack of physical boundaries can lead to challenging or worrying behaviour.
Sometimes children will need help to use a cosy space that makes them feel safe and contained, or sometimes they will seek it out for themselves, tipping out the contents of a box or basket so that they can get inside. For some children, the act of being 'found' in their hidden space will be important, providing the reassurance that they are 'known' and cared about enough for someone to miss them and go to the trouble of finding them.
Take a look at your resources and see what you have that is flexible enough to provide the opportunity for curling up, hiding away or just sitting in to watch what everyone else is doing. Hang on to big cardboard boxes (fold them flat until they are needed) and think about spare cupboard space as potential for a cosy hideaway. Take off the doors of an empty cupboard (under a counter), add a cushion or a blanket and it won't be long before someone climbs in and gets comfy.
GOOD FOR SHARING
What's special about these smallest of cosy nooks is that they are child-sized only, keeping adults out for the most part. But some cosy spaces are good for sharing. You can't beat a clothes horse and a blanket for creating a den to share with others - a perfect place for developing imaginative play and creating stories; somewhere that encourages communication and talk and offers a quiet space away from the hurly burly of a busy classroom. If you can't find the original kind of clothes horse, they are easy to make and take up little space when they are folded away.
Make the most of these spaces for encouraging quiet, private chats, especially with children who are less inclined to talk in large groups. Whether with you or another child, in these quiet spaces, they can take the time to rehearse and explore the kinds of talk and language they might use later in a group activity or revisit from an earlier story or event, giving you the chance to eavesdrop into relaxed conversations you wouldn't otherwise hear. These observations will provide valuable information about children's interests and concerns, as well as their language use.
DRAPES, TENTS AND DENS
Drapes can help reduce the impact of a high ceiling. Attach them to a wall or partition and create a tented space for sitting or playing under. Make sure there are no trip hazards and change them when they get dusty or have been around too long.
Make sure you provide shorter lengths of fabric for children to create their own drapes, indoor tents and dens. Some children will feel happier with voile or net curtains that allow them to see out, while others will want to create as dark a space as possible.
Provide torches for encouraging children to make the most of dark corners and spaces. Small pop-up tents also work as cosy spaces indoors as well as out and are easy enough to move around. If you have the space, try a canvas gazebo indoors, either at full height or keeping the supporting poles at half size.
Ideally, your book corner will be cosy with cushions and blankets for snuggling up with. But very often the book corner gets used for other activities too, so try to create space for an alternative small book space, perhaps just big enough for one or two children and maybe a teddy to read to.
Cuddly toys are great for encouraging talk in young children and enticing restless or agitated children into safe cosy spaces where they can take a break. Blankets and cushions are also essential and can turn any space into somewhere for a snuggle.
Look for soft textures and let children wrap or roll themselves up in them. For some children, this will meet the strong physical need they might have to feel contained or 'wrapped', which might also link with a wrapping or enclosing schema.
Other children will benefit from the proprioceptive stimulation their brains receive from the sensations of feeling the blanket wrapped snuggly around them. For some children, being held securely on a lap, maybe in a rocking chair or on a sofa will provide the right kind of snuggle space they need. The comfort of an attentive adult, prepared to hold them wherever they are and for as long as they need, is the ultimate in personalised, moveable, cosy spaces.
COMMUNITY PLAYTHINGS: NESTING TIME
Three perfect retreats for nursery-aged children are available from Community Playthings: the Wren Nest (£469, pictured below right), which was designed with one-year-olds in mind; the Swallow Nest (£638) and the Robin Nest (£659, pictured below left). Each features 'branches' for draping fabric over and these can be bought separately, at £62 for two. For days when children want to snuggle up with an adult on a chair, there are Community Playthings' gliders - rocking chairs, regular (£485) and large (£685).
This feature is sponsored by Community Playthings
