Children and learning environments

A large part of every child's childhood takes place at school, in the places where their friends play and move around and the pathways in between. The access to and experience of these environments has a major impact on a child's health and development.

When designing the indoor and outdoor environment of a preschool or school, we put the child at the center and are committed to an inclusive approach based on children's different needs and ways of learning. The learning environment should provide pedagogical support that reflects the needs of the activity and promotes experiences of independent learning, belonging, motivation and creativity. In the schoolyard, in leisure and sports environments, children should be offered activities that encourage them to be active, where the threshold for participation is low and new rules can be created together.

When designing a learning environment, we make sure that children are given the opportunity to express their opinions and have their voices heard, for example through joint location analyses and creative co-creation processes. By collaborating with, for example, educators or recreation leaders, we can give children tools to make their voices heard and then utilize the children's knowledge, thoughts and ideas in further work.