7.5: Developmentally Appropriate Environments

Fig 7.5. Infant play space in child care center.

Image Source: Infants & Toddlers Learning Environments: An Introduction. Virtual Lab School. The Department of Defense Child Development Virtual Laboratory School. 2020.

Developmentally Appropriate Environments

The physical environment in a group care setting powerfully affects children, caregivers, and their interactions. Exploring their physical environment comprises a great deal of the curriculum for mobile infants and toddlers. We must consider the impact of environment on both children and caregivers, and learn to design spaces that contribute appropriately to children's development. A well-designed environment can have enormous positive impact on the well-being of children and teachers. The teacher’s intentional design of the learning environment increases opportunities for children to have engaging and meaningful interactions with adults and peers. Along with interactions, instruction, learning activities, and routines, the learning environment is a central part of preschool teachers’ planning and implementation of curriculum.

The Well-Designed Classroom

A well-designed environment is, of course, safe for infants and toddlers but, more than that, it supports their emotional well-being, stimulates their senses, and challenges their motor skills. Incorporating some relatively simple features into a classroom can result in significant improvement in the way the spaces are used by both children and caregivers.

Careful consideration of the needs of infants and toddlers to move, to change activities at will, to rest and observe suggests additions and changes that can strongly influence the atmosphere of the classroom.

A quality design aims to create a classroom that is

• highly functional
• aesthetically attractive
• age-appropriate
• child-directed
• teacher-supported

A well-designed group care environment

• promotes children's individual and social development. The
• setting, layout, and equipment give infants many opportunities to challenge themselves through seeing, touching, feeling, and moving
• surroundings that are safe to explore freely, infants learn to map their environment cognitively, to manipulate it, and to master it

The following considerations provide a starting point for the design of a childcare environment:

• group size
• room size
• flooring
• lighting
• color
• storage
• ease of supervision.

Space for Movement

Movement is essential to a child's physical and emotional development. Once an infant can crawl and pull themselves up, moving becomes a major focus of the day. Even if there is nothing safe in the classroom to climb on, they will find a way to climb-onto tables and shelves,rocking chairs, and highchairs. Because these activities are unsafe, the teacher will redirect the child off the piece of equipment. The message the child receives is that what they are interested in doing is not okay. Self-initiated exploration, a primary focus for healthy development, is prevented instead of promoted.

Creating a classroom that supports appropriate movement is a fundamental component in designing a developmentally appropriate environment. Motor competence and emotional competence are closely linked in infants and toddlers.

Feeding oneself, crawling to a desired toy and picking it up, climbing to the top of a loft, and going down a slide are all activities that help the infant develop a sense of self, a feeling that they are capable, that they can achieve, that they can master.

Poorly-Designed Classrooms

Many classrooms are simply not designed to meet the developmental needs of infants and toddlers in group care, nor do they support teachers in their role as facilitators of children's learning and self-directed play.

In infant/toddler classrooms without a design specifically aimed at supporting children's development young children

• spend much of their time aimlessly wandering about the room or
• are only engaged in teacher-directed activities
• lack opportunities for self-directed exploration and focused play

When children are not appropriately engaged:

• aggressive behavior increases
• the caregiver says "no" to the children far too often
• the caregiver acts as police officer and custodian
• manages behavior instead of facilitating individual and group needs

Environmental Screening Tools

Just as a caregiver can use screening tools to assess the development of the child, the caregiver can use screening tools to assess the appropriateness of the environment. One typical tool that is used is the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ITERS-R™) is a thorough revision of the original Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS, 1990). This rating can be used to indicate the quality of a childcare center.

The rating scale consists of 39 items organized into 7 subscales:

• Space and Furnishings
  • Indoor space
  • Furniture for routine care and play
  • Provision for relaxation and comfort
  • Room arrangement
  • Display for children's work
• Personal Care Routines
  • Greeting/departing
  • Meals/snacks
  • Nap
  • Diapering/toileting
  • Health practices
  • Safety practices
• Listening and Talking
  • Helping children understand language
  • Helping children use language
  • Using books
• Activities
  • Fine motor
  • Active physical play
  • Art
  • Music and movement
  • Blocks
  • Dramatic play
  • Sand and water play
  • Nature/science
  • Use of TV, video, and/or computer
  • Promoting acceptance of diversity
• Interaction
  • Supervision of play and learning
  • Peer interaction
  • Staff-child interaction
  • Discipline
• Program Structure
  • Schedule
  • Free play
  • Group play activities
  • Provisions for children with disabilities
• Parents and Staff
  • Provisions for parents
  • Provisions for personal needs of staff
  • Provisions for professional needs of staff
  • Staff interaction and cooperation
  • Staff continuity
  • Supervision and evaluation of staff
  • Opportunities for professional growth

New curriculum and program items in the revised ITERS include: Helping children understand language; Nature/science; Use of TV, video and computer; Free play; and Group play activities. Items have been added to make the scale more inclusive and culturally sensitive, to address professional needs of staff, and to reflect the latest health and safety information.

In Wisconsin, The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ITERS-R™) is used as the foundation of the YoungStar Quality Rating System.

Sources

• Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale®, Revised (ITERS-R™). University of North Carolina Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute .
• Infants & Toddlers Learning Environments: An Introduction. Virtual Lab School. The Department of Defense Child Development Virtual Laboratory School. 2020.
• Stephens, Cindy. Key Components for Creating Early Childhood Environments. Principles and Practices of Teaching Young Children. LibreTexts Social Sciences Library. Shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Cindy Stephens, Gina Peterson, Sharon Eyrich, & Jennifer Paris (College of the Canyons) .Key Components for Creating Early Childhood Environments. January 2025.