Research shows that a child finds their creative self-expression through the active exploration of and reaction to their surrounding environments. So if you find your students losing interest in the classroom after a few months, it’s time to change up their environment to help them flourish. By doing so, you can help your students become more successful, stimulate new behaviors and keep them more engaged.
Below are some tips to ensure your classroom continues to provide a stimulating learning environment for your students:
- Blocks of different sizes and materials, balls, soft toys, music and books are great learning tools for young students. Be sure to switch out the items every so often so your students have something different to explore and learn from when it’s time to play. Providing a variety of items will keep their attention and help continue to promote the development of fine motor skills that contribute to academic readiness.
- Adding and changing displays on the walls and around the classroom can stimulate and improve a child’s visual perception, which is constantly changing the first eight years of their life. To keep up with their advancing visual development, surround students with a variety of engaging visuals to reignite their creativity.
- Appropriately sized furnishings that are easily accessible to students encourage independence and exploration. Every few months, bring in new furniture for reading areas, such as bean bag or pillows. Providing new fabrics, sizes and colors will stimulate your students’ senses while they enjoy their favorite book.
- Keep students from getting bored by swapping out new materials for sensory tables, like water, sand or play dough. To further promote learning, ask the children to explore these new materials with their hands and describe their characteristics, such as cold, wet or rough.