Written by: Report writer Yang Jiqing

The National ”Learning and Development Guideline for 3-6 Year Old Children” points out: “Environment is an important resource for preschool education, Children’s development should be facilitated through environment creation and potent use of environment.” 

The children of POF Qiaojia were mostly 3-6 years old. Everything in the preschool was brand new and full of infinite possibilities. They left their familiar family environment to the preschool with great curiosity.

The project team and teachers made consistent efforts on preschool environment creation in order to provide children with an artistic, harmonious and playful learning and living environment. Great efforts were made for the devising and decoration of the preschool, finally a whole new preschool was presented which was abundantly enjoyed by the children.

Teacher Jin Man of POF Qiaojia regarded environment creation as being an interesting activity which she was fond of. In her spare time she pondered color matching rules, made handicrafts and hence it was not a big deal for her to create preschool environment.

Cartoon or other playful images were the primary materials for the environment creation. Paper cutting, drawing or paining were administered for the layout and decoration.

Preschool is children’s first interaction with society and they had to separate from their parents. Therefore, the prominent theme was homeland and playfulness so that children could feel comfortable in the preschool. The color applied should best not be in sharp contrast or too bright because it is not helpful for their visual development.

Teacher Jin Man also told me that teachers normally only create the general environment, when it came to the layout of a particular play theme corner, or decoration of the details, they would invite children to participate in the process. Children then decorated the preschool with colors or decorations they like.

Last year, teacher Jin Man and her colleagues were invited to create the environment of Puge County Luowu Central Preschool in the neighboring Sichuan Province, operated by HPP. Yi ethnic minority elements were added in wall design and decoration such as cute Yi kids and torches which represents Yi culture from the locality. This was done to help children to immerse themselves in local ethnic culture immersion.

Daping and Yangpeng Preschool in Qiaojia County were renovated as per the standard of the donor. A tree on the light green background wall symbolizes growth and hope. A house and tree were painted on the wall beneath the blackboard in front of the classroom to embody the theme of home. The teacher devised different theme walls for different festivals and seasons. The children followed their teacher to pick flowers and tree branches in Spring, collected fallen leaves in Autumn, or some pine cones from the mountain to decorate the wall. They made flags to celebrate National Day and artificial moons for Mid-autumn Day. Children were encouraged to come up with ideas and mobilized to proactively participate in the creation so that they could feel being owners of the environment.

 They used the classroom space fully by building Kid’s Home, Grocery Shop, Library Corner, and Art Area. In addition, teachers also turned waste bottles and other discarded materials to decorations. This work did not only turn trash to treasures, but also helped children to have various experiences and happiness at different corners. A little cartoon figure holding a book was located right in the middle of the library corner indicating that this was the library corner.    

 Playground is for children to play. A sign with the words “Welcome to the Preschool” was placed near the entrance. We hope children are full of joy when they come to the class every day. The game areas were devised with fun game cartoon settings to make them more intriguing. Apart from this, the cartoon images also carry the message of polite words, behaviors and habits. Children can therefore regulate their behavior accordingly. Pertaining to the planting area, the teacher requested children to bring seeds from home and put them into the soil. Children looked after the plants with watering and weeding etc, so they could not only witness and discern the rules of their natural growth, but the environment of preschool was also beautified.   

The corridor, doors and windows were also part of the work. Teachers generally chose cartoon animal images to imply human nature harmony in order to make the whole preschool environment more vivid. The project team painted a cartoon panda, with lively green bamboo on the wall along the corridor out of Daping Preschool classroom. Parent-Preschool Communication Column and Weekly Plan were put on the wall near the door of the classroom. As a result, teaching information was readily available to parents.

 The current COVID-19 epidemic restrained preschool progress. The preschools have not yet opened and teachers were busy creating the environment of the classroom so that children could spend a happy time in the new classroom whenever the semester will be allowed to open again.

Our rural preschool teachers are normally not graduated preschool education bachelors and their awareness of environment creation was insufficient and correct information in this regard was not abundant. Preschool environment creation is no simple process of just painting flowers on the wall, only different objects in different colors may was attract children,  neither miscellaneous materials should be setup without thought. A good environment creation should be able to help with children’s growth, provide safe environment for their mental health and create a harmonious interpersonal milieu.   

Project Introduction:

HPP Qiaojia Preschool of the Future Project is funded by China Charities Aid Foundation for Children Preschool Education Project. The project aims to establish quality standardized preschools in poor rural areas. The project renovates unused rooms as the classroom for nonprofit preschool, recruits local young people with diploma above junior high school and trains them to become qualified preschool teachers. The course revolves around nature, animal, nutrition, health and how to express ourselves through art and music. This is to let rural children have access to comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, sports and art. The project enrolls children aged 3-6 and forms mixed age classes. The project has two components: update hardware teaching equipment and facilitate teacher development. The project works to create safe and hygiene environment for learning and living, let children have access to high quality preschool education, opportunities of growth in diversified cultures and be well prepared for study in the primary school.

The project is funded by China Charities Aid Foundation for Children Preschool Education Project.

The article only represents the author’s views, not the views or positions of the foundation.