Why Classrooms Shouldn't Be Bursting With Decorations?
School can be a horrible place for children of all ages. A child's first encounter with school and the classroom environment starts when they first enter preschool. We have all seen our preschool classrooms before. It's filled or exploding with colourful charts, numbers, letters of the alphabet or super old pictures.
Take a peek at a local kindergarten and you'll find that the decorating style hasn't changed for decades. It's the same in primary and secondary schools.
It is high time that we talk about this for the sake of our children's education and to make sure the well-meaning actions of our teachers actually pays off.
So, why should we change our heavily decorated classrooms?
1. It is overwhelming
Most of us go a little overboard with the decorations. We believe it makes the classroom look welcoming but it can backfire as well. This is because a classroom that's jam-packed with colours and posters is visually overwhelming for children. It does not give off a sense of calmness but chaos.
2. It is a distraction
One of the many worries a teacher has is whether they can control the classroom. If you find it hard to get the kids to pay attention, it could be the distracting decorations in the room.
The decorations are all 'shouting' at them in the face in each corner they turn. The decors become clutter. And believe it or not, it'll stress out teachers as well on one of their bad days.
Kids have their off days too. If one of them go into a meltdown, you'll really want a calm environment so they can wind down. A cluttered classroom is not going to help that.
Think about the time when you felt anxious, overwhelmed or stressed and what you needed to help you calm down. For sure, it is definitely not an overly cluttered room.
3. Not all of the decorations are stimulating
It helps to have educational charts in the classroom but do you need all of the posters on the wall?
But wait, does this mean the walls have to blank? No.
To create a learning environment that is welcoming, the classroom decors need to look like a normal home. In a classroom setting, teachers need to harness the art of balancing the number of decors they want to put up on the wall.
Some suggestions to balance out the decors are to:
+ Take stock of the items on the wall and have a think whether EVERYTHING needs to be up.
+ It'll be helpful to leave a space to rotate art works on display.
A sample of a good balance when it comes to decorating. Source: Kiddy123.com
+ For learning charts or posters, try not to display everything. It'll be fun to surprise the children in each lesson. This way they'll probably be more engaged or excited during the class especially if they haven't revisit the topic for some time! A little help goes a long well!
+ Go for minimalism and remember to keep helpful decors at the level of children's eyesight. Even the parents don't even look up the wall that high up.
The takeaway is that teachers should exercise some caution when it comes to preparing the classroom to welcome school children. We want them to feel safe and welcomed, and one of the ways to easily do that is to decorate the classrooms mindfully.
Source: polkadotsplease.com
You can read more about this from this article by the Association for Psychological Science. In the article, they highlight how a heavily decorated classroom can disrupt learning and attention in young children.
You can also read a teacher's blog where she shows the before and after transformation of her classroom! It's beautiful, except I'm not too keen about the decorations that were placed super high. It's probably more for the parents.
What are your thoughts about the extra dextra classroom decorations? I welcome your thought in the comments!