Preschool should provide children with a healthy, enriched and safe environment for living and activities, where they can be well-developed both in mind and body in a happy childhood, and enjoy a balanced development of body, mind and spirit. The environmental creation of preschool plays an active and invisible role.

Before the start of Qiaojia County Rural Community Preschool of Future Project, Research Team of HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE has visited and investigated six school sites, where the school buildings were found safe and provided with complete ancillary facilities, including toilet, kitchen, classrooms, noon break rooms and activity venue. But the classrooms and noon break rooms of preschool need to be repaired and renovated to be more suitable for children's life and study.

Classroom before renovation

Classroom before renovation

Classroom before renovation

As the classrooms were transformed from the ones of previous elementary school, the decorations were antiquated. For example, indoor walls and floors are dirty and mottled, and some tables and chairs are old and damaged. The classrooms need to be painted and decorated to offer a better educational environment in the rural community preschool. After consultation with Qiaojia Education Bureau, the project staffs organized the preschool teachers, parents, and other project personnel of HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE to paint and decorate the old classrooms of Maiping, Fatu, Shuitang, Yeyatang and Xiaotian preschools.

Assisting in beautifying, painting, and arranging classrooms of Yeyatang Preschool

Wall treatment

Everyone divided responsibilities and coordinated the work. A group of people was responsible for smoothing the wall with sandpaper and then painting it. Another group of people was responsible for cleaning the floor to remove debris. The children's favorite cartoon characters, animal and plant color patterns, and the prominent elements were selected as wall decoration patterns upon the discussion and careful planning. The teachers exerted their strengths to draw a vivid picture. Everyone was working and drawing carefully under the scorching sun, climbing. In a few days, the walls of classrooms have taken on an entirely new look.

Hand drawing on the wall

Hand drawing on the wall

Under the concerted effort of everyone, the interior layout of classrooms has also been re-designed, in addition to indoor and outdoor wall beautification. Different types of picture books, toys, and water cups were classified and arranged. The teachers made vases with readily available materials, cut out beautiful flowers, leaves, and small animals from colored paper. The design of indoor corners made the indoor atmosphere alive.

A new classroom after renovation

The teachers used colored paper and green plants to decorate the wall.

Clean and tidy tables and chairs

Reading corner

Corner of the Classroom

Corner of the Classroom

Children in a new classroom

Thank the project team and teachers for their concerted efforts and imagination. In the process of environment creation, they not only took into account the educational elements to accord the goal of environmental creation with the goal of preschool education, but also focused on ensuring that environmental creation was appropriate to the characteristics of children's physical and mental development. The respect and care for children were reflected in every detail from the creation of physical environment to the creation of psychological environment. In the next step, the project staffs will train the teachers about how to apply the corners in the teaching and how to use the existing facilities and equipment efficiently.

Environment Creation Team

About the Project:

This case is sourced from HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Qiaojia County Rural Community Preschool of Future Project, for which Qiaojia Education Bureau entrusted The Federation for Associations connected to the International HUMANA PEOPLE TO PEOPLE Movement  (Switzerland) Yunnan Representative Office to provide consulting services for the Project and set up 5 community preschools in Qiaojia County. The purpose of Rural Community Preschool of Future Project is to help poor children get rid of poverty; establish preschools in village communities in outlying poverty-stricken areas, transform the unused or spare classrooms and activity room of local schools to preschool classrooms, recruit and train preschool teachers locally, and set up parent committee to assist schools and Project in managing preschools. Usually, the preschool will enroll children aged 3-6 to form a mixed-age class. The children in remote rural areas can be well prepared for entering primary school after they received preschool education.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Qiaojia Education Bureau.