Creating an Effective EYFS Classroom Layout

Designing a learning environment for little ones needs careful consideration. It’s important to create an enabling environment for the children that come into your early years foundation stage (EYFS) setting. Children thrive in environments that nurture and empower them, encouraging them to learn, develop and gain important skills.

How do you want the space to look? And how would you like it to make children feel?

Your interior design choices can really affect how the little ones feel and behave in that environment. Let’s look at ways to ensure your EYFS areas feel inclusive, inviting and sparks imagination in the children in your care.

The importance of considered EYFS room design

For many young children, starting nursery, pre-school or primary school reception class is their first time away from home for an extended period of time. Your classroom decor and design should ease the transition from kids’ home environments to an early years setting. It’s important to create a warm and comforting place to help them settle, feel safe and be happy.

1. The way your early years classroom is laid out can affect children’s behaviour and learning success. It’s important to think it through carefully.
2. The room design, furniture, colour and lighting can all influence how children learn, act and behave. Too much furniture, decoration and colour can be distracting and overstimulating. You want to stimulate but not overstimulate. Encourage activity but also create calm. It’s a tricky, but important, balance to achieve with early learning.
3. Remember, it’s not just a kids room. It needs to work for the grown ups that work there too. It needs to be a supportive and enabling environment for the little ones, but also practical and functional for the childcare workers.
4. Maximise the natural light in the room. Ensure nothing blocks the windows. With your decorating ideas, incorporate colours that reflect light. Also consider the temperature to make sure kids are warm or cool enough.
5. Keep your EYFS classroom set up ideas flexible. As needs change, or you want to try out different concepts, you need to be able to adapt your setting to make them work.

What makes a good early years setting?

The early years settings that are truly enabling environments provide endless opportunities for children to engage and learn. But that doesn’t mean cramming it full of play equipment. Keep in mind these room ideas to create a good early years classroom environment.

Provide space

In early childhood, children naturally need space to move, learn and think. A reception or preschool classroom that’s too busy or cluttered can be overstimulating and overwhelming. It can actually discourage learning rather than encouraging it.

Make sure young children have room to move around and develop gross motor skills like crawling, cruising or walking. Making your room more open encourages exploration and play. Reserve floor space for young children to roll around, crawl and play.

Make it safe

In any childcare setting, safety is a major consideration. Make sure the furniture is safe for young children to pull themselves up on. Ensure storage units and bookshelves are sturdy enough so that they won’t topple over. Avoid sharp edges and corners. Make sure that all resources and furniture are age appropriate.

Allow free flow

Let the child take the lead and choose where they want to spend their time. Are they in the mood for role play, crafting or browsing what’s on offer on the bookshelf? By having specific zones set up around the EYFS space, kids can flow from one area of interest to another. This encourages independence and creative thinking.

Stimulate their senses

Sensory play is so important for young children’s developing brains. Look for ways to add smell, texture, sound and even taste to your offering. That could be textured soft furnishings, different scented play-dough, musical instruments or even sand and water or tuff trays.

Be creative with your classroom displays. Engaging, colourful yet clear displays help children to understand a vast array of topics and form part of your continuous provision.

How will the space be used?

Early years settings need to work hard and cater for many different needs. Throughout the day the child’s room needs to stimulate learning, encourage play, enable rest and more. This varies as the child progresses from the preschool classroom to a reception classroom and on through primary school.

Set up mini-learning zones to cater for children’s different needs and interests. That could include:

• Small world area – that could be train tracks, car ramps, a dinosaur land or animal figures, even a construction area with building blocks
• Role play area – dress up and encourage imaginative play as doctors, builders, princesses or astronauts. You may have a home corner with a toy kitchen or play cafe
• Creative area – encourage crafting with crayons, paints, stickers, glitter, glue and clay
• Loose parts – use natural items like logs or stones, or crates and boxes, for interactive play
• Playhouse – den-building, an indoor tent/ teepee, or even creating tents with sheets can be fun and stimulating
• Cosy corner – have a comforting space for quiet time or a reading area
• Writing area – encourage different types of writing and pencil control in a mark-making area
• Maths area – you’re unlikely to refer to it as a maths area, but providing opportunities for counting with blocks or similar equipment helps with development
• Outdoor area – take learning outside if its an option. Phonics, maths, science, English learning opportunities aren’t restricted to the indoor classroom area.
• Things to consider when choosing furniture for young children

It’s easy to choose furniture because you like the way it looks. But furniture for an early years childcare setting has to serve many other functions too.

Easy to clean: kids can be messy! Everything from chairs and tables, to bookshelves and changing tables need to be wipeable and easy to clean.

Durability: children’s furniture needs to be sturdy and able to deal with demanding daily usage

Safe: avoid sharp edges and corners that can cause injury

Age-appropriate: consider the size of the furniture to ensure it’s comfortable for little ones

Storable: you may need to create additional room, so folding or stackable chairs make it easy to clear space

Adaptable: mobile units or bookshelves are useful so that you can change the room layout 

Adjustable: you may want chairs with adjustable heights for grown-ups to use. Adults can lower the chair or stool to be at eye level with kids.

What are the best storage solutions for an early years classroom?

You need to be able to keep clutter at bay in your childcare setting. Being able to easily organise and store resources is vital. Storage solutions that keep everything in place will help to promote a calmer, safer environment. It also teaches children good habits – tidying things away at the end of the day.

• Bookshelves – encourage kids to browse the books to find one that interests them.
• Storage boxes – keep themed items together in storage boxes (eg craft items, construction blocks, sensory toys). Add clear labels so that it’s easy to identify what’s inside.
• Open units – allow kids to explore and discover toys and resources by displaying them at an accessible height.

Discover KI Furniture’s ranges for little ones

Find out why secondary and primary schools across the country choose our products and benefit from doing so. Our projects explain how KI furniture has been the ideal solution for many educational institutions.