Every child likes to have her own space where she can relax, have fun, learn new things and explore her imaginations. A conducive and pleasant space in your home can put forward your child’s abilities & interests and help your child avoid monotony in her routine. Also, having a personal space can make your child realize her responsibilities, encourage her to keep things organized and make her more careful in handling her chores. Moreover, a spacious and properly ventilated room can help your child have a healthy body and a concentrated mind.

If possible, you may designate a separate room for your child where she can spend productive hours in learning activities. However, availability of a separate room should not be a restriction in providing for a learning space for your child. You can earmark an area or a corner of your house and create learning space for your child where she can be the queen.

Therefore, you need to create a child’s learning space in your home that best compliments with your home. This learning area should be a place where your child can proudly say “This is my space”. So, for setting your child’s own learning area, it is important that you take care of your child’s interests so that the room or area serves as a reflection of your child’s personality and she feels comfortable in her space.

Here are some creative ideas that can help you design your child’s learning space in a way that she learns, enjoys and spends productive time.

Choose the spacious corner of your house – It is essential that you choose a spacious area of your house for your child so as to provide her with enough space for play area, study area, bedding space and other essential furniture required for your child. Also, make a floor plan according to the dimensions of your room and accordingly choose the size and appropriate furniture for the area. Further, ensure that the area should get the ample natural light throughout the day and there should be at least two windows in the space for fresh air and proper ventilation. Apart from natural lighting, the additional lighting fixtures should be placed at strategic points to maximize the effect. So, make sure that the light must fall properly and glare & shadow must be avoided while reading, writing as well as working on the computer.

Create a Positive Learning Space – To increase your child’s level of concentration, set up a learning pace for your child which is free from all distractions and is equipped with the required school supplies, like pencils, erasers, rulers and books. Make sure that you develop an environment which is cheerful and fun. Choose a place near window, so that the fresh air and natural light is always available to your child. Further, keep in mind that the height of the study table should be according to the height of your child and make sure that the chair is comfortable with a straight back.

Involve your child in setting up the learning area – Ask your child to help you in setting up her learning area as this will encourage her to decide & choose her favourite fixture and fittings. Moreover, giving her the power to make these small decisions will have a big impact on how much she will be motivated to learn and study in her area. You can also involve her in making some stickers and posters saying “Turn off the lights” “Rules of the room” “Study time” etc. to paste it adjacent to the switch boards, near the entrance, study area respectively.

Choose a specific theme – Make a blueprint of the wall design and choose a specific theme for the area as per the interests and age of your child. For instance, you can go for cartoon characters, numerals, alphabets etc. for your toddlers or pre-school child. Further, you can choose a Fairy or Princess theme and can design the part of the room with castle on one wall and princess on other for your little girl. If your child is a teenager, you can choose vibrant colors and prints. Instead of designing the whole walls, you can also opt for wall stickers which can be removed easily later if you want to change the designs.

Include variety of colours – Your child is going to spend the most of her time in her learning space, so create a positive aura inside that area. To bring colours into your child’s learning area, select for best contrasting colour combinations depending upon your child’s liking. For instance, pink or purple correspond perfectly to young girls while red will state the glamour and diva style. Bright blue can set a relaxing atmosphere to the room while yellow, orange, green and other flashy colours can boost the decoration by adding some energy to the place.

Bring in appropriate furniture – Make sure that the furniture you bring in for your child’s room/ area does not occupy much space and keep things in order. To make studying fun for your child, purchase a study table with multiple drawers and shelves to keep her stationery and books properly. Fill the shelves with interesting story books and puzzles to stimulate her learning. Place a desk lamp on her table and a pen stand holder for easy access.  Select a chair depending on the age of your child and opt for ergonomic chairs which will support the back and neck of your child, so that she can study and complete homework comfortably. You can also tell your carpenter to make a virtual tree house for playing and reading her favourite story books, in case there is some extra space in the room.

Create organized shelves for storage – To avoid the confusion and keep the books in an orderly manner, you can either buy a readymade wooden closet with number of drawers of different sizes or tell your carpenter to build a closet of your child’s chosen shape like in a hut shape or a moveable closet with wheels. Once the shelf is ready, let your child participate in arranging her things in it with you, so as to inculcate the habit of keeping the things in order. Further, get some jute or wooden baskets for sorting different items and label them with stickers, so that it becomes easily readable for your child. Get the best use of waste cartons and storage boxes, paint them or wrap them with colourful chart papers and use them to keep clothes, toys etc.

Keep child-friendly material – Keep in mind that your child will be staying here for maximum duration of hours. Therefore, choose painting materials that are child-safe and environment friendly because whatever you put on the walls will be inhaled. Eco-friendly materials include bamboo, cane, recycled plastic and even certain types of metal. Do not bring in glass furniture, tables that have pointed edges. Ensure that the finish is non-toxic and opt for rounded corners on tables to prevent bruises, choose a couch with a cushion back etc.

Choose the right accessories to customize the room / learning area – Colours play an important role in designing and accessories can customize the whole room & make it unique. Depending upon the age of your child, you can decorate the walls with art that supports the learning theme. For this, you can hang framed plant specimens, educational posters & pictures and place a large wall clock in the room so that your child can keep a track of how long she needs to study different subjects. You can also hang shelves on the walls and stock them with dictionaries, encyclopedias and other supplies.

Place a Bulletin board – Place a bulletin board or soft board behind the wall of study table where your child can stick her daily time table, syllabus etc. You can also paste some motivational quotes on the board. Remember, that every area of the room should reveal the character of your child.

Place a big mirror in the room – Every child loves to look in the mirror as it sparks their natural curiosity and helps them to become more aware of themselves and their place in the world. Further, to instill confidence in your child and to let her revise the concepts thoroughly, you can place a big mirror in her learning space and ask your child to decorate it with stars, smileys and butterflies etc. Make sure that you hang the mirror at the appropriate level of your child and it should complement the room & furniture.

Make a creative corner – Your child needs to feel free to create things without worrying that “mom might get upset if I make a mess.” So ,stimulate your child’s natural sense of curiosity and encourage creativity by creating a Graffiti wall on one side of your child’s room and let her scribble & learn by writing. You can also designate a space to games corner and keep some interesting board games, puzzles etc.

Set up a small gym area – You can use a small area of your child’s room or learning area as a small gym where she can practice some simple meditation, breathing exercise, stretching etc. to relax her mind. You can hang a pull up bar to increase the height of your child and place a mat which she can use during her exercises. Further, buy some colourful growth charts and tell your child to keep a record of her height at the end of every month. You can also buy a small weighing machine and tell her to keep a check on her weight. Moreover, you can paste some food charts adjacent to the growth chart and tell her the importance of taking balanced diet and fruits.

Build a maintenance routine – Inculcate the habit of making the bed in your child before going to the school and instruct her to not to throw things around the home .Further, break the bad habits of your child like tossing a book on the floor after or kicking off shoes onto the floor instead of putting them away, drinking something in the room and leaving the cup on the desk and throwing unwanted pillows on the floor instead of putting them in the wardrobe.

Lastly, remember that designing your child’s learning space is a very good thought as it will surely impress your child and will improve your emotional bondage with her. So, make it a learning area filled with parental love so that when your child enters her area, her senses feel your love.

Further, make sure that you involve your child in setting learning space and explain the importance of every area you have created for her learning. Also, encourage her to maintain the right ambience, keep her area clean and throw the litter in the dustbin. By creating a welcoming space which is comfortable and distraction-free, you can help your child establish good learning habits that will last for a lifetime. Hence, with your little efforts and encouragement, you can convert any small or big area of your house into a learning area for your child.

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