PBS 140 Child Care Center Design Guide - The Whole Building ...

CHAPTER 3: ADULTS AND CHILDREN IN THE CENTER
very explorative and messy. At around 12 months, infants eat at low, round
tables. The dining atmosphere changes from a quiet, intimate environment
to an active, social event.
Developmentally appropriate activities for this group include interaction with
teachers, children, and other infants; experiencing the environment through
all the senses; and physical movement through the space. Infants need a
safe, stimulating environment where they can explore, absorb, and organize
information about their world. They exercise muscles by crawling and
climbing on soft surfaces and over slight level changes. They can pull to
standing and practice walking by using low grab bars.
Manipulative, stimulating toys and other learning materials help infants learn
about objects and enable them to develop motor coordination. Toys should
be placed on low, open shelving where the infant can see and grasp them.
In rooms with high ceilings, mobiles may be hung from the ceiling at least
2035 mm above the floor.
The classroom should offer a series of intriguing attractions for crawling
and standing infants, particularly at eye level (300 mm - 450 mm above the
floor). The environment, including toys, aids in the infants’ language
development. The design and scale of furnishings and equipment in the
infant room should support the infant’s activities, while assisting the caregiving
adults. The design must allow teachers to see and hear all the
infants at any given time, and quickly reach any one of them if the need
arises. Infants also must be able to readily see the teacher as they need
the psychological security of a teacher’s presence.
Infants spend time in their outdoor play yard under the supervision of their
teachers safely apart from, but usually in view of, the older children. Infants,
particularly those that are crawling and starting to walk, require outdoor
opportunities to explore and move about the safe world of the infant play
yard.
Teachers may assist infants in their exploration of the world by taking them
on “strolls” through the building and outdoors. Infants, riding in groups in
multi-passenger strollers, benefit from both social interaction and sensory
stimulation from these excursions. Some conditions that will greatly
enhance the quality of care which teachers can provide include the following:
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� Gross motor area (away from the main circulation flow) that is soft and
easily cleaned, with a provision of continuous soft mat. Typically, the
area should be defined by a low (300-450 mm) padded bumper which
may or may not be built-in to contain the crawl area and to provide for
adult seating near infant’s level.
� Low padded risers for level change.
� Visual contact with the exterior at infants’ eye-level.
� Cribs directly observable by teachers.
� Cribs located under soft, preferably dimmer-controlled lighting.
� Toys easily accessible to the infants from open shelving.
� Provision of continuous impervious flooring in the feeding area.
� Provision of space for infants to eat in a social environment (as opposed
to an isolated, lined up high chair arrangement).
Though the actual equipment is provided by GSA, it is essential that the
A/E verify dimensions and indicate the location (using dotted lines) of all
major equipment, particularly cribs and feeding components on the
architectural plans. This will ensure the proper fit and clearances are achieved
in the final result.
The conceptual sleeping area arrangement shown below uses clear vision
divider panels to allow for more efficient placement of cribs. Small, threedrawer
dressers placed between the cribs create the feel of a homelike
bedroom, provide additional storage for diapers, and provide necessary
clearance between cribs. Check with local licensing to ensure applicability.
PBS-140 - July 2003