Inclusive education: promoting calm spaces
We all need some downtime – time to relax and rest in a calm space, absorb the day and decompress. What this space looks like is very personal and takes many forms depending on the kind of person we are. Some people would rather immerse themselves in a fictional world of a novel curled up on the sofa, whilst others would opt to lounge in the sun and sit amongst nature.
Taking the time to relax and be in tune with our present selves is important for everyone, including the infants and young children we work with. Providing calm spaces in the early education and care provision is essential to establishing a holistic approach to wellbeing within setting. Some children might utilise this space more than others and, especially for children with special educational needs, we can continue to build an inclusive education environment by creating a purposeful, regulated relaxation provision.
What is a calm space?
What we find to be ‘calming’ can be quite different for every individual. Some of us find it relaxing to sit still and listen to soft music whilst others might find it difficult to stay static for a prolonged period. Relatively speaking, calm spaces aim to promote a sense of tranquillity and peace, allowing time to ‘slow down,’ where we can focus on the here and now.
We can think about calming spaces both as activities we engage with and the environment we engage with them in. Both aim to encourage mindful practice and emotional regulation to promote positive wellbeing, and minimise feelings of distress and overwhelm.
Activities might include:
- mindful activities, like yoga for toddlers
- creative opportunities, like painting
- sensory activities, such as messy play provisions.
Environments might include:
- cosy corners for resting time
- book areas to promote quiet space and independent time
- sensory provisions, like sensory tents and soft play spaces.
Providing an emotionally safe space for children to become in tune with their current feelings and regulate their sense of belonging is inherent to opportunities for rest and relaxation. Young children are developing their emotions day by day, learning to manage their feelings and empathise with others. As they learn to react to their feelings and begin to articulate their unique emotional responses, children can often become overwhelmed with sudden influxes of unfamiliar emotion.
Visible and accessible calm spaces within the setting promote a recognition and priority for wellbeing but also offer an accessible way for children to self-regulate and act independently when they are feeling a calm-down time is needed.
For children with special educational needs recognising when we need time to ourselves can be tricky to identify and regulate which can lead to distressing behaviours such as hitting and shouting. By providing key environments and structured activity areas for promoting calm space, we create an equal and accessible opportunity to support every child with their emotional wellbeing.
Some opportunities for calm
Cosy corners
Commonly referred to as a cosy corner, these special spaces provide a soft, comfortable zone for resting. This can be especially important for young children who are transitioning through sleep routines, such as dropping a nap, or for children with physical disabilities who can use the space for supporting their physical movement in a relaxed and reassuring provision.
Hygge in early education and care is an approach that works to prioritise this feeling of calmness and cosiness within setting to cultivate a sustained sense of specialness in the environment.
Sensory area
Sensory areas are a wonderful way to promote mindful practice and encourage children to pay attention to detail, focus on the present and promote positive feelings of a slow-paced environment. Some settings might be lucky enough to have a sensory room of their own, which is often a darkened space populated with a variety of sensory lights and textured equipment to explore. For those settings who aren’t able to accommodate to an entirely separate room, sensory areas are an effective way of promoting a continuous environment for sensory play. This option might be smaller in size but has great opportunities for providing independent inquiry for children to choose for themselves where they need to be.
It's important to recognise the difference between a calm sensory space and sensory play as a dynamic activity, such as messy play in the garden. Sensory play has a variety of benefits, just one of them being the support it gives to our emotional development. For children with sensory processing needs, engaging in a messy activity can cause elevated levels of stress due to sensory overwhelm. Whilst it’s great to use sensory play across all areas of learning, maintaining a sensory environment that is quiet and restful is an important aspect of continuous provision too.
Mindfulness time
Mindfulness is a rapidly growing movement and evidence suggests it has a profound impact on the emotional development of young children as well as on adults’ wellbeing.
Mindful activities with young children are easier than you think! There’s a developing number of trained external providers for sessions in children’s yoga and mindfulness, but providing a continuous provision that supports mindful activity is just as beneficial for supporting children who prefer regular engagement in calm activity throughout the day or to encourage decision-making for self-regulation.
Be careful that your planned activities might not suit all needs. For example, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might struggle more than their peers to stay still or focus for a longer period of time required of mindful activities.
Creative activities
Provisions that highlight the value of creative processes and production are often attentive to thoughtfulness and creating peaceful surroundings for calm provision. Creative activities could include arts and crafts provisions that are process-based and encourage self-direction throughout. In doing so, children are encouraged to be present in the moment, developing a sense of tranquillity in the activity that is not often found in a busy provision like the art area. Making a concerted effort to establish ‘quiet time’ is an inclusive way to encourage children with sensory needs, who may not usually engage with this area of learning, into creative thinking.
Final thoughts
The early education and care environment is a busy one with often lots of noise, colours and things to do! For children with special educational needs and disabilities, engaging in this kind of constantly occupied space can become overwhelming and result in emotional dysregulation.
Promoting both calm environments and activities provides children with accessible ways to relax and rest when things become overwhelming. It’s best practice to always have a ‘calm space’ available for children to access by themselves, encouraging them to develop their sense of self in the environment by taking the autonomy to utilise calm spaces independently when needed.
Have a look at NDNA’s ‘Healthy Body Happy Me’ campaign to learn more about the importance of responding to children’s emotional needs, including relaxation time.