Keep the classroom inviting, not distracting.
~ Zeba from Episode 93 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast
Episode Summary
In this week’s episode of our Classroom Setup Mini-Series, we’re focusing on how to set up your classroom in a way that naturally invites curiosity, creativity, and exploration. Something every kindergarten classroom needs.
I’m sharing simple, teacher-tested ideas for creating thoughtful play areas like a science center, sensory table, block corner, and dramatic play zone—even if you’re short on space. You’ll also hear tips on how to decorate with intention (not clutter), how to follow your students’ interests, and how to keep things calm and engaging without overstimulating visuals.
In this episode I share:
- What to include in your science and sensory centers
- How to follow student curiosity in everyday routines
- Why less is more when it comes to classroom decor
- How your modeling can encourage creativity
Related Learning:
- Setting Up Classroom Play Areas
- Do’s and Don’ts of Classroom Decor ~ Ep. 42
- How to Set Up A Kindergarten Science Center
Classroom Decoration Resources:
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript
[0:00] Hey, teacher friends, it’s Zeba from Kindergarten Cafe, and we are continuing our mini-series on classroom setup by focusing on setting up a classroom that invites curiosity and exploration. So some tips and tricks to invite curiosity into your everyday classroom setup.
[0:18] Music. You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe Podcast, where kindergarten teachers come to learn classroom-tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away. I’m Zeba, creator and founder of Kindergarten Cafe, and I help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs, and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love? Let’s get started.
[1:20] So of course we want our students to be curious and we want them to explore and be creative. How do we do that? Definitely setting up play areas can help with this. And kindergarten classrooms should have designated play areas. I know some schools are forcing kindergarten to not have play areas. We’ll talk a little bit about things you could do creatively instead. Maybe having a tray or a bin you can pull out for this setup, you know, a pop-up play area. but if you can’t have this whole designated space for it it’s better. So one play area that definitely ignites curiosity and creativity and exploration is a science center. For me I don’t have the space for a full-on like area of the classroom. For me I have a big counter space which I try to keep pretty blank but I do have a tray that I put things on it for kids to observe. I put magnifying lenses and observation sheets around there. Sometimes if it’s something really new and exciting, I’ll put it on the table when the kids are arriving and they’re doing playtime. Things you can put on the Science Center to help with them exploring. Things you find out in nature. Go for a walk and just find things and bring it in and see what they do with them. See what they want to explore with them. Like leaves, rocks, flowers, sticks.
[2:36] Things like that. Especially like in the beginning of the year when it starts to be more like fall. if you have fall leaves and how they’re changing, things like that. Then different things you might do for your science lessons like we have. We grow ladybugs, so they start as, Eggs and larva, then pupa, so that goes in the science center and the kids are observing that. Growing plants, things like that. I’ll bring in gourds or pumpkins or apples, magnets, just things that they can explore with. It’s supposed to be open-ended. It’s supposed to be based more on what the kids are interested in or what they’re curious about. If they’re exploring with a gourd, let’s say, and they’re curious to see inside, cut it open, let them see inside. But having a science center, or like I said, for me, it’s a science tray, is definitely a great way to have an area of the classroom that ignites creativity and curiosity.
[3:38] Another area that is huge for igniting curiosity and creativity is a sensory table. In the beginning of the year, I always have sand in there because it’s familiar to them and just kind of easy to maintain. So it’s a good way to get them learning the routines of the sensory table and how everything that’s in the sensory table needs to stay in the sensory table. Eventually, we’ll take out the sand. we’ll switch it for water beads or pom-poms or straws or water just straight up water in there some people might put rice or beans i read an article once about not playing with food because it sends the wrong message about food and how food should not everyone has enough food basically is what it came down to and not playing with food as a way to not like make it seem okay that some people have extra food and some people have no food. I don’t know. Ever since the article, it really had an impact on me. And so I just, I don’t use rice or beans in my sensory table, but I know lots of people who do. So make your own decision. But having that sensory table definitely encourages kids to explore and be creative and curious. Like what happens if you put water in the sand? What.
[4:57] Oh, sometimes I just put ice in there, like a big block of ice. And what happens when you add water to the ice? What happens if you put food coloring on the ice? And just letting, following their questions and then offering ways for them to explore. What do you need to try that out? Oh, you need a straw?
[5:15] Okay, here you go. Or you need some water? Here you go. it’s really cool to let them take the lead and let them try things out and explore and so having that area of the classroom is going to be really important a third area that’s really helpful to have in a classroom to keep kids exploring and being curious is a block area having different kinds of blocks or like construction materials kid construction materials even natural elements like stones or sticks. They just get to build. They get to build anything they want, which is amazing. And they get to try out different structures. And what happens if you put this kind of block on top? Will it be stable? Will it fall down? Will it be wobbly? All of that is really good experimenting, right? They have an idea in their head. They try it out. It works or it doesn’t. They fix their strategy and they try again.
[6:09] That’s the perfect scientific method right there. You might also have a dramatic play area where you kind of follow the kid’s interests and you set it up differently. And so the kids can explore with different things like a grocery store, a post office, a vet’s office, whatever they might be interested in the moment. You could set it up that way and let them role play, problem solve, but explore different materials from that area or imagine different scenarios. So something to consider when setting up these play areas to encourage curiosity and creativity we do want to add a few simple theme-based decorations like picture cards or a word wall card in the dramatic play area like what different vocabulary words might be classroom made things to spark imagination in the block area i’ll put like some real life photos of structures.
[7:05] As inspiration, but definitely don’t over-decorate these areas. We don’t want distracting or busy visuals. We want to keep the areas inviting, but not overwhelming. We want to leave space in the blankness of the area for the kids’ creations
[7:22] and the kids’ curiosity and the kids’ thinking. This is connected to your overall classroom decoration. You know, if you’re doing a wall display or bulletin board or hanging up student work, you want to make sure that it has a purpose. Maybe that purpose is to create curiosity or maybe it’s to showcase student work and value their work, but we want to make sure that there’s a purpose to putting something on the wall. Maybe it’s being used for students to reference if they’re writing or reading or something, but if it doesn’t have a purpose, it shouldn’t be on the wall because it just becomes distracting space and that can really shut down kids from having the brain space to be curious and creative.
[8:08] You might consider adding some plants or natural materials, like I said, for the science area or, you know, near the science area. But again, not too much clutter. Keeps the classroom inviting, not distracting. When you’re thinking of your theme or your decorations, you can choose neutral or common colors for your classrooms. I like light blues, soft greens to promote focus and curiosity. Have the student created artwork space to the walls to give them a sense of ownership in the space but have it not be like all over the room have a designated area for that and use minimalistic open shelving so that the materials are accessible but not cluttered that’s what you do want to do what you don’t want to do is use bright busy patterns or neon colors that can be visually overstimulating and you don’t want to overcrowd the walls with excessive posters or decorations that might distract students from their learning.
[9:05] I love posters that have the motivational phrases and all that stuff, but there’s no real purpose to having those on the wall. So don’t put them up there. A lot of the kids can’t even read them, especially in kindergarten. So if it’s just like blank wall space to them, take it down and have blank space. It’s good to have blank space around the room so that it’s not distracting to kids when they’re trying to work or be creative.
[9:32] One other thing that doesn’t really involve classroom setup, but is important for having a classroom that encourages curiosity and creativity, but model that as a teacher.
[9:42] Model asking questions and exploring different ideas, asking open-ended questions to the students to prompt them to follow their curiosity and their creativity. And let them explore topics that are of interest to them. Even if you have a curriculum you have to follow, the play areas are spaces where you can really follow their leads. Or maybe you can weave in their interests into some of the academic content that you’re doing. But definitely find a way to explore topics that are of interest to the kids.
[10:15] Value the things that are of interest to them. So this episode was all on creating a classroom that invites curiosity and exploration. Something really important in all classrooms especially in kindergarten when they are just trying to understand the world around them and next week we’ll really talk about how to balance when you’re setting up your classroom how to balance play and learning and routine and all that so our mini series on classroom setup continues next week.
[10:48] Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe Podcast be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies if you liked this episode the best ways to show your support are to subscribe leave a review or send it to a friend i’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips see you then.