Designing Spaces for Children: Sound
What sounds do you associate with childhood? Is it the sound of an ice cream truck making its way through the neighborhood or the reverberating sound of a diving board as someone plunges into a swimming pool? Or maybe it’s a child exclaiming, “Ready or not, here I come!” For me, it’s the sound of a screen door closing when running inside after a long afternoon of play.
The way we perceive sound has an incredible influence on our sense of time, place, and wellbeing. “Every cell in the body registers sound waves,” writes Anita Rui Olds, “We actually hear with our entire bodies, not simply with our ears.”
Unless you are a musician or sound engineer or happen to be undergoing a renovation or building a new space, you probably haven’t spent much time thinking about acoustics. Often we don’t think about the impact sound has on our experiences. We hear what we want or need and tune out the rest. So, what happens when we tune in to our spaces?
If you’ve spent any time in a preschool classroom or a children’s museum you can likely recall the sound of children playing. And it’s probably loud. Perhaps too loud. Spaces for children tend to focus on the bottom half of the room. This makes sense because young children spend a lot of time on or near the floor but when we’re thinking about acoustics it’s important to consider the entire space from floor to ceiling.
Hardwood floors reflect sound and high ceilings create echoes. Including absorbent materials like area rugs, soft pillows, curtains, and other textiles help minimize noise and add texture to your space. To distribute sound more evenly you can vary the ceiling and floor height using furniture like lofts and risers, which also provide children with different perspectives to view their surroundings. Hanging a shadow curtain or draping sheer fabric from the ceiling also helps diffuse sound and creates a “lowering of the ceiling effect” giving way to soft and cozy spaces below.
Sometimes simply opening a window will invite sound into your space. Wind chimes and plants like bamboo and tall grasses respond to the movement of air with sound. Birdhouses attract songbirds. Even incorporating circulating fountains and aquariums in your space will produce the soothing sound of water.
Children are naturally drawn to experimenting with sound and there are so many possibilities for exploring its properties. What does sound look like? Can you draw sound? How does sound feel? Seek out your local museums and parks for sound installations and sculptures. You might experiment with building a sound wall or take a sound walk with children. I just discovered there’s an app that turns footsteps into sounds while walking the High Line in New York City! Once children begin observing their surroundings, there’s no telling where it might lead…
What sounds do you notice in your spaces for children? What strategies help you manage sound? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
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For more inspiration on creating spaces for children, check out our Playful Learning Spaces Workshop.
Start: November 4, 2014
End: November 21, 2014
To register, click here.
