How to Refresh Your Classroom for the New Year

January 16, 2025

It’s a new year — a fresh start, a clean slate, and a much-needed reset. Educators and children have returned to school to continue the second half of the school year, making it the perfect time to give classrooms the “new year treatment” and breathe new life into your classroom environments.

Why a Classroom Refresh is Important

With all the responsibilities an early childhood educator has, it is understandable if switching out classroom materials and adjusting classroom centers falls to the bottom of your priority list. However, your classroom sets the tone for children’s learning and creative expression, and it is important for their learning environments to evolve as they do!

Having the same materials and ideas in your centers all year can leave children feeling understimulated and less engaged in learning, and they will most likely let you know they are feeling this way through their behaviors as they seek out stimulation in different ways — wandering around the classroom, fidgety or restless bodies, and trying to engage physically with teachers, children, or materials (e.g., pushing, throwing).

Related reading: 8 Ways to Make Your Classroom Culturally Inclusive Year-Round

 

Take Things One Step at a Time

A classroom reset doesn’t have to happen all at once, especially if it is not already part of your regular routine. Start by asking yourself some reflective questions like these and take it one center at a time:

  • What centers are children not engaging with as much?
  • Which materials are children ignoring?
  • What materials do children often argue over or wait to take turns with the most?
  • What imaginative play ideas have children been exploring?
  • What topics are children interested in learning more about?

a preschool teacher is playing with several children on a classroom table-1

The best part about this reflective process is that the children in your class can be a part of it! Invite children to share their ideas about what toys and materials should go in centers next and what should be swapped out. Involving them in the physical process of switching materials gives them agency, and means they are more likely to engage with the new materials with interest and respect.

 

Set Your Intentions for the Year

Speaking of involving children, a classroom refresh goes beyond swapping out materials. Coming back to school after a long break creates an opportunity to sit together as a class and reset your classroom expectations. 

For toddler-age children, this process will be primarily teacher-driven, but with consistent verbal cues and visual reminders, even our smallest learners can become familiar with classroom cultures and routines. For preschoolers and above, teachers can begin to involve children in this process by creating a Classroom Charter and asking questions like:

  • What do you want to feel when you are at school/in our classroom?
  • What can we do to keep each other safe in the classroom? (E.g., Walking feet, gentle hands, finding a teacher for help)
  • How can we show our friends and teachers we are listening to them?
  • What can we do to help ourselves and others feel better in the classroom?

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Write down children’s ideas and have everyone sign the charter. Now you have a classroom agreement for how children want to be treated and what the expectations are for treating others kindly for the rest of the year!

 

Classroom Refresh Strategies 

Follow along with these strategies to start the new year with a “new” classroom, and make a regular classroom refresh part of your routine!

  • Lean into children’s interests and let them inform what materials you replace or introduce into your classroom. Children are more likely to engage with materials and topics that they are interested in learning more about. Walk around the classroom with a notebook and take notes on:

  1. What you observe children using most (or not at all) and how they use it
  2. Children’s ideas about other materials they would be interested in
  3. What has been in the center for a while

  • Choose materials that can be incorporated into curriculum activities or tabletop choices in the mornings and afternoons. For example: A basket of different size, shape, and color items can turn into a sorting game, can be used to practice sequencing (e.g., smallest to biggest), and can branch off into many different imaginative directions with children taking the lead.💡Additionally, use your curriculum topic to guide you! Whether you’re learning about oceans, space, dinosaurs, or different cultures, include at least one material in each center that relates to what children are learning about. You can always include Our Emotions Cards to enhance emotional learning in any teachable moment!
  • Include sensory elements, either as their own center/station or to enhance your science, math, or art centers! Giving children ample opportunities to learn through their senses helps them become present in their body and opens the door to conversations about feelings practicing perspective-taking with peers. Materials like kinetic sand, homemade slime, water, and ice are all great options that can be easily swapped out or expanded upon in different ways.
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! No need to break the bank when it comes to finding new materials. Spark children’s imagination and creative expression by including recyclable materials (e.g., paper towel tubes, cardboard boxes, tin foil, paper or fabric scraps) in your dramatic play, art, and/or block centers. You can even involve children and their families by encouraging recycled donations for children to build with! Find more activity ideas from our easy-to-use curriculum library
  • Don’t forget the books. Give your classroom library shelf/area the same care and attention by taking stock of what books children gravitate towards, what their current interests are, and their cultural backgrounds/identities, such as the ECSELent Adventures series. Swap out under-utilized books for stories that reflect these aspects each month. 

 

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