School is in the air and that means time to start getting your preschool classrooms or homeschool environments ready for your little preschoolers.

When welcoming young children into the environments that they will be spending the rest of the school year many teachers and homeschooling parents like to decorate the walls with educational materials for the children. There are some problems inherent in the way this is often done and I would like to offer 4 suggestions to make sure this is done with the children's educational needs in mind.

Tip #1:

Make sure you do not overdo it. No Clutter.

If you truly want the children to see what you are hanging up then make sure there is not too much of it and it is spaced nicely apart from each other.When children see lots of clutter they tend to see nothing. They tune out and don't even notice the attractive displays that are there for them to see. It is only the adult that can hone in the the artwork to see what is there.

Tip #2:

Hang Low

What ever you do decide to hang, just make sure it is low enough so that the children can actually see it. Aside from hanging too much teachers often hang pictures too high. When children need to crane their necks to look at what is on the walls,the may look once and then forget about it. At this point they forget that it's even there and the artwork becomes invisible.

Tip #3:

Do it with the Kids

Why not wait until some of the children come in and hang some of the pictures and decorations with them. You will be amazed at how much more attention they will pay to the stuff on the walls when they had a hand in hanging it up. They will also often point out the decorations to other children who were not there with them as they are proud that they helped hang up the materials.

Tip #4:

Use Kids Artwork

Whenever you can, use the children's artwork to decorate the classroom.

Any easel painting, collage or drawing takes on added prestige when it is framed nicely with a matching color piece of oaktag and hung on the wall. It takes on a museum quality to it when there is special space given to their creative artwork and the children couldn't be prouder and more interested in what is on their walls.

It is very important that when hanging the childrens artwork and in doing crafts for kids you do it in the educational art approach so that it is truly the childrens work.