Bethel Early Learning Center, WA
The Bethel Early Learning Center serves Pre-K students and their families in the Bethel School District. The renovated 9,000-square-foot building includes classrooms, a lobby, reception space, staff offices, and conferences spaces.
The district’s early learning staff believe that young children thrive in nurturing environments that encourage discovery, exploration, and experimentation. In developing a brand-new space for preschool-aged kids, they wanted to make a connection with the outdoors, create zones to support a variety of activities, and ensure the new furnishings would last through years of use. This classroom needed to serve up to 18 students at once.
To provide enough tabletop space for a full class and allow multiple additional large-group configurations, Demco selected three Smith System® Squiggle Tables. The sleek, dynamic shape creates an organic feel while matching the school’s clean aesthetic. Additional smaller tables are set apart from the open areas of the room, enabling students to work individually or in small groups without distraction.
An open space with a graphic rug, preschool-sized chairs, and floor cushions gives groups another place to gather for instruction or play. For a break from the hustle and bustle of the classroom, kids can duck into the Whitney Brothers® Nature Reading Haven, complete with a soft floor mat, interior bookshelf, small windows, and a shatterproof roof with a realistic tree canopy image.
Stations throughout the space include reading and writing, dramatic and sensory play, math and science, and art. Shelves and cubbies at accessible heights allow young learners to store or retrieve books and materials, and freestanding and mounted writing surfaces provide plenty of space for lessons, games, and doodles. The teacher has a central desk that overlooks the rest of the room.
Nature-inspired shapes and colors extend into the common area, where vibrant seating and mounted shelving complement other built-in architectural elements and transition smoothly to the vibrant play space just outside.
Step inside the finished space with this 3D view.