Link hands to organise space

If you want to make your classroom or nursery function more efficiently you need to plan your floor space. Begin by writing down the measurements of all the necessary pieces of furniture that you have and transferring those to a roll of paper or old newspapers so that you can plan where you would like things to go. Next, remove as much furniture as possible out of the room (choose a dry day and you can stack stuff outside). Once you have empty floor space, you can try out different ways of arranging your space until you find the most appealing. Dividing up the room with barriers that allow you to see what is going on everywhere but give the children a sense of differently designated areas is a good way of avoiding a cluttered, muddled atmosphere while retaining a spacious feel. Asco's new Children of the World room dividers (below) are made from MDF with solid wood hands that can be linked to form as large or as small a space to play or work in as you require. You could get the children to name the 'children' room dividers to make it easy when you want them to go and work in that area: 'go and work with Lily and Joe', for example, could mean you want them to go to the quiet corner. The 'children' come as white, African, Oriental and Asian boys and girls that measure 68(h) x 53(w)cm, priced 25 each.