Welcome to the Kindergarten of the Future!
Mushroom lighting! Botanical Solar Tree! Sound-absorbing Paint! Woodflake Skin & Walls!
How can we design a space for young children that encourages curiosity, creativity, play, and learning? What attention should designers pay to maximising ecological well-being?
This continues an idea we explored in more depth in Biomimicry and Biophilic Design: Stepping into Kindergarten — this is biomimicry applied to childhood spaces themselves — not just teaching kids about nature’s designs, but building their everyday environment out of them.
During the first years, a child’s brain develops rapidly, forming billions of new connections between brain cells. Considering the importance of the first years for a child’s development, it is somewhat surprising how little attention has been devoted to developing ideas related to designing the best learning spaces for young children.
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Last autumn, I needed a break and a challenge, so I decided to explore ways to design a learning space for kindergarteners. The aim was to create a dynamic, responsive learning environment to foster a connection between children and the natural world. Drawing inspiration from biophilic design and biomimicry, the concept space integrated the building with its surroundings, embracing the rhythms of nature.
Connecting children to the outdoors and designing learning spaces where they can see the light shift through the day, hear and feel the wind when it’s blowing and smell the rain will provide children with the physical, psychological, and emotional benefits they will find in the neighbouring urban parks, lakes, ponds, or forests.
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When people think about biophilic design, they think of designing with many plants. But biophilic design and using biomimicry in design are about so much more.
As Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the Biomimicry Institute, puts it: “climate change and biodiversity loss are the two critical issues of our time” — and repairing our relationship with nature is how we shift toward a truly regenerative way of building.
Part of the challenge was to create an outdoor area, and I will return to some ideas related to designing an area that embraces courageous play.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is biomimicry?
Biomimicry is the practice of looking to nature for solutions, then applying what we learn to design and problem-solving. Instead of inventing from scratch, it means studying how plants, animals, and ecosystems have already solved a challenge — like staying cool, collecting water, or absorbing carbon — and adapting that strategy for human use.
How does biomimicry help address climate change?
Nature has been adapting to extreme conditions for billions of years, so many organisms already hold working solutions to problems we now face at a larger scale — cooling buildings without electricity (termite mounds), collecting water in drought (the Namib beetle), protecting coastlines from storms (mangrove roots), and capturing carbon (corals, forests, kelp). Biomimicry means studying those solutions and applying the same principles to human design.
How can children get involved in biomimicry?
Children don’t need special training to think like a biomimicrist — just curiosity and a habit of asking “how does nature solve this?” Simple ways to start include a backyard scavenger hunt for nature’s patterns, a “design-an-animal” challenge for a changing climate, or building a small model (like a passive-cooling structure or a water collector) inspired by something they’ve observed outdoors.
Is biomimicry only for scientists and engineers?
No — biomimicry is as much a mindset as a profession. Anyone can practice it by observing nature closely and asking design questions. Professional biomimicry practitioners apply it in architecture, materials science, and engineering, but the same core skill — careful observation followed by “what if we built it that way?” — is exactly what this post’s classroom and family activities are designed to build in children.
Åsa Jomård
In 2015, Åsa completed a course in Biomimicry: A Sustainable Design Methodology at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. With over 10 years of experience exploring nature for inspiration and as a former member of Ben, Biomimicry Education Network, she brings both academic background and creative teaching experience to her work. Her materials seamlessly integrate stories, nature observations, and design challenges, making them perfect for inquiry-led learning in early primary contexts.
AI was used as a Thinking Partner.
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