Young children are like little sponges, soaking up all the information they can from the world around them with the use of their senses and their developing minds. And the environment that you provide for them can have a significant impact on how they mature. It’s not like you have to provide lickable wallpaper with snozzberries that taste like real snozzberries (who ever heard of a snozzberry?), but you should take pains to create an environment that speaks to your toddler’s growing connection with the world around him and helps him to hone his senses as quickly and completely as possible. So here are just a few things you may want to consider including (and excluding) as you design this room for the little person in your life.

An interactive environment

The sense of touch is the first to develop and infants and toddlers alike tend to experience the world through touch long before they are able to master their other senses. In fact, vision, which older kids and adults rely on as the main sense for experiencing the world, will continue to develop in toddlers for many months. So while you may want to focus on visual mediums like colors and patterns as the first order of business, and this is certainly an important aspect of any environment, you should begin by thinking about how you can stimulate your child’s primary avenue of interacting with and exploring their environment.

Texture and patterns

To that end you may want to include a variety of textures for your toddler to investigate, from plush carpeting and toys, to small furnishings (tables, chairs, etc.) covered in a variety of fabrics, to blocks and toys in a variety of shapes and materials. You might want to be careful about placing hard or slippery surfaces where they can pose a danger, and you shouldn’t fill a crib with a plethora of fluffy blankets, pillows, and toys that could potentially lead to suffocation, but the trick here is to offer a variety of surfaces for your child to experience through touch.

Visual impact of the room

After that you can consider the visual impact of the room, and bright colors mixed with black-and-white patterns are going to deliver the greatest visual interest for your child because infants and toddlers tend to find contrast appealing. By the age of two, most toddlers are beginning to see quite well, so this is a good time to begin introducing them to colorful and elaborately illustrated books (if you haven’t already). Stock your nursery with a variety and then think about adding an interesting wallpaper border to the room or some artwork (just make sure to hang it at a level where your child can see it).

Finally, consider ways that you can appeal to the other senses in the nursery. An MP3 dock loaded with suitable music is a good start, and you’ll find plenty of toys rated for this age group that feature a variety of “click here” options for kids to make noise by pressing buttons. Basic musical instruments (drums, whistles, even kid-friendly keyboards) will also let your toddler explore his relationship to sound. And you can keep his sense of smell stimulated by placing flowering plants in the room (out of reach) or using a variety of options in air fresheners or even scented candles on occasion (the latter only when you’re present, of course). When you make the effort to think about all of the ways in which your toddler can interact with his environment you’re sure to create a nursery that is not only adequate for his needs, but also works to stimulate his developing senses.

For more nursery ideas on Stagetecture, click here.