Okay, I have need of a little collaboration. I had the opportunity to go to the South Campus of Gateway Church today. It had been about three months since I last attended and a visit was long overdue. Since we started small group up north, I’ve been preoccupied on Sundays. I know that I need to head South every other week if possible. They are without a Children’s Pastor right now, so we have a part time coordinator who is keeping things going.

So, I have some money to spend, specifically to spruce up the facilities. I probably have a greater need than money, but I think I’ll be able to do a lot and make some significant improvements. I know that environment is so HUGE and right now it’s one of the things we’re missing right now. My wife hasn’t been to the South Campus yet. She looked over my shoulder while I was importing the pictures and after seeing just two pictures she said, “wow, that’s un-inviting.”

So, I’ll post a series of pictures and explain the situation… maybe even some things I’ve been thinking already. Feel free to make as many suggestions as you’d like.

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This is the Kid’s hallway. We have these banner displays in the hall and in front of every room. We do check-in with two laptop computers. The wired internet connection is new since my last visit. I want to pick up one of those rubber wire covers for the floor as the taped down wire was less than lovely.

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Above is one of the preschool classes. I walked in the room and basically turned clockwise, snapping pictures until I got all the room. This is a band room and we use both sides of the room for two preschool classrooms. One thing I did notice is the clutter that isn’t moved during setup. There were some unused tables, chairs, podiums and other “school junk” that needs to be pushed off to the other side of the dividers.

Here’s what I’m having a hard time deciding. I can get the 3 foot high pipe and drape that will hide most of the junk around the room, but I wonder if I’d be better served using the 8 foot high drapes as the room is so incredibly cluttered. I also thought about using the primary colored vinyl panels that hook together, but then again, it doesn’t blog all the things you can see over it (only 4 feet tall). We’re also probably going to be getting some portable preschool tables and chairs as well. Right now they just have the carpets.

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This is the other side of the band room. I walked in and turned clockwise. We used the travel crates and bookshelves to do a lot of our “walls.” Not more to add to this as it’s the same situation as the other side. Any suggestions?

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This is the nursery area. We use one room that is also divided in half. We are using road cases, dividers and those vinyl panels to divide the room. At the back of the room, school desk are tipped forward to create a boundary (this drives me crazy). At the front of the room is this huge green platform that cuts into both sides. They use this as a diaper changing station, however the toddlers on one side of this room are prone to explore and climb the platform. Again, do I simply invest in those vinyl panels and create room walls with them or get the pipe and drape and go higher?

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This is the one room that isn’t horribly cluttered. We’re using it as the elementary room. Right now the kids sit on the chairs on the risers. They do small groups on the floor in front of the chairs. The rest of the room is pretty empty. What I’d like to do is get rid of all the chairs, use pipe and drape to section off the risers and put the large area rugs on the floor for small groups. I’d rather the kids be on the floor on the rugs instead of the chairs. Whether I do the entire room or just parts of it in pipe and drape, I totally need a tall and wide backdrop in the front of the room to the right of the screen. It would allow me to have some “backstage” space as well as cover up all the junk in the front of the room. What are my options on a large banner or display as a backdrop? I know you can print on material that I could probably hang from the pipe and drape, but would it be too translucent and see through?

Any other suggestions here?

Well, tell me what you think. I’m open to all kinds of suggestions.

A friend of mine from Life Church Sent these to me:

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These pictures were really helpful. They showed me what could be done with simple pipe and drape. In some of the classrooms, they used horizontal bars at the bottom of the drapes as well to prevent kids from simply crawling under the drapes the the next “room.”

A friend from Corpus Christi sent me these pictures:

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View 2 of 2-3 Year Old RoomsView 3 of 2-3 Year Old Rooms

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I loved these pictures. I feel like there is an amazingly inviting environment. They used some pipe and drape to separate the kid’s area from the adult area, but used the vinyl locking walls to create the rooms. I love it.