Reimagined Educational Environments: Magnets for Returning Families

• How do you foster stability for young children after they are forced to leave their homes overnight?
• How can evacuated families even begin to adjust to their new situation if their children have no routine?
• Is it possible to create a space amid the chaos and uncertainty of emergency for children to be children?

These are the questions that ran through the minds of BSI volunteers at their Tel Aviv HQ soon after October 7.

The volunteers had been tasked with tackling a pressing issue relayed from the evacuee centers – dire lack of structure for preschoolers. After putting their professional heads together and visiting an evacuee center and hearing from evacuees, they knew what they needed to do: Provide stable, joyful spaces for learning and play for preschoolers affected by the war. In other words, creating kindergartens to act as safe havens for youngsters and provide an anchor of routine for all the family.

Within a few months BSI had established 160 kindergartens for displaced children across Israel. Developed by design and pedagogy experts with input from teachers and communities, these spaces proved to be much more than places to learn and play. Rather they became hubs of stability, resilience and hope for children, families, and staff, amid intense uncertainty and fear.

What began as a “tower and stockade” like effort, evolved into a pedagogical design program that creates an optimum environment for children to flourish, and empowers staff to build and fulfil their educational vision.

As evacuees began to return, this “renovation-come-community-building process has proved to be just as crucial. BSI is working in the north and the south with local educational teams to redesign spaces according to community values and needs.

The revitalized kindergartens serve as magnets attracting families by fostering a renewed sense of belonging and shared commitment for community rebuilding.   For example in one returning southern moshav, within a month of the kindergarten opened, registration had tripled. It literally brought families home.  The impact extends to educators—majority of whom were also displaced—by motivating them to restart, heal, and shape the future of their communities.