For those of us who design physical environments for children,
we tend to think about themes that attract young children:
characters from television and children’s books prove to be
popular. There are countless theme parks – from Sesame Street to
Disney World – that are built around characters and stories
(Harry Potter comes to mind). Even adults flock to these
recreations of place and action (Universal Pictures) or actually
create the place and action before the movie (Pirates of the
Caribbean). Places like this can be the universal melting pot –
engaging the kid in all of us! The sensory situations of these
types of places frequently leave much to be desired! Crowds,
noise, smells and other forms of sensory overload can send kids
over the edge. However, most of my child collaborators and their
parents have told me that when the child is really interested in
something, they will put up with a lot in order to just
participate. One young woman, who regularly wears noise-
canceling headphones when the lawn is be