When everything is new and wonderful

At Solvik Early Education Centre, visitors are first greeted by the pleasant scent of a new building. Next, the sounds of children playing reach their ears. Although the volume may rise during the excitement of play, the shrieks and squeals never become overwhelming.

Children’s voices are part of our everyday life, but they don’t echo here because the acoustics are so good. Children do make noise, and they should, but thanks to the good acoustics, the soundscape stays under control.

Roosa Meriläinen, Head of Early Education Centre at Solvik

The good acoustics stem from the building’s careful and participatory design process. According to Ritva Hollanti-Paavola, who served as Head of the Early Education Centre until summer, the design process began with staff brainstorming ideas together.

– Then we carefully considered all the spaces in the centre, what would happen in each of them, and drew up a detailed needs assessment. That was sent to the designer after the tendering process. When the first plans came in, we went through them with the staff and suggested changes. One employee said it was wonderful to see that their input had been taken into account, Hollanti-Paavola says.

Families were also involved in the design process. – We invited parents and guardians to hear about the plans and share their comments. Families received a survey at home, in which parents asked their children what they hoped for from the new centre.

The adults’ wishes concerned things like the safety of drop-off traffic, versatile spaces, and varied learning environments. With the completion of the building, these wishes have been fulfilled — as have the children’s expectations, which, according to Hollanti-Paavola, were quite modest.

– The children wished for animals and dinosaurs. They also got to choose things like what kind of outdoor play equipment would be installed. When this building started going up on the site, there was a spot on the construction fence where children could bring their own drawings. That’s how closely they followed the construction process.

In the midst of the initial excitement

According to Meriläinen, everyday life at the centre, which opened on the seventh of January, has settled into a smooth routine.

– Here I want to thank my staff. They are such seasoned professionals. We’ve been doing this kind of groundwork and preparation for a long time. We’ve talked a lot about needing to tolerate things being unfinished throughout this spring. There may still be curtains or other things missing, but they’ll come in time.

The staff also feel the start has gone wonderfully. – The children have settled in really quickly. There’s actually been a bit of excitement here, with everything being so new and wonderful! In particular, the acoustics are good, and we’re able to divide the children into smaller groups better than before and collaborate with other groups, says childcare worker Kirsi Lintumäki.

Early childhood education teacher Johanna Kero agrees.

– The best things are the small-group spaces and the big windows. Inside, you can see clearly from one room to another. The large entrance halls are great too! In our old centre, they were a bit cramped, but now the whole group fits in easily, Kero says approvingly.

Spaces are the foundation of everything

But what do the children think is the very best thing about the new centre?

– This Iron Man, Taito answers, holding up a Lego figure.

I think the best things here are these Legos, Claudia agrees. Little by little, more opinions start to emerge from the group. Climbing frame! Wall bars! Hammock swing! Scooters! Climbing wall! Unicorns!

While the importance of unicorns shouldn’t be underestimated, the ultimate measure of the new building’s success is how well it supports the centre’s core mission — high-quality early childhood education.

– Safe and appropriate spaces that meet today’s needs are the foundation for everything. On top of that, you can start implementing high-quality pedagogy, Hollanti-Paavola states.

– When the framework is right, staff and children can focus on playing together and being present, Meriläinen sums up.

Text: Ossi Nyström

This article was published in issue 1/2026 of Hämeenlinna’s newspaper Hometown Media.