12 of the most beautiful kindergartens around the world

Chris Weller
Sep 11, 2017, 3:40 PM

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Vo Trong Nghia Architects © Gremsy.jpg

Architects wield a great deal of power in designing kindergartens - it's up to them to decide what kind of first impression a child has about school.

The best designs use wide-open spaces and bright colors that naturally compel kids to explore.

From Thailand's elegant Kensington International School to Germany's cat-shaped Kindergarten Wolfartsweier, here are some of the best places for kids to begin their educational careers.

The École Maternelle Pajol, in Paris, is about as colorful an education experience as you can get. The four-classroom building was built in the 1940s. Its recent facelift also includes a rainbow interior.

Olivier Palatre Architects

Architects: Olivier Palatre Architectes

Vietnam's Farming Kindergarten, recently named one of the best new buildings in the world by ArchDaily, features a grass-covered roof with gardens that let students connect with the country's agricultural roots.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects © Gremsy.jpg

Architects: Vo Trong Nghia Architects

Source: ArchDaily

Shining Stars Kindergarten, located in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, contains small courtyards to promote the flow of natural light and natural-wood play spaces to make kids feel like they're outside.

Djuhara + Djuhara

Architects: Djuhara + Djuhara

Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa, Japan, was built in 2007 as a complete circle. It encourages kids to run around on a rooftop boardwalk, climb nearby trees, fall down, and move freely between doorless rooms.

Tezuka Architects/Flickr

Architect: Takaharu Tezuka

OA Kindergarten, in the Japanese city of Saitama, is made entirely of earthquake-resistant shipping containers. The result is an industrial-feeling structure that is structurally sound but still gives kids plenty of room to roam outdoors.

Hibino Sekkei

Architects: Hibino Sekkei

In Miyakojima, Japan, the equally spacious Hanazono Kindergarten transitions seamlessly from finished wood to well-manicured lawns through sliding doors. The school was built to resist typhoons and allow for easy ventilation.

Studio Bauhaus

Architects: Hibino Sekkei, Youji no Shiro

Loop Kindergarten, located in Tianjin, China, evokes images of bubbles with its many-windowed exterior. Inside is a large wooden platform for playing as well as a multi-colored atrium.

Misae Hiromatsu

Architect: SAKO Architects

Sarreguemines Nursery, located in Sarreguemines, France, was designed like a human cell with the nursery in the center as the nucleus. Gardens surround the structure like cytoplasm, and an all-pink interior offers a calming place to play.

Paul Le Quernec

Architects: Michel Grasso + Paul Le Quernec

Australia's John Septimus Roe Anglican Community School, in Beechboro, took cues from Nordic design with skylights, birch plywood construction, and pops of color. It's inviting to even the most timid toddler.

Brooking Design Architects

Architects: Brooking Design Architects

Thailand's Kensington International Kindergarten, in Bangkok, was built to rouse kids' imaginations. Curved walls swoop around the building so that kids don't feel boxed in by hard lines.

Plan Architect

Architects: Plan Architect

It's only fitting the country responsible for the word kindergarten has a novel design of its own at Kindergarten Wolfartsweier, in Karlsruhe, Germany. The cat-shaped building even comes with a tail that doubles as a slide.

Adriano A.Biondo

Architects: Tomi Ungerer, Ayla-Suzan Yöndel

In Paris, the Nursery School of the Olympiads gives kids a slew of cozy nooks to duck into to play with toys or bask in the sunlight. The exterior is bright pink.

Eva Samuel Architect

Architects: Eva Samuel Architect & Assoc.

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