Enjoy all our latest education news and stories
At Natural Pod™, our purpose is to ensure every learner and educator has a practical, healthy, sustainable environment in which to learn and be inspired, enabling them to reach their full potential. You can find all our news and stories here, where we share ideas and thinking that inspire our work to help inspire yours.
Natural Pod and Fielding International: Impactful Education Space Design that Transforms Learning Outcomes Across Borders
What if our schools were more than just buildings? What if they were intentional spaces, designed to nurture well-being and empower students? This question drives the collaborative work of Fielding International and Natural Pod, the first B Corp certified school...
Spring Refresh. Declutter + Calm your Learning Space
Springtime. A time for fresh starts, open windows, and... the daunting task of tackling clutter in your learning space. If you are an educator today, you are likely finding it challenging to create a truly functional and inspiring learning environment amidst an...
More than just where to put the furniture – The Brain-SET Environments Formula®
Educators across the world pay attention to the design and set up of learning environments. We look at how to arrange the furniture, whether we like the overall look, flow and practicalities of the room. When done, we review, and change the organization of the...
For the Love of Learning: Celebrating Educators and Spaces that Inspire
At Natural Pod, we’re passionate about creating beautiful and accessible learning environments where children thrive. Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of doing this work in collaboration with remarkable educators and have witnessed the transformation of their...
Designing Learning Spaces for Neurodiverse Children: Key Considerations
Diversity and inclusivity in learning environments is a topic that is at the heart of our work in creating empowering and multifunctional learning furniture inspired by educators and learners’ needs. This article is written by our inhouse learning consultant Kelly...
Celebrating Two Years as a Certified B Corp: A Journey of Purpose and Progress at 92.9
This week, Natural Pod marked a significant milestone: our second anniversary as a Certified B Corporation, and we paused to reflect and celebrate this accolade with our team. Why, because while it feels great to be recognized as part of a global community that is...
Winter Wild: Learning beyond the classroom walls
Winter in the higher latitudes can feel like an unending story of short days, long nights, and relentless storms that keep us huddled indoors. It's easy to feel disconnected from the natural world during this time, but at Natural Pod, we believe that connection is...
Designing a learning space: 5 Core Principles
Designing an inspiring learning environment today is a complex, rewarding process that requires careful thought and collaboration. At Natural Pod, we approach each project with a focus on creating spaces that are functional, cohesive, and promote wellbeing for...
Celebrating accomplishments of our learning community: 2024 in Review
2024 has been a year of shifts, expansion, and growth for us here at Natural Pod. As we pause to reflect on the year’s highlights, it is clear that this was a year that renewed our steady rhythm of purpose, connection, and collaboration—the very heartbeat that...
Transform your learning space with Quick Ship solutions
At Natural Pod, we know how important it is to create learning environments that inspire creativity, collaboration, and curiosity. As 2024 wraps up, our goal is to support you in refreshing your classrooms by using any budgets that may not carry over into the new...
What Matters and Why? Asking educators what matters in their learning spaces
What matters in your learning space? At Natural Pod, we’re always exploring the conversation around the “why” behind what we do. Some questions we think about. Why do we work tirelessly to find the most sustainable materials to create our products with? Why do we...
The intersection of space and emotion in modern education
In the ever-changing world of education, understanding a student’s mind is as important as delivering knowledge. Today’s educators, architects, and designers are presented with a pivotal question: How do we create spaces that not only facilitate academic learning but...
“FUTURE PROOF: Are Your Learning Environments Ready for the Future?” at the Bowers Museum
MeTEOR Education recently hosted an insightful event, FUTURE PROOF: Are Your Learning Environments Ready for the Future?, at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. The event brought together educators, administrators, and industry experts to discuss future-ready...
For more Curiosity + Wonder, explore our magical Lofts
Imagine a space where every corner invites curiosity, every level sparks adventure, and each step is a pathway to boundless imagination. Natural Pod’s Wonder lofts aren’t just structures — they’re gateways to exploration, places where children’s creativity takes...
Learnings from LearningScapes 2024
Natural Pod, represented by myself and Marianne Honnaker-Kelly our President, was at LearningScapes, a conference by the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), in Portland in October. Attending a conference like LearningScapes helps us at Natural Pod to hear...
Sparking curiosity + creativity through multifunctional furniture
Imagine stepping into a learning environment that’s more than just a classroom—it’s a vibrant space that ignites imagination, stimulates creativity, and enhances the educational experience. These dynamic, adaptable spaces are not just a distant dream—they’re a reality...
Real-time classroom design
It was 1998 and I had just landed my first permanent teaching position four days before the start of the new school year. It was a full-time job teaching Kindergarten in a beautiful inner city school built in 1844. The school was led by Principal Judy Gard Puddester...
Why beauty is needed in the classroom
Recently I’ve been re-reading the MDR research report ‘The Impact of Learning Spaces on Student Success’ to further and deepen my understanding of how I can lead Natural Pod to better serve students and educators. This research is such a great resource - it was...
Are your learning environments ready for the future?
The Natural Pod team and myself are, and always will be, committed to creating the most healthy and beautiful learning spaces that welcome and inspire students and educators. As technology like AI transforms the world in ways that we’ve still yet to realize, I truly...
What do texture, shape, size, color and furniture have in common in a classroom?
In his book ‘Brain Rules’ (2014), John Medina talks about 12 rules that support the needs of the brain. There are three rules that stand out for me: that we learn best through sensory experiences; we don’t learn if we are bored, and we are born natural explorers. As...
Yes! You can order new learning furniture in time: Quick Ship Bundles for the win!
As the dog days of summer linger, many educators find themselves in a race against time to prepare their learning spaces for the upcoming academic year. For those who haven't yet ordered new furniture for updating existing classrooms or creating entirely new learning...
The impact of choice on a learner in their environment
In every aspect of life, choice empowers and personalizes our experience. Consider the flexibility of a modern workspace where people choose between high-energy shared tables, quiet corners for deep thinking, or dynamic meeting rooms for collaborative projects. This...
Repurpose, refresh, or replace — what does your learning environment need?
Transforming your classroom layout should be an exciting opportunity for innovation, not a cause for concern about the durability of your furniture. At Natural Pod, we design durable, multifunctional furniture that facilitates seamless transitions and supports diverse...
Your essential learning furniture in time for the new school year
The return to school is just around the corner, and it's a time filled with excitement as well as a flurry of preparations for educators and administrators. As you tackle the challenge of planning for the next year, we’re here to ensure your classroom...
Listen: Empowering Education – Bridgitte Alomes Talks Sustainable Design
Bridgitte Alomes, founder of Natural Pod learning furniture, joins the ONEder podcast to advocate for creating healthy, sustainable and intentional learning environments for children. Inspired by her son's allergic reaction to toxic chemicals in a toy, Bridgitte...
Confused about how to budget for learning furniture? – Let’s work through it together
Tasked recently with creating a furniture budget for your learning environment? There are probably 100 other things you need to be doing, and it’s likely been a while since you’ve had to do this (if ever at all). That might seem overwhelming, especially if you’ve...
Start planning your learning space today for a smarter one tomorrow + quick ship bundles
Already thinking about how your learning environment will influence student engagement next year? Your mind is fresh with what’s working—and what’s not—and now may be the perfect time to cement some plans for September. We’ve found this is actually one of the best...
Let’s bring your learning space vision to life – Experience the difference of collaboration
At Natural Pod, our mission is to create learning environments where educators and students can thrive. We offer a range of beautiful, functional, and interchangeable learning furniture designed to support educators and students in the ways they teach and learn best....
Teachers can experience trauma, too
Tosha, a 27-year-old single mother and early childhood educator, was at her breaking point. “I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown,” she confessed to her college advisor. Overwhelmed with managing a classroom of toddlers alone for two weeks, working 12-hour days,...
A mother’s ingenuity: Crafting resourceful learning environments
There’s a special bond that’s created time and time again between learners and their educators, and some of our most cherished memories and life lessons are seeded in those shared moments. A child’s upbringing is sculpted by these phenomenal figures whose creativity...
Trauma in the Classroom: What Are The Triggers?
Memories: everyone has them. The smell of cookies, cakes, or pies from the oven, the gentle breeze of a sunny day, the beauty of a waterfall, a song, a perfume, lights, sounds, words, and scenarios, all trigger something in everyone’s memory. When someone has...
An equitable future requires conferences to serve as inclusive spaces for all… including childcare spaces
Can conferences serve as a true meeting of minds without dismantling the myriad of barriers to attending traditional in-person events? By maintaining the status quo, these gatherings become limited to the minds - and bodies - of those who are privileged enough to...
Event: A4LE Alberta 2024 Annual Chapter Conference
The Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) is a professional 501 (c)(3) non-profit association whom are an interdisciplinary association of professionals working at the intersection of learning and place to drive the evolution of learning environments. The...
Event: The World Forum on Early Care and Education
The World Forum on Early Care and Education is unlike any other gathering. The program is crafted to build relationships, expand perspectives, and provoke new thinking. Public status or recognition are not required to take on any role at World Forum, nor are any...
Event: Making Tomorrow Conference – How Shaping Learning Environments, Shapes Learning
For 40 years, the Vancouver Island Cooperative Preschool Association (VICPA) has organized the Making Tomorrow Conference (MTC). The MTC is a knowledge and skill building event where educators and families learn about the latest developments in early childhood...
B.C. Companies NUQO Modular and Natural Pod Partner to Deliver Education Spaces Faster in Underserved Communities
Joint venture by women-led businesses aims to rapidly expand access to quality child care and learning environments, addressing critical shortages. B.C.-based NUQO Modular (NUQO) and Natural Pod are pleased to announce that they are joining forces to accelerate and...
Canadian Federal Government announces measures for more $10-a-day child care spaces + $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million grants for child care providers
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, (with one of our beautiful Natural Pod Play Lofts as his backdrop! - thank you Prime Minister Trudeau!) announced measures from the upcoming 2024 Federal Canadian Budget to build more affordable child care spaces – saving...
Innovative childcare partnership to help working parents attend restorative conference for B Corps
One of the only programs of its kind in Canada; no limit on the number of free childcare spots available to attendees; children welcome in all event spaces A new partnership between B Lab US & Canada and B Corp ™ Certified, sustainable education furniture...
Empowering educators
As we usher in spring, we also stand at the threshold of a new era in education. Our choices today are shaping the future of learning for generations to come. Now more than ever, it's essential that we align our values with our actions and make conscious decisions...