In the United States, there is a group of seven days a year acknowledged in the month of May, which we call 'Teacher Appreciation Week'. But anyone connected to children or education (which is nearly everyone in some way) knows that to truly honor the dedication...

Our very own Michelle Carpenter, Chief Strategy Officer of Natural Pod, is A4LE SchoolsNEXT Southeast Chair, National Co-Chair, and committed to the future of the SchoolsNEXT student design competition. Last year she documented her participation experience in the...

Natural Pod™ Play lofts were designed very much with the needs of early learners in mind. The intention was to create spaces that were all their own, where their imaginations could transform the space into any environment they wished, whether a fort, a castle, an...

Our work is not only to create high-quality, functional, beautiful and non-toxic learning furniture. But also to innovate within this space. To create new paradigms for how educational environments and experiences are thought about, and how those are tied to ethical...

Since the beginning days of the industrial model, learning environments have been anchored to direct instruction and information-giving models. A place where students, or pupils, show up to a building to learn because that location was the only place for it to occur....

The Natural Pod team has recently been gathering together online with the intention of reflecting on this past year. (We are an almost fully remote team so that's our normal regardless of the current state of the world). We've also been looking ahead to the next one...

Although it's been a challenging year in multiple ways, the Natural Pod team has been constantly uplifted by the inspiring work and perseverance of our community. Earlier this year to amplify the voices of those committed to creating better learning environments,...

Woo hoo! We're delighted that our Christene Play Loft is an Interior Design Best of Year Awards Finalist! It's wonderful to be recognized for our sustainable play and learning furniture, and especially for our most unique and popular Play Loft, the Christene! Named in...

It's hard not to be aware of the selling and buying messages flying around at this time of year. They're a good reminder to try and make sustainable and values-led buying choices whenever possible, as the decisions we make today can impact ourselves, each other and...

Now the new school year is in full swing, the comparative freedom of the summer may be a distance memory. A time when the majority of children probably weren't in the same place each day, hopefully they were outside more, naturally moving daily in a way that’s not...

With my upcoming webinar exploring a case study around indoor/outdoor learning studios, along with the increase in questions around the benefits of outdoor learning, I thought I'd collect some resources that may be of value to others looking into this subject. If you...

Our upcoming webinar 'Case Study: How Indoor/Outdoor Classrooms Deepen Students Learning' is sharing the key lessons learned from a unique middle school project based in California. Repurposed shipping containers were innovatively used to create indoor/outdoor...

We're delighted to be participating and bringing you this webinar after its previous re-scheduling. The webinar, ’How Indoor/Outdoor Classrooms Deepen Students’ Learning’, is taking place on Wednesday 8th December at 3-4pm ET / 12-1pm PT. It's being brought to you in...

Whole school sustainability has a range of meanings. As a designer or planner of built educational environments how does one deliver a successful project when creating a sustainable school or learning environment? As the Founder and CEO of Natural Pod this has been my...

Although the majority of my working time is as chief strategy officer at Natural Pod, I thoroughly enjoy wearing other hats within education as well; I sit on the board of Green Schools National Network and I’m also the national co-chair and southeast chair of...

We highly recommend Healthy Buildings - How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity, by Joseph G. Allen and John D. Macomber, for those who care about the health of our children, oneself, and the communities we belong to. This book couldn't be more timely, as...

Our very own Michelle Carpenter, Chief Strategy Officer of Natural Pod, will be sharing the outcomes of her work as Southeast Chair of SchoolsNEXT at LearningScapes 2021 taking place on October 14-17th. The in-person session, Student Voice Informs Equitable Learning...

Interior Design's Best of Year is the design industry's premiere design awards program, honoring the most significant work of the year as well as recognizing designers, architects and manufacturers from around the globe. This year, you can help the Natural Pod team...

The recent forest fires throughout this country and others have illustrated many things - one of which being that a problem in one area can greatly affect another, as smoke drifted some 3000 miles away from the central location of the California fires. California...

Recently, on September 13th and 15th, I was able to participate in the Design for Early Learning Symposium, organized by Alissa Rupp, FAIA, LEED BD+C, Principal, FRAME | Integrative Design Strategies and Diane Kroll, Founder of Imag(e)ine Collaborative, an excellent...

Thank you to InHabitat, a green lifestyle and design media outlet, for this great story, titled 'Natural Pod takes a different approach to learning.' It takes a look at how we do indeed take a different approach and why. The article also introduces our most recent...

Even before the dramatic and transformative events of 2020, we recognized the need to strengthen a specific set of connections: those between design professionals and early childhood education professionals. All children who spend time in early learning spaces, such...

If you’re here, you may already know Natural Pod creates high-quality, non-toxic wood furniture for early learning and K-12 learning spaces with an emphasis on beauty, functionality, and environmental awareness. I’d like to expand on those last three points and what...

Can you hear them? Were they listening? As I enter any learning space, these questions are often in the forefront of my thinking. Through this lens, it becomes clear whether the design of the space is soaked in the ideas and needs of students or whether the design was...

It’s not often that books in the field of education and design crossover in such an accessible way, and that speak directly to the truth and the times we find ourselves in. 'Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind' by Claire Latané is one of those...