How to Create a Hygge Classroom for Your Students

What is hygge? Hygge is a concept of coziness, warmth, and comfort which may seem contrary to a learning environment, but a hygge classroom is also uncluttered and helps students focus. This article is full of helpful tips on how to create a classroom for your students that prioritizes their comfort. There are many distractions in a typical classroom which may not be suitable for all students. Adding some classic hygge elements to the classroom environment can be beneficial for reducing anxiety and improving focus.

Calm colors

Try and pick neutral or muted colors for walls, tables, and chairs. A lot of loud colors can be jarring to the eye and don’t make children feel relaxed. This can also lead to it being harder to teach them!

Calm colors are pleasing to the eye and soothing as well. You could even try an accent wall, where just one wall is painted a slightly bolder color, like dark green, to make the room interesting but still cozy.

Whatever decorations you have can be colorful, but shouldn’t be distracting.

Gentle lighting

Bright classrooms are great and kids need enough light to read by, but this doesn’t mean that lighting in a classroom needs to be cold, white, and glaring. Instead, for student comfort and a truly hygge classroom, try some gentler lighting.

This can be in the form of dimmable lights, warm lighting, string lighting, plenty of lamps, or all of the above! Students will feel relaxed, cozy, and at home.

Make sure the walls aren’t overwhelming

Regular classrooms tend to have a lot going on on their walls – posters, drawings, infographics, it can all be quite overwhelming to the eye and mind. A cozy classroom can still have all of these things on the wall, but instead of all at the same time, try rotating what’s on the walls or have them nice and neat in cute frames that add to the décor instead of making the space feel cluttered.

Comfy seating

One of the most important aspects of a hygge classroom is the seating. Students shouldn’t be expected to sit in straight-backed, hard chairs all day and still learn as best they can. Chairs should be as comfy as possible, and there could even be a reading corner where the kids can sit in and enjoy soft, comfy chairs or beanbags.
You’d be surprised by just how much of a difference this makes!

Music

Nothing says comfy ambiance like relaxing music. You can try instrumentals, classical music, or just search through kids’ playlists on any music streaming platform. Some kids may not be able to focus with music on, however, so make sure to check in with all of your students before implementing this one.

Ownership

And finally, try putting something into place that lets all of your students feel like they own at least a little piece of their classroom. A great way to do this is by having each student own their own mug that stays in the classroom and that they use to drink out of.
These mugs can be made by them in a pottery class, brought from home, or gotten from a field trip that you all took together as a class.

Whatever the item is, make sure that everyone has one, and that it stays in the classroom. This way, it’s their unique piece of their very own hygge classroom and makes them feel like they really are a part of a unit.