ABSTRACT
‘Children create places for themselves from at least the age of 3 and probably earlier. The earliest forms of places are “found” rather than built; they are imaginal rather than physical transformations. Consequently, we cannot know just how early this kind of architecture begins. I have even observed children as young as 3 years of age create the familiar form of architecture in which materials are physically moved and juxtaposed to create new kinds of spaces. Although my observations have been primarily in the United States, particularly in a New England town (Hart, 1979), children’s architecture appears to be a universal phenomenon. Perhaps the making of places to be in is one of a small set of archetypal human behaviors with important survival value for a culture and developmental advantages for the individual.’
