NIMHANS opens Aata Paata crèche for staff children in Bengaluru

Aata Paata — meaning “play lessons” — opened at the NIMHANS campus on August 31 as a redesigned crèche for the young children of institute staff.

The space has been planned around play, exploration, rest, learning and social interaction. NIMHANS said it uses gentle lighting, child-friendly materials and colours that encourage movement and active play, alongside sensory experiences and contact with nature.

The institute said early childhood care involves more than supervision and nutrition: children’s development is also shaped by play, movement, relationships and the spaces around them. It described safe, child-friendly settings as increasingly important in dense urban areas where green spaces and unstructured play are shrinking.

Architect Bhavana Kumar of Kumar La Noce conceptualised and designed the project with inputs from NIMHANS child mental health professionals. The institute’s engineering and structural teams provided technical support. NIMHANS director Senior Professor Prabha S. Chandra said the crèche is intended to offer reliable workplace childcare for staff who are mothers and fathers.