Scholars say creativity is extremely high among preschoolers as they continue to explore the world and develop their minds. However, the status quo preschool education reflects a different story. Thus, the idea to build creative environmental space for preschoolers in the Global South came from Christopher Lane who challenged a group in Michigan that works internationally to think about developing preschool environments that maintain and increase creativity.

In many school systems, including those in Nicaragua, education has been highly structured in both teacher methodology and the physical classroom space. This structure exists in part due to economics, teacher education, and the country’s history of education. Structure limits creativity in many ways. If a three-year-old is guided to one correct answer in their learning, the opportunity to create through exploratory learning is highly limited. A creative environment would help maintain creativity, open minds, and encourage teachers.

In July 2021 the group set out to begin to understand what a creative environment for preschool students might look might like, and several designs were developed in the USA. It was easy to develop ideas but then came the question of application, and more importantly, cultural relevance. A few communities were explored before settling on the community of Isiqui in northern Nicaragua. Here it was thought we could involve the parents in designing a preschool environment and there was sufficient space behind the school for imaginations to work with. A series of workshops were held with very creative results. But after much ideation and formation of a team to design a space, the project stalled. If the funds had been there, why had nothing been built?

A process like this is much more complicated and involves many more segments or groups than what was revealed at first. Currently, there are fourteen or more groups to work with in the process. They influence the process in vastly different ways. Fortunately, Brady Mills, an author, was able to spend 10 weeks working in and around the community with faculty and students from the regional center of the national university. In this time, he built deep connections with the young people, the teachers and individual members of the community. He also developed important and respected communications with many of the organizations and governmental bodies necessary to the success of the project.

The project was also advanced by the creation of a commission of UNAN-Managua, and most recently the National strategy for education. Thanks to the leadership of the head of the school and the ministry of education and the cooperation of the Director of CUR Estelí the project flourishes.

Now the challenge is to coordinate a team willing to work and advise with the many groups that should be included. Most importantly, the community of Isiqui. This paper details the groups that need to be engaged and explores how these groups might fit into the marketing model for buyer types while investigating how this process fits into Nicaragua’s 16 national goals for education. Further, it tracks the process through the Design thinking model. This is all a part of defining the problem and developing good ideas and prototypes with the goal of a new preschool environment in Isiqui, Nicaragua.

The goal is not one school but a process that might be replicated in other communities in Nicaragua and then to other countries of the Global South.

Keywords: Design Thinking, Creativity, Creative Environments, Preschool, Community Engagement, UNAN-Managua.