9 Ways to Bring Reggio-Inspired Learning Home

1. Follow Your Child’s Interests

Pay attention to what captures your child’s attention. Are they fascinated by insects, cars, cooking, animals, or plants?

Instead of moving quickly to the next activity, give their interests room to grow.

If your child becomes interested in bugs, for example, you might go on a bug hunt, find library books about insects or arachnids, or wonder about where they live. Find a spider in the house? Don’t squish it! Use a glass and paper to catch it and give your child a chance to observe it closely. Keep different sizes of magnifying glasses or even a child’s microscope on hand to notice more detail.

Try asking:

“I wonder how it got in here?”

This models curiosity.

“Where should we put it now?”

This offers your child a choice and a sense of agency.

“I wonder what species of spider this is. How could we find out?”

This prompts investigation.

If not a spider, perhaps a different type of insect! If they want to keep the insect around longer, investigate together what this living thing needs to survive and create a small indoor habitat; then return it “to the wild” when the observations have run their course.

You might be amazed at how long an investigation runs when you, as parent, don’t end it.

Whatever the topic – maybe your child is obsessed with trains and you just don’t see the appeal. For their sake, start a train investigation through books, or take a trip on a train! Tell them a story about a train ride you remember from your childhood. If they’re a little older, invite them to create a presentation on trains to share at the family dinner table.

By showing children that their interests matter, and giving them all the space to investigate, you help their curiosity grow.

2. Ask Questions Instead of Giving Answers

Children are naturally curious. When they ask a question, it can be tempting to immediately provide the answer. This can be hard for teachers too, especially if it’s a subject we are passionate about!

Instead, try turning the question into an opportunity for investigation.

If your child asks, “Where did the ice in my water go?”

You might say:

“Oh, that’s right. There were ice cubes in your water and now they’re gone. What do you think happened?”

Or:

“That’s funny. They were there before. I wonder how we could find out where they went?”

  Acknowledge their observation and ask open-ended questions. This encourages your child to make predictions, develop theories, test ideas, and think more deeply about the world around them. This is called “the scientific method” and is practiced by ALL scientists!

What if they don’t know what to do next? You can offer some ideas to get them closer to an answer and model the process of testing theories.

“Should I put some ice in my water cup and we can see what happens?”

Or:

“I wonder what would happen if I put ice on the warm sidewalk outside?”

You don't always have to know the answer. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is wonder alongside your child. And, the process of questioning what you can see and finding out more is a lifelong skill.

ProTip!: It’s ok to also just sometimes give an answer! In fact, that is day to day life. But we can lean into questions vs. answers during investigations to help grow that critical thinking muscle and confidence in your child.

3. Make Time for Open-Ended Play

Open-ended play gives children the freedom to decide what to do, how to use materials, and where their ideas will take them. It means the thing they are playing with doesn’t only result in one or two outcomes, but endless ones.

There doesn't need to be a specific finished product, but you can provide a prompt or “provocation.” If children are not used to open-ended play or coming up with their own ideas, it’s OK to give them something to go on until they get the hang of it.

You can provide simple materials such as:

• Cardboard boxes

• Fabric

• Clay

• Paper

• Sticks and rocks

• Containers

• Tubes

You might say:

“We have this big cardboard box from the delivery today. I wonder if we can turn it into something new?"

A cardboard box might become a house, a boat, a tunnel, a store, or something entirely unexpected.

Do you have a box cutter on hand? A box with a window is a whole new experience and can really help the creativity take off! Ask your child where the window should go.

I also like to tell “when I was a kid” stories to help children feel confident in their own ideas. The concept of an adult they know being a child at any point is often enough to get them interested in what you are saying.

You might say:

“When I was a kid, I used to find sticks and rocks in the woods and play with them instead of my toys. I wonder what else you could make with sticks and rocks?”

They might start off with your idea and then go their own way. That’s exactly what you want!

The value is in the thinking, creating, problem-solving, and experimenting that happens along the way.

ProTip!: Open-ended play can take time, and space…if you like having a tidy home at the end of the day, carve out a special space in your home or yard where your child can save and carry investigations into tomorrow. Or, offer to take a picture of the last iteration so your child feels comfortable “keeping” their starting point for the next day.

4. Encourage Experimentation

Learning doesn't always happen when children get the “right” answer. Oftentimes the most valuable learning happens when an idea doesn't work.

Give your child opportunities to experiment and try again.

During water play, for example, children might explore which objects sink or float, how water moves through different containers, or what happens when they squeeze a sponge.

 You might hear:

“That didn't work!”

Instead of fixing the problem for them, try:

“That didn’t work? Hmmm. Is there something else we can try?”

Or:

 “You’re trying to move the water into this container, but it keeps spilling. I wonder why?”

This helps children develop persistence, problem-solving skills, flexibility, and confidence in their own ability to figure things out.

Sometimes, watching an idea fail is where the really interesting learning begins. Most scientists in fact, fail infinitely more often than they “succeed!”

Thomas Edison is often credited with saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

5. Focus on the Process, Not the Product

Reggio-inspired learning places great value on children's thinking and the process of discovery.

Your child builds something with LEGO. Instead of saying, “Good Job!", try asking:

“Wow! Can you tell me about it?”

“How did you make that?”

“I wonder what you will make next?”

You might discover that the scribbles on the paper represent a complicated story, or that a tower that fell down led to an experiment about balance.

Offer to write down their words when they tell you about their process. You are showing them that their process matters a whole lot.

When adults focus on the process, children learn that their ideas, questions, and efforts are valuable.

6. Give Children Many Ways to Express Their Ideas

Children don't communicate their thinking only through words.

In Reggio Emilia, we talk about the “100 Languages”, a metaphor for the many ways a child learns, communicates, and creates.

They may express an idea through:

• Drawing

• Painting

• Building

• Sculpting

• Movement

• Music

• Dramatic play

• Storytelling

• Conversation

 If your child is interested in something they discovered outside, invite them to draw it, build it with blocks, act it out, or tell you a story about it.

As a teacher, I’m always available to children for a chat. I find that each school year, there are the children who want to sit and talk to me for as long as they can and the ones who come to me only when they need something.

For those busy bees, I engage with them in their language.

Maybe it’s playing basketball, delivering the blocks they need, or pretending I’m a T-Rex, again.

How does your child communicate their ideas?

Giving children different ways to express themselves helps them communicate their ideas and make their thinking visible. Magic happens when you find a language that you both love.

Dig into those moments!

7. Slow Down and Observe

One of the simplest ways to support children's learning is to slow down.

Children need time to investigate an idea without being rushed to the next activity.

If your child spends 20 minutes filling and emptying a bucket, it may look simple from an adult perspective. But your child may be exploring volume, cause and effect, coordination, prediction, and repetition.

Instead of interrupting, pause and watch.

Maybe it’s almost time to go and you can only give them one or two more minutes. That’s OK, too. Just try not to rush them whenever it’s possible. See where you can make more time for unhurried play.

 Ask yourself:

What are they trying to figure out?

Sometimes the best learning opportunity is simply giving children enough time to discover it for themselves.

If you see them struggling or getting frustrated, it’s OK not to intervene right away. Through dealing with uncomfortable feelings, they will eventually learn they can handle them.

And that feels good!

ProTip!: We all admittedly have very busy lives, especially with young children. Sometimes it helps just to give yourself permission to not focus on anything else but *this, now* for a specific amount of time. Perhaps setting a timer for yourself helps release your brain from feeling the ‘hurry’ of other tasks on your todo list.

8. Document Your Child's Learning

At home, documentation can be wonderfully simple.

Take a photograph of a project. Print it and put it up in your home. Write down something interesting your child said about their work.

Save a drawing or construction. Ask your child to tell you about what they were thinking while they made it.

Later, look back at the documentation together.

You might say:

“Remember when you were trying to make the block tower as high as you are? What did you discover?”

Looking back helps children reflect on their experiences and recognize how their ideas change and develop over time. It also really helps solidify certain concepts your child may have learned during that investigation you may notice this because they start to tell other family members about what has been reflected on!

It also communicates something important:

I noticed what you were doing, and I think your ideas are worth remembering.

9. Trust Your Child as a Capable Learner

Perhaps the most important way to bring Reggio-inspired learning into your home is to trust your child.

Children are capable of asking meaningful questions, developing theories, solving problems, and making discoveries.

You don't have to have every answer.

You can wonder alongside them.

You can say:

“I don't know. Let's find out.”

That simple response communicates something powerful:

Your ideas matter. Your questions matter. You are capable of figuring things out.

20393 Anita Ave, Castro Valley, California, USA