The Reggio Emilia Approach
EXPLORER CHILDREN’S SCHOOL 🌿 Reggio Emilia Approach
(Stay tuned to the end for a “from Miss Sandra’s heart addition! ❤️)
Loris Malaguzzi was the visionary Italian educator who founded the Reggio Emilia philosophy, named after the entire region that adopted it. It was after the war, mid-20th century, when early childhood education was mainly focused on only teaching & directing children, not realizing the potential they encompassed.
With new research into child development, Malaguzzi challenged this status quo. He believed children were not empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge, but capable, curious, creative thinkers from the very beginning. He joined with parents in Reggio Emilia who were determined to create a better future for their children – and together they built the wholeregion’s community schools around a radically different version that
aligned more with how children learn and grow best.
Instead of asking “what do we need to teach children?” Malaguzzi encouraged educators to ask, “What are children capable of when we truly listen?” That shift became the foundation of the Reggio Emilia approach – a powerful new way of understanding child development that continues to inspire educators around the world.
What does a Reggio-inspired classroom actually look and feel like?
While the Reggio Emilia Approach is not a curriculum with a prescribed set of activities, it has several distinctive hallmarks that shape the way children learn, the way teachers teach, and even the way a classroom is designed. At its heart is a belief that children are capable, curious, creative, and full of ideas—and that our job as educators is to create the conditions for those ideas to grow.
You’ll see these values, this philosophy, come to life in many ways:
👧 Children Are Capable & Full of Ideas
Children are viewed as capable thinkers who have theories, questions,
and ideas worth exploring.
Example: Instead of telling a child why a tower fell, a teacher asks, “What do you think happened?”
💯 The “100 Languages” of Children
Children have many ways of thinking, communicating, and expressing their ideas—not just through words…especially before they may have the words.
Example: A child might explore a feeling or an idea by drawing it, building it with blocks, acting it out, or creating it with clay. Teachers help bridge the communication gap between school and home by writing down what the child might be saying during the activity.
🏫 The Environment as the “Third Teacher”
The classroom is intentionally designed with high quality materials to invite curiosity, independence, collaboration, and discovery. Materials are most often open-ended and can teach
a variety of developmental levels through play.
Example: Open shelves with beautiful, accessible materials invite children to choose, create, and experiment independently. Teachers set up provocations on the tables for children to choose and interact.
👩🏫 Teachers as Researchers & Co-Learners
Teachers listen, ask questions, and investigate alongside children
rather than simply delivering answers.
Example: When children become fascinated by worms, the teacher joins their investigation and helps them find ways to observe, measure, draw, and learn more.
🔎 Observation & Listening Come First
Teachers pay close attention to children’s questions, relationships,
and interests to understand how they are thinking.
Example: A teacher notices that several children keep collecting rocks and begins documenting their questions and discoveries.
🌱 Emergent Curriculum
Children’s interests and discoveries help shape what happens next, allowing learning to develop organically (and most enthusiastically with room for deeper exploration aka longer attention span),
rather than following a predetermined script.
Example: A fascination with shadows grows into days of experimenting with light, shapes, time of day, and shadow drawings.
📸 Documentation Makes Learning Visible
Teachers capture children’s thinking through photographs, observations, conversations, artwork, and learning stories.
Example: A display might show photos of a child building a bridge alongside their drawings and the child’s own words about how they solved the problem. Teachers create learning documentation posters that are displayed throughout the classrooms, bridging the gap between home and school about communication and what is actually being learned.
🤝 Learning Through Relationships & Collaboration
Children learn with and from other children, teachers, families, and their community.
Example: Two children work together to figure out how to make a cardboard structure strong
enough to stand. Reggio approach naturally celebrates and engages in group
projects to foster these skills and relationships.
🎨 The Arts as a Language for Learning
Art isn't simply an activity added to the day—it is a way children investigate,
represent, communicate, and make meaning.
Example: After observing flowers in the garden, children use paint, clay, loose parts, and drawing to represent what they noticed. Or, they create a play, imagine in the sandbox, or make up or sing a song.
🌿 Nature & the Outdoors as Learning Spaces
Nature provides endless opportunities for investigation, movement, sensory experiences,
and scientific discovery.
Example: Children notice that a plant has grown taller and use measuring tools to investigate how much it has changed. Children are given lots of time and space to investigate how water moves from one place to another, or fills different sized/shape containers.
👨👩👧 Families as Partners
Families are valued as an important part of the child’s learning community and are invited
to share ideas, knowledge, and perspectives.
Example: A child's family shares photographs or stories about a cultural tradition that becomes part of a classroom investigation. Families are an integral part of the school and participate in
the creation of spaces, projects, activities.
💚 Reflection & Collaboration Among Teachers
Teachers continually reflect together on what children are showing them and use those
observations to decide what opportunities to offer next.
Example: After noticing children repeatedly building roads, teachers discuss what the children are exploring and introduce maps, measuring tools, and new building materials.
✨ Beauty, Care & Intention Matter
Thoughtfully arranged spaces and materials communicate that children’s work,
ideas, and experiences are important.
Example: Children's artwork and investigations are displayed at their eye level alongside photographs and their own words.
Will my child learn school readiness with the
Reggio Emilia Approach?
Yes, absolutely! Reggio-inspired learning does not mean academics are left out. On the contrary, skills are woven naturally into meaningful, hands-on experiences where
children are encouraged to think for themselves.
At Explorer, children build school-readiness skills every day:
📚 Language & Literacy — Building vocabulary, communication, storytelling, early writing, and a love of books.
Example: Creating and illustrating a story about their families.
🔢 Math — Exploring numbers, counting, patterns, shapes, measurement, spatial thinking, and problem-solving.
Example: Figuring out how many blocks are needed to make a structure balance. Using a plethora of hands-on Montessori type math manipulatives to learn math inside & out
and reach all learning styles.
🔬 Science & Engineering — Asking questions, making predictions, experimenting, observing, and testing ideas.
Example: Learning, and using, the scientific & engineering design methods!
Investigating which objects sink or float. Coming up with their own
experiments to answer their questions.
💚 Social & Emotional Skills — Learning to communicate, cooperate, manage emotions, resolve conflicts, and develop empathy.
Example: Working together to solve a disagreement over materials. Collaboratively creating art or structures. Bonding over imagining and play-acting. Being child-centered they really get to know themselves and others.
🏃 Motor Development — Strengthening fine- and gross-motor skills through art, open ended materials, building, climbing, digging, writing, and outdoor play.
Example: 100’s of ways we use open ended, different sized materials. Using scissors, clay, wire, paper, writing tools…while also climbing, biking and balancing outdoors.
🌟 Confidence & Self-Awareness — Developing independence, persistence, self-help skills, and confidence as capable learners.
Example: Children develop huge confidence organically, given the ample time, space and encouragement to try a new strategy when something doesn't work instead of giving up. Children are not rushed, can go back to projects and ideas endlessly, can choose their own path of exploration.
⏰ Time, Routines & Responsibility — Learning sequence, routines, planning, organization, and responsibility.
Example: Planning a project, gathering materials, completing the steps, and cleaning up.
✨ Wonder & Positive Approaches to Learning — Developing curiosity, creativity, flexibility, initiative, persistence, and a genuine love of learning.
Example: Being able to follow their own interests in a topic until they are truly done with it. Learning to think, “What else could I try?” when faced with a challenge.
Because school readiness is SO much more than knowing letters and numbers.
We want children to enter kindergarten thinking:
“I have ideas. I can ask questions. I can solve problems. I can try again. I can learn. I am more than capable. I have and can make wonderful friends I trust.”
That is the foundation of a confident, capable learner—and that is what we nurture at Explorer Children’s School. 🌿💚
❤️ From Miss Sandra’s Heart:
Of all the early childhood philosophies I’ve explored, Reggio Emilia resonated with me most deeply because it aligns so beautifully with how young children’s brains
actually develop and learn.
In these early years, children are building (and pruning!) an incredible number of neural connections, and those connections are strengthened through active, hands-on experiences, relationships, movement, exploration, repetition, and play—not as much through
worksheets and sitting at a desk.
I love that Reggio honors this developmental reality while still providing rich, intentional opportunities for children to grow academically, socially, emotionally, and creatively. And it fits especially beautifully with early science and math, because children are naturally observing, questioning, counting, measuring, comparing, predicting, building, testing, and problem-solving as they play. It provides a perfect STEM learning backdrop when you approach it this way!
To me, Reggio brings together the science of brain development with the love and joy of childhood—giving children the freedom to learn in the way their developing brains are designed to learn, while helping them reach their fullest potential. That is why I chose it for Explorer. 💚
NOW TAKING INTEREST APPLICATIONS
We invite families who are seeking a thoughtful, nurturing, and progressive early childhood experience to learn more and begin the enrollment process.
Visit Us for a Tour
The best way to experience Explorer is to see it in person. We'd love to welcome you to our campus, introduce you to our Nature Playscape, and answer any questions you may have.
Ready to Begin the Enrollment Process? If Explorer feels like the right fit for your family, we invite you to complete our Enrollment Interest Form. Enrollment Interest Form
Questions? We'd love to hear from you!
📧 hello@explorerchildrensschool.com
For those who want it…
a Deeper Dive into the Values of the Reggio philosophy:
Here are the core ideas about how children learn and grow behind the approach, distilled from the Reggio Children / Loris Malaguzzi International Centre:
Children are capable and active learners. Children are viewed as protagonists in their own learning, with extraordinary potential and the ability to make meaning from their experiences.
Children have rights, voices, and ideas. Each child is seen as an individual with their own perspectives, relationships, questions, and ways of understanding the world.
Children have “100 languages.” Children have countless ways to think, communicate, express ideas, and make sense of the world—not just through spoken or written words, but through art, movement, building, music, dramatic play, nature, and more.
Learning happens through relationships. Children learn by exchanging ideas, collaborating, discussing, questioning, and experiencing the world with others.
Learning is an active process of discovery. Rather than simply receiving information, children construct their own knowledge, skills, and understanding through exploration and research.
Teachers are researchers alongside children. Teachers observe, listen, ask questions, and investigate with children rather than simply delivering predetermined lessons.
There isn't one predetermined curriculum. Learning experiences develop from children's interests, questions, discoveries, and ongoing investigations. Teachers thoughtfully design experiences and environments in response to what they observe.
Documentation makes learning visible. Photos, children's words, artwork, observations, and learning stories help make children's thinking and learning visible to children, teachers, and families.
The environment is part of the learning. Classrooms and outdoor spaces are intentionally designed as places to explore, create, collaborate, investigate, and feel a sense of belonging.
Beauty and thoughtful spaces matter. The care given to materials, furniture, objects, and learning spaces supports children's well-being, independence, familiarity, belonging, and sense of beauty.
Families are important partners. Family participation and different perspectives are valued as an essential part of the educational community.
Teachers are lifelong learners, too. Professional growth, reflection, collaboration, and ongoing research are considered an essential part of quality early childhood education.
Reflection and evaluation are ongoing. Teachers continually observe, document, discuss, and reflect on children's experiences to deepen understanding and inform what comes next.
20393 Anita Ave, Castro Valley, California, USA
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