Why the Enrionment is the Third Trainer in Reggio Emilia

In Reggio Emilia-inspired preschools, you gained’t discover inflexible desks or partitions lined with primary-colored posters. As a substitute, you would possibly see gentle streaming by way of massive home windows, nature-inspired supplies laid out for exploration, and comfortable nooks that invite curiosity. This isn’t only a design selection. It’s a philosophy.

Within the Reggio Emilia strategy to early childhood schooling, the setting is taken into account the “third instructor.” Alongside mother and father and educators, the bodily area performs an important position in supporting a toddler’s improvement. It’s not a passive backdrop however an lively participant within the studying course of.

What Does It Imply for the Atmosphere to Be a “Third Trainer”?

The thought behind the “third instructor” is that youngsters be taught not simply from the individuals round them, but in addition from their environment. Thoughtfully designed areas encourage youngsters to discover, clear up issues, and specific themselves.

For instance, when a Reggio Emilia preschool consists of mirrors on the partitions, youngsters can observe how their actions change their reflection, sparking curiosity about physics, symmetry, and the idea of self. When unfastened elements like stones, sticks, and pinecones are laid out for constructing, youngsters use them to experiment with steadiness, storytelling, and creativity.

These decisions are intentional. The setting supplies invites to be taught and is consistently evolving primarily based on the youngsters’s pursuits and discoveries.

When you’d like to make use of the rules of Reggio Emilia to encourage your youngster’s play area at residence, learn extra right here!

Nature as a Classroom

One of the crucial highly effective expressions of the “third instructor” philosophy is seen in nature primarily based preschools, a lot of which additionally embrace Reggio Emilia rules. In these packages, the outside is greater than a spot to get contemporary air. It’s a vibrant, ever-changing studying setting.

Timber change into climbing challenges. Puddles change into experiments in trigger and impact. A fallen leaf would possibly change into the start line for a child-led investigation into seasons, life cycles, or shade concept.

Pure areas have interaction all of the senses and provide countless alternatives for open-ended play and inquiry. This kind of exploration fosters independence, resilience, and a deep reference to the pure world, an essential worth in lots of Reggio Emilia and nature primarily based preschools.

How Reggio Emilia Preschools Design Their Areas

In a Reggio Emilia preschool, the classroom setting is designed with magnificence, order, and intentionality. Areas are sometimes open and versatile to permit for collaboration and creativity. Supplies are displayed accessibly, inviting youngsters to make decisions and direct their very own studying.

Key components of a Reggio-inspired classroom embrace:

• Pure supplies like wooden, stone, vegetation, and light-weight
• Documentation partitions exhibiting youngsters’s work and pondering
• Cozy, home-like touches equivalent to mushy lighting, pillows, and rugs
• Ateliers (artistic studios) stuffed with open-ended artwork provides

These environments are usually not static. They adapt to replicate the evolving pursuits of the youngsters. Academics pay shut consideration to how youngsters work together with supplies and areas, adjusting them to help rising initiatives and passions.

Why It Issues

Once we belief the setting to help youngsters’s studying, we ship a robust message: you’re succesful, curious, and your questions are price exploring.

By designing lecture rooms which can be lovely, versatile, and wealthy with risk, Reggio Emilia preschools empower youngsters to take the lead of their studying journeys. When paired with nature-based experiences, these environments change into much more dynamic, instructing youngsters to watch, surprise, and look after the world round them.

Whether or not indoors or out, the “third instructor” is all the time able to encourage.

Expertise the “Third Trainer” for Your self

In search of a preschool that honors your youngster’s pure curiosity? A Reggio Emilia preschool with a nature-based strategy is perhaps the right match. It’s a spot the place studying blooms from the bottom up, and each second is a chance to find.

If this text sparked your curiosity, there’s a lot extra to discover. Our About web page dives deeper into how distinctive early schooling can nurture a toddler’s pure curiosity, confidence, and love of studying. You’ll be able to even expertise this distinctive fashion of studying for your self at a Reggio Emilia preschool and daycare close to you. We’re glad you’re right here—let’s continue learning collectively.

Preserve studying right here!