Are We Neglecting the Joy in Early Childhood Settings?

I am a rather inactive member of many Facebook early childhood educator groups — inactive because I read and look, far more than I participate. Many of these groups focus on Loose Parts and/or Reggio Emilia inspired-approaches, of which I am particularly fond and philosophically in agreement with.

The theory of loose parts was originally coined by the architect, Simon Nicholson, as he examined the ways in which we design environments for children to encourage creativity, imagination, expression, and choice. Loose parts are items without any per-determined usage, that can be combined, transported and utilized in a wide variety of ways. For example, stones, wood, shells, boxes, fabric, and rope, rather than cars, play food, and puppets. A stone can be a car, play food, a puppet and so much more, but a toy car will primarily be used as a car. Many more examples can be found online with a quick google search and potential is only limited by one’s own creativity, time, and space.

A Reggio Emilia Inspired-Approach is based upon the inspiring work started by Loris Malaguzzi in Italy. It is a movement towards cooperative and child-led early childhood education, built on constructionist and emergent learning theories. The work of these programs is inspiring the field in many ways including a focus on child-directed learning, the rights of the child, participation of families, connection to the community, the presence of an atelier, large scale projects, the 100 languages of children and the environment as the third teacher.

To view classrooms in Reggio Emilia or those inspired by them, is to feel excited about learning while also feeling at peace. There is a beautiful mixture of available materials, easily accessible to children, much inline with the theory of loose parts. The spaces are uncluttered and non-distracting, prioritizing the important work of children — to learn, to experiment, to express, and to create. There is also an obvious lack of some of the more typical images of early childhood settings: plastic manufactured toys, rainbow-coloured chaos, and mass produced commercially available visuals. Instead, these places have a feeling of both calm and industry.

I particularly love all the children’s artwork and documentation in the second image above, from the Boulder Journey School, Toddler Room which can be found at www.boulderjourneyschool.com

Though neither of these approaches have a rigid adherence to either natural materials or neutral colours, this has often become synonymous with them online. Don’t get me wrong, I find the neutral colours calming, and I can find an overindulgence in colour overstimulating. I also feel a stronger connection and zen with natural materials, that plastics simply cannot provide. On the other hand, I believe in a balance and an openness that allows children the opportunity to experience the multitude of options that the world has to offer.

LOTS of colour and artificial materials. You cannot really see anything in that space that represents the actual children who use these spaces.

Many times online I have seen people send nasty remarks when people proudly share their classrooms. Things like their colour baskets or their plastic loose parts will be torn down and discredited as somehow not fitting in with the themes of these groups. Many other wonderful people are quick to come to their defense and point out the error of these judgments; however, it has never sat right with me and I think I found another piece of the puzzle.

I try to watch TED videos every day, much like I try to read every day. As soon as I finished watching this video, I had an ah-ha moment. We cannot neglect the joy in the early childhood settings. I know we remember to support joy in all the wonderful moments of interaction, discovery, and play. But this joy can also be sprinkled throughout the environment. All neutral and all natural may miss some of that joy in design. How much or how little will really depend on each space and the people who inhabit this space, but let’s not try and be too rigid with our environments or judgmental of others. Let’s embrace the many ways in which humans respond to colour and find joy in the world around them.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_how_to_find_it?language=en