Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Outdoor learning at ISN

It's great to be back in France and to start our exciting project with the International School of Nice. Follow this link to find out what we and the kids are doing on our blog for the project.

We brought in our loose parts tray of all the treasure we've been collecting on our drive to Nice from Portugal for the Student Council. It was the first time they've even seen a loose parts tray, though they agreed when we proposed that they had probably been playing with loose parts all their lives - on beaches, in forests, rummaging through Gran's sewing box etc. 

The wonderful thing about the Reggio Emilia approach is that it levels the playing field. Let me explain - I grew up in a crazy house. My Mum is a hoarder, so there were little treasure troves all over the house to play with, in addition to all the natural finds that we hoarded on our walks. Our neighbour's house was, by contrast, minimalist with purpose-built toys neatly stored in play boxes. I envied the tidiness of it but the truth was, there was nothing to discover - there were not the same opportunities to express yourself with loose parts.


Some initial symbolic play before a theme of faces and bodies appears:





Some members splinter off from the group to draw natural finds from the loose parts tray:




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