Music at the Playeum, Singapore

Good times with our DJ, Johan and Zara at the Playeum - a child-centred discovery centre in Singapore opened in September 2015 and which strongly identifies itself with the Reggio Emilia approach. This is a place where children's freedom of expression and inquiry is celebrated and where four year olds can use hot glue guns. I would recommend to anyone. We got membership the minute they opened and had a lot of fun over the year watching the concept be 'sold' to Singaporean parents. As the Spanish say: poco a poco. The Playeum might be Singapore's salvation!

Take a look at their website to see how they structure their learning opportunities/ ateliers.

The Secrets of Paper temporary exhibition at the Loris Malaguzzi Centre

What's it like inside the famous Diana Preschool in Reggio Emilia?

It is understandably very hard to visit the infant toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia. You can only visit them as part of the International Study Group, and even then, you can't chose the ones you go inside.

We had a good stalk around the outside of the Diana Preschool but didn't get the chance to go in and were really curious to see it as the first municipal preschool in Reggio Emilia and the place where Loris Malaguzzi grew his very special approach. We have however found a pretty detailed description from an unnamed author at Bennett Day School in Chicago of a morning in the famous Diana Preschool. And hopefully we will get the chance to visit ourselves on their open evening in January 2017.

Pictured - atelier at the Diana Preschool, Reggio Emilia

Integrating technology

Reggio Emilia International Study Group 2016

Indigo & Alex playing in the Digital Landscapes atelier at the Loris Malaguzzi Centre, summer 2016

"People laugh at our technology." The technology you see in digital ateliers is not cutting edge by any means. However, it is integrated to the landscape. It is "NOT functional" (i.e not to be operated) and by being part of the landscape it is "artisan" and "the hands of children and adults would be very important to create things in these spaces". The technology is always there but never the most important thing.

Here are some examples:

• The digital ateliers often help change points of view/ perspective, offering the view of an animal or a dinosaur using a webcam. 
•  They encourage manipulation of objects to explore how projections change when the projector is pointed at unusual surfaces. 
•  They allow a new understanding of movement, for example through examining stop motion and video captured of children jumping. The children were then able to observe and study how complex the movements were when jumping.