Interaction Imagination

(på svenska efter bilderna) A long time ago I was told that I would never be able to have children... after failed IVFs and years of trying, my husband and I decided enough was enough and that we would stop the stress of trying and think about adopting. in order to close one part of our lives together and start another we decided on a trip to Italy... Starting in Naples, train to Florence and then ending in Rome... John could meet his sleep researcher colleagues there, I coul

This week over in the Facebook group - "The Reggio Emilia Approach" I posted a question "What are provocations?" This is a word I often see used in connection with the Reggio Emilia Approach, and in ever wider circles too. What I have see over the years is that the word is often used together with a beautifully set out activity, and quite often that activity looks very teacher down... in the sense that the teacher has chosen the "correct" colours for the flowers (or other ob

As I look back and reflect on my experience in Anji County, China and visiting the AnjiPlay kindergartens/preschools I wonder about my own approach to something new and i realise that it ties in with my observations of preschoolers at new locations... When I take a group of preschoolers to a new space (whether it be a play-space, forest, museum etc) what I see is that the children have a desire to look around, the do not settle into deep play as they usually do in a space fam

This is one of those posts that actually I was kind of saving for my book, but due to the response I have received after my keynote in Athens where I briefly mentioned how I see time connected to play and as a part of Original Learning, I feel there is reason to share my thinking earlier... Four or five years ago I was chatting with my children and up popped that phrase that we adults like to use... "you need to think outside of the box" - my daughter replied by saying that h

Listen with your ears, eyes, heart and mind. This is how I start a philosophy session with my preschoolers. A simple reminder that there is not one way to listen... not even with listening is there a single story. Many of the activities I did with the children was to give the children time and opportunity to practice their listening skills... to listen with their ears, to listen with their eyes, to listen with their hearts and to listen with their minds. I want to live in a w

Every once in a while I see posts about the benefits of hugs (touch) and babies... and just how it impacts the brain and development of the child. Often these posts are shared in groups/pages about early childhood education, and most often as a reaction to the fact that some settings are writing no-hug policies. While I think physical contact is incredibly important to the well-being and development of each child, I talked about this several times in Athens, both in my keyn

The #FridaysForFuture movement is very much a part of my home-life now. Both my daughters are engaged in their different ways, one here on the east coast of Sweden in Stockholm, and the other on the west coast of Sweden in Lysekil. As a parent here in Sweden it is my job to make sure they go to school, it is the law that all children attend school (not get an education, but attend school - I guess the attendance means they get an education!!). As many of you who have followed

As I dig deeper into trying to put Original Learning in words I am taking time to explore words... what do they mean, how will I use them, and how will I know others will understand what I mean... so this might mean that this post might get confusing, as I am practising putting ideas into words... Play is a fundamental part of Original Learning - as is written in the programme of Play on Early Education, Athens conference where I am a keynote speaker “Original Learning: Play

(på svenska efter bilden) Yesterday I updated a post I wrote a few years back about sleep and rest (you can read it here) and updated it to include a Swedish translation. This I re-shared and I have received a few questions about it that I will take up in this post. One question was about what happens if you work with a child that obviously needs sleep during the day and yet their parents are adamant that they do not nap at preschool? I have also encountered this severa

During a visit to London I spent a morning in the Natural History Museum, and it has inspired this post... I read the following... Which made me think of the Reggio Emilia Approach and the focus of the art studio/atelier as a language of learning. Using drawing and art as a method to look closer and to explore. This is something I have done over the years - myself as a child, and also as an educator. Art and creative expression has always been a strong path of exploration. Th

There have been several metaphors that I have been coming back to time and time again during my visit in the Middle East and that is the idea of joining dots... Making connections - not just human connection, but also connecting ideas, connecting knowledge, connecting experience, connecting culture, history etc... and the inter-connections. Learning is like a giant dot to dot... I loved them as a child... following the sequence of numbers to discover the image at the end.