The children at Project P.L.A.Y. School are given the freedom to use their imagination creating, exploring and experiencing with rich and varied materials at their own pace, allowing for creative flow.

by Lynne S. Dumas
Originally posted at https://www.sesameworkshop.org/parents/advice/article.php?contentId=63940&

Recently some teachers at a preschool in Knoxville, Tennessee, overheard a group of 4-year-olds discussing how to get from one part of their city to another. This led the teachers and students to talk about all the rivers in the city, which led to talking about bridges, which prompted building a model of Knoxville from boxes, tubing, aluminum foil, and other materials. As their creation took shape, the excited kids wondered how tall some of their model buildings should be, so the teachers took them to the top of the Sunsphere at the 1982 World’s Fair site to see the city from above. For months the children crafted their model, honing math skills through measuring, literacy skills through labeling buildings and bridges, and motor skills through cutting and pasting.

It’s pretty amazing to think that 4-year-olds could be persistent and capable enough to pull off a project of such complexity. But that’s the kind of response the Reggio Emilia approach to learning draws from kids. No wonder educators the world over are buzzing with excitement about Reggio’s unique philosophy, one that profoundly respects children’s interest in the world around them and honors their innate ability and creativity. The Reggio result: a preschool- education method with a flexible curriculum, teachers who shape their work around children’s ideas, and kids who are caught up in a constant state of enthusiasm about learning because their curiosity gets such a workout.

The Roots of Reggio Emilia

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Welcome to Project P.L.A.Y. School, a play-based school for children ages 27 months through 5 years.

Rooted in the Reggio Emilia approach of emergent curriculum and constructivist education, Project P.L.A.Y. (Partners in Learning About You) was founded in 2005 by Karen Chayot and Kathy Goldenberg. We currently operate in Elkins Park, PA with a new location opening September 2016 in South Philadelphia.

Take some time to learn about our philosophy, how your family can join us at school, or how our experience can help transform your classroom!

No way. The hundred is there.

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

-Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach [ via ]