Reggio Emilia approach

What It Means

The Reggio Emilia approach is an educational philosophy for young children that grew out of the infant-toddlerToddlerA child from 1 to 3 years old, the stage CDC's parenting guidance places between infancy and the preschool years. See more centers and preschools of the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and is closely tied to educator Loris Malaguzzi. Reggio Children describes it as starting from an image of the child as full of potential and as a person with rights. Two of its best-known ideas are the "hundred languages of children," the many ways children express what they think and feel, and the environment as a "third teacher."

How Parents Say It

• "Her preschool is Reggio-inspired, so it's all projects."
• "They spent three weeks studying shadows because the kids asked."
• "Look, he explained the bridge with clay instead of words."

The Breakdown

Where it is used. The approach comes from the infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, per the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance.

Core ideas, per Reggio Children and the Alliance

• The child has strong potential and is a person with rights.
• Children are competent learners who research meanings, in Malaguzzi's words.
• Children have the right and the ability to express their thinking in many ways.
• The environment itself teaches.

Borrowing it at home. Buhata's own suggestions: keep open-ended materialsOpen-ended playPlay with toys or materials that have no single right way to use them, like blocks, boxes or playdough, so the child decides what they become. See more within reach, follow a question your child keeps asking, and save their drawings or models of it.

When to talk to someone. When choosing a program, ask the staff how they document children's learning and how they'll share it with you. For concerns about development, talk with your pediatrician.

Where It Comes From

The approach takes its name from the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy, where it developed in the city's infant-toddler centers and preschools. In 1981 Loris Malaguzzi conceived an exhibition of the children's work, renamed "The Hundred Languages of Children" in 1987, which Reggio Children says he called a "narrative of the possible."

Good to Know

Reggio Children writes "Reggio Emilia Approach" with the registered trademark sign and describes it as an educational philosophy. A program outside the city that follows it is adapting those ideas, so when you visit, ask how the hundred languages and the environment show up in an ordinary day.

Related Terms and Categories

• Montessori at home

  Using Maria Montessori's ideas at home: a child-sized, orderly space, real tasks shown step by step, and room for the child to do things independently.

• Waldorf approach

  An approach to education founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919 that follows stages of childhood, with play and imitation early and formal academics starting later.

• RIE parenting

  An approach to caring for babies and toddlers, from Magda Gerber's Resources for Infant Educarers, built on respect, trust in the baby's abilities and unhurried care.

• Open-ended play

  Play with toys or materials that have no single right way to use them, like blocks, boxes or playdough, so the child decides what they become.

• Sensory play

  Play that invites a child to touch, squish, pour, smell, listen and look, such as sand, water, playdough or textured materials.

• Pretend play

  Play in which a child acts out something that isn't real, like feeding a doll, using a block as a phone, or being a superhero.

Parenting and child development