The Right to a Beautiful Place: Children and Their Environment
The Right to a Beautiful Place: Children and Their Environment
When families walk into our school and classrooms for the first time, they often pause. Maybe it’s the natural light streaming through the windows, or the warm, natural colors we use throughout our classrooms. Perhaps it’s the basket of shells resting on a low shelf or the children’s drawings displayed at their eye level. These simple details communicate something important to a child: You belong here.
That feeling of belonging is not an accident. It is intentional and rooted in a core belief of the Reggio Emilia approach: children have a right to an environment that is worthy of them.
Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia schools, encouraged us to see children as capable, curious people with rights, not just needs. That is why the environment is often called the "third teacher." A room can say hurry up and don't touch, or it can say slow down, look closely, you belong here.
Rooted in the Lowcountry
Just as the Reggio schools grew from their own Italian city, our environment grows from our island of tides, marsh grass, and live oaks draped in Spanish moss. It's no coincidence our classrooms are named Sea Stars and Loggerheads. Shells, driftwood, sand, and palmetto fronds become materials for building, painting, and storytelling. Our insects are natural provocations that have led many adventures as children chase, trap and study. Inside each classroom, these natural materials give children many "languages" to express their ideas, and teach them that the place they come from is worth studying and loving.
Preparing a place for our youngest learners
We are thrilled to share that we are preparing a brand-new classroom to welcome one-year-olds, children 12 to 24 months old. One-year-olds learn with their whole bodies, crawling, reaching, touching, and testing, so we are designing the space around exactly that. Families can expect floor-level beauty with soft textures and low mirrors, calm light and cozy corners, gentle ramps and platforms for safe challenges. Everyday care moments like meals and diapering will be unhurried and relational, and small groups will let every child be deeply known by their educators.
A Glow up!
Our staff and I were provoked with the outdoor classroom revamp and we started to reconsider our indoor spaces and how we feel when we walk in the halls and into the classrooms. You will see soon that we are adding new glass doors at the end of the hallway, still allowing light and views of others but also another way to make sure everyone stays safe. We will soon see fresh new paint colors on the walls and new flooring that may lead to new types of play because the children will quickly notice the changes and how they happened. Loris Malaguzzi said that “ the environment should act as a kind of aquarium which reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and life style of the people who live in it.” The Day School has been working along these lines.
An invitation to families
You can honor this right at home, too: a low shelf your child can reach, a basket of beach-walk treasures, a small space for drawing. Notice what captures your child's attention, and make room for it.
When we give children beautiful, thoughtful spaces, we tell them: You are capable. You are worth this care. This place is yours.