Materials and Equipment – I don’t think it is necessary to talk about ALL the materials and equipment needed in a classroom except to say that the ‘stuff’ you use must be:

• Safe and Age Appropriate
• Suited to gaining the specific Strength Expectations of the Program
• Clean and Well Maintained
• In sufficient number/amount so all children can have access to it

Let’s Talk About Toys – Classrooms must be equipped with equipment and materials through which children can learn by these Learning Methods:

• Movement
• Sensory Exploration
• Manipulation
• Construction
• Role Play
• Expression

The materials that are offered to the children should be open-ended and raw, rather than plastic, primary-colored, one-answer-only “toys”. In some German childcare centers, the teachers institute “NO TOY” days, during which the children must use their imaginations and raw, real objects to create learning experiences. What a wonderful way to create truly valuable child-centered learning!

Classrooms must be filled with books.

Classrooms must be decorated with children’s art and words.

Classrooms should be filled with natural materials in all shapes and textures.

Classrooms should be filled with REAL objects (both natural and man-made) that invite questions and do not automatically give answers; objects that encourage wonder; objects that can be moved and moved with; objects that can be felt, seen, heard, and even smelled and tasted; objects that can be ‘messed’ with; objects that can be built with and taken apart and made into other things; objects that can inspire creativity and imagination; and objects that can be used in dance, song, art, and verbal expression.

Admit it, preschool teachers are natural hoarders. We tend to keep everything that is given to us – and everything we find in other people’s trash – in the hope that it will make a great learning tool. If your program has storage for egg cartons, potty paper, paper towel, and tin foil tubes, food storage containers and lids, scraps of material, scarves, hats, costume jewelry, and the like, then keep it! This stuff, plus nuts, bolts, locks, keys, (things the Reggio teachers call ‘loose parts’) old appliances with unsafe parts removed, and natural items like rocks, leaves, pine needles, maple seed pods, and all the other things ‘normal’ people see as junk ARE the best learning tools.

Next Blog: Setting 3 – Where to Stuff the Stuff