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The Importance of Collaborative Play


Loris Malaguzzi, an Italian educator, has made a lasting impact on early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia Approach is based on Malaguzzi’s belief that children are capable, curious, and competent learners, full of potential and creativity.  He emphasized that learning is a social process, and relationships between children, teachers, and families are crucial (Cagliari et al., 2016). He believed that knowledge is constructed through interactions and dialogues with others. Collaborative learning experiences allow children to share ideas, negotiate meaning, and learn from one another.


In Reggio-inspired classrooms, teachers engage in active listening and seek to support children’s ideas and theories.  Parents are also recognized as the children’s first teachers and valuable contributors to the learning process.  In other words, collaborative play time between adults and caretakers is critical for a child’s social and cognitive development.

So, this holiday season, gather your open-ended materials and engage in some fun collaborative play time.  Collaborative play builds relationships and can inspire creativity in children as they see your own creative process and skills. 

Here are some ideas for collaborative play.


1. Build a board game - use blocks to build a board game that can be played over and over! Use other toys around the house for the playing pieces and make up the rules together.


2. Balance game - see who can make the tallest tower possible before it falls over. This one leads to a lot of laughs and silliness. It can also be part of an important physics lesson or can reinforce clean up time because making the mess has been so much fun.


3. Free design - simply make a design or a building together, and make sure you both agree on the block placement together before it happens. This collaborative process will lead to a new creation each time.


4. Shape and letter recognition - challenge your little one to make a certain shape or letter out of different blocks. This is a great way to reinforce early childhood education lessons whether you are at school or at home.


In the collaborative play process, be sure you don’t just jump in and handle all the hard parts for the child. Remember - struggle can be an important part of learning and playtime!




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