Our journey on Earth takes place together with the environment (...). A connection that holds together our biological structure and our ways of experiencing, learning, building relationships, and communicating. In other words, a planetary mindset, in the sense that we have finally reached the point where we understand that our mindset can only find its own balance, its future prospects, and its way forward if it is consciously connected to the entire planet.

Loris Malaguzzi 1988 (During her lecture, Elena Maccaferri talks about how Loris Malaguzzi emphasized the importance of thinking and acting globally early on, including this quote, which was translated by interpreter Kerstin Löf at the time).

“It is very important for us to be able to bring together such different ages, from zero to six years old,” continues Stefano, describing the different natural environments, plants, and animals that their 78 children, as well as the children in the nursery school also located in the park, encounter every day. They are close to a pond, tall trees, ducks, rabbits, frogs... And all their animals roam freely.

– For us, it is an important signal that this is a place that is not only for free people but also for free animals.

"We are also a preschool that likes to go on excursions to broaden our horizons, encounter new landscapes and contexts that we don't have at our preschool. But since we can't do that every day, we have created an outdoor environment that is sufficiently challenging and varied," he continues, referring to the logs, hills, tunnels, trees, huts, bamboo forest, and much more that are there instead of ready-made playground equipment. When he shows a picture of their climbing tower and says that "it is 5.5 meters high," a loud gasp is heard from the audience.

"We have included in our planning that there must also be risks for the children." He returns to this point when he talks more about a project in which the children get to explore a poisonous plant, Euphorbia Prostrata (belonging to the spurge family, whose sap is poisonous). This is one of three “weeds” that they are starting to take care of and learn more about instead of clearing them from the farm.

There is, of course, a difference between risk and danger. Here we are talking about projected risks, where we as teachers are involved. We also want to give children the opportunity to assess and analyze risks themselves so that they do not end up in danger.

For Stefano, it is important not only to make children aware of what we humans risk in such encounters, but also what plants risk when they encounter us.

It is exciting to discuss with them what risks the overgrown part of the yard faces when they run there, trample down, and tear up the plants.

The children know that Stefano Sturloni is interested in their observations and thoughts. Modern Barndom has seen this many times: children happily come to him to show or tell him something, and he listens to them.

"We are not particularly interested in understanding how well-founded a question is from a scientific perspective; rather, we want to hear children's questions regardless, along with all their interpretations of what they encounter," explains Stefano, when Elena explains that studio culture is about raising questions, and that even neuroscience today emphasizes how important it is for us to ask lots of questions during our early years.

"What we want to encourage is to highlight all the questions children ask in order to generate even more. We want to highlight children's theories and encourage them to ask so many questions that they generate even more. That's a good approach," Elena continues.

"Through the children's questions, we also gain insight into their worlds, which are reflected in the questions they ask, so we can create groups where everyone participates," says Stefano, adding jokingly, but with a hint of seriousness, that Allende has indeed "shaped many scientists."

Studio culture is about ecological sensitivity and using all your senses – and that things need to take time. As Elena points out:

We want to let questions arise by pausing.

In addition, of course, there is the important aesthetic aspect.

"We believe that the best way to learn is when there is an aesthetic dimension, because the moment we are amazed, a strong connection is made in our brains, which allows things to start happening," explains Elena, highlighting the parallel between how children and artists explore the world: they have the same approach in that it is the process and not the product that is important.

We have always drawn inspiration from art and the natural sciences. However, I would like to emphasize that we do not use any specific art form as a model, but rather draw inspiration from artists' approaches and how they explore their subjects. We work with similar processes, where contrasts and similarities are important.

"If we stay with a learning process for a long time and remain curious, just as in science, there isn't just one way of doing things, but there are always many different reflections in long explorations," Elena continues.

“When talking about studios and urban studios, it is important to distinguish between studios and workshops in order to understand that what we do in our studios is not a one-off event that ends after two hours, but rather that the documentation is always there as a basis for reflection and how we then move forward from there,” Elena Maccaferri points out on the train between lectures when she and Stefano talk about how Salvador Allende Park is now becoming a 0–99-year-old studio, which is the working name for their urban studios.

Text: Maria Herngren and Åsa Hejdenberg

Image: Maria Herngren, Åsa Hejdenberg, and Istituzione – Reggio Emilia's municipal preschools