10: Fostering Aesthetic Appreciation

Artist Visitors

Consider polling the loved ones of the children in your care.  Find out if you have any who plays an instrument that they could bring to a circle time one day?  Does anyone have an artist, dancer, or craftsperson in their family who would like to share their work?  Sharing their skills, products, and processes can be thrilling for young children and adults alike!

How Reggio Emilia Approaches Aesthetics

The Reggio Emilia schools, founded in northern Italy after World War II by educator Loris Malaguzzi, are internationally admired for their unique and deeply respectful approach to young children’s learning. Inspired by influential thinkers like Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, Malaguzzi believed that children are strong, capable, and full of potential, not empty vessels waiting to be filled.

One of the most striking elements of a Reggio Emilia classroom is its intentional aesthetic. The learning environment is often called the “third teacher,” following the child and the adult. This means great care is taken to create spaces that are beautiful, orderly, and inspiring.  Classrooms in Reggio are not flashy or overly decorated, but calm, inviting, and filled with natural light, natural materials, and children’s own work. Plants, mirrors, soft lighting, wooden furniture, and documentation panels featuring photos and children’s words create a space that feels more like an artist’s studio than a typical preschool.

Aesthetics in Reggio is not about making things “pretty” for the sake of appearance. Rather, it’s about cultivating an atmosphere where beauty supports thinking. When materials are arranged with care—loose parts thoughtfully displayed in baskets, paints in glass jars, a light table set up with translucent colored shapes—children are more likely to slow down, notice details, and become deeply engaged. This is part of a larger belief in the power of aesthetic sensitivity to awaken wonder, curiosity, and joy in learning.

Art in Reggio Emilia schools is not confined to a corner or reserved for certain times. It flows throughout the day and across all areas of the curriculum. Children use drawing, clay, wire, sculpture, collage, painting, shadow, light, movement, and sound to explore ideas, pose questions, and communicate their understanding. They are encouraged to revisit their work, refine it, and express their thoughts in what Malaguzzi called the “hundred languages” of children.

Each school has an atelier, or studio space, and an atelierista, an artist who works closely with teachers and children. The atelier is not just a place to “do art”, it’s a space where thinking becomes visible through aesthetic expression. The atelierista helps make connections between children’s ideas and expressive materials, documenting the evolving process of their projects and investigations.

Just as importantly, teachers in Reggio schools view themselves as researchers. They pay close attention to children’s words, gestures, and actions, using this information to co-construct curriculum alongside the children. Projects often emerge from a child’s passing comment or spontaneous observation—like the shadow a leaf makes on a wall—and evolve into deep explorations involving science, storytelling, and collaborative artwork.

Why this matters in your future classrooms: You don’t have to recreate a Reggio classroom exactly, but you can draw inspiration from its aesthetic values. Reflect on how your environment conveys messages to children. Is it calm or chaotic? Does it invite exploration? Do children’s creations have a place of honor on the walls? Can you offer materials in a way that sparks interest and respect?

Remember: when we treat children as artists, thinkers, and designers, and when we craft spaces that reflect beauty, care, and intentionality, we invite children to bring forward their most thoughtful, expressive, and creative selves.