The effects of the 'throwaway culture', leading to the depletion of natural resources and the build-up of large volumes of waste material, has had an impact on us all. With recycling schemes becoming a more common feature of household rubbish disposal, the whole concept of 'recycling and reuse' has become more commonplace. As adults we have a responsibility to help children develop their environmental awareness and to value and respect the resources and materials they use. Nurturing young children's environmental understanding is a vital part of supporting their personal, social and emotional development and helping them to become responsible young citizens.
In Reggio Emilia in northern Italy the pre-schools and infant-toddler centres have a long tradition of democratic involvement and social responsibility. In Reggio children are considered citizens of the present rather than citizens of the future, and educators believe that their early childhood centres play a significant role in building culture and society.
Creativity, which lies at the heart of the educational experience in Reggio, is fostered by encouraging children to ask questions and seek explanations, to explore ideas and possibilities and to review and reflect on their learning. The availability of open-ended resources that prompt curiosity and invite investigation and exploration are fundamental to this process.
REMIDA
In 1996 the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and ENIA (the local water, gas and waste management company) formed REMIDA, the creative recycling centre, to promote the potential of reclaimed and recycled materials. The twin goals behind this enterprise were to encourage ecological awareness and to facilitate creative expression through demonstrating that waste materials can assume new identities and be transformed into objects of curiosity and beauty.
'The strength of the REMIDA experience is that it opens up the possibility to understand the true value of respect for the environment through the creative process.'
* Arturo Bertoldi: ENIA
More than 170 companies contribute their discarded materials - unsold stock, rejects or scrap - to REMIDA, including paper, metal, wood, leather, textiles, glass, plastic, marble, rubber and haberdashery. These recovered materials, which are new and not used, are collected, displayed and made available free of charge for use by more than 300 early childhood centres, schools and community organisations. All materials are carefully inspected by staff of the Friends of Reggio Children Association before they are made available in the centre.
In the REMIDA centre (a play on words for the Italian Re Mida or King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold) the recycled resources are beautifully displayed in what has been variously described as 'the children's dream place' or 'a warehouse of wonders'. The materials are arranged in a captivating and stimulating way, often laid out in palettes of colour. Visitors are encouraged not just to look at the materials but to encounter them with all their senses, touching and exploring, and using the magnifiers and stethoscopes provided to experience the visual and acoustic properties of the recovered resources.
REMIDA is not just a warehouse, but also a cultural centre where training sessions and workshops, led by artists, designers and other creative professionals, take place. Children and educators often visit the centre, not to make things, but to explore and investigate the vast range of materials and choose the items they want to use creatively in their pre-schools.
CREATIVE USE OF RECLAIMED MATERIALS
'Through the years there has been a change in the way the teachers react to the materials. Initially, they would come in with a list of what they were looking for, saying what they wanted to make with the material. Now, they come and say, "We want to see what is new because we are looking for new ideas". Initially many teachers wanted to know if we had handbooks to teach them how to use these materials. We had them but we kept them locked up. We told the teachers that if we taught them what to do, we would have failed in our duty to encourage creativity.'
* Graziella Brighenti, co-ordinator, Remida Centre
Children in the pre-schools and infant- toddler centres are encouraged to use a wide range of natural and recycled materials to support their open-ended exploration and investigation. Children respect and value these resources and look upon them as 'intelligent materials' with enormous creative possibilities.
The resources the children use include paper, boxes, mesh, chains and pipes, blocks, cork, plywood, wicker, rope and laces, buttons, buckles, zips, ribbons, lace, shoulder pads, plastic tubes, springs, funnels, film canisters, nuts and bolts, cut mosaics, plastic discs, cogs and washers.
These items are complemented by 'found' natural materials including driftwood, stones, shells, cones, leaves, seedpods and feathers.
Within the early childhood centres great care and attention is given to the selection and storage of materials. Ateliers, or studios, have open shelving for storage on which are displayed a rich array of reclaimed resources for the children to access independently. Materials can be seen so children can find, use and return them independently.
Children use light boxes and overhead projectors to investigate the properties of opaque, translucent and transparent materials and explore colour, shape, pattern, light and shadow. Wood, plastic cones, bottles, tubing and plastic netting are used indoors and outdoors to build large scale constructions. These are frequently combined with wooden train sets, construction kits and small-world play toys such as farm animals and dinosaurs to enhance the opportunities for open-ended, imaginative play.
Great emphasis is placed on children acquiring the skills which will enable them to use materials safely. Glass containers, mirrors, pendants, balls and bottles are used by children of all ages and even very young children have opportunities to explore the expressive potential of wire. They discover how it can be bent, shaped twisted and joined to create open, 'empty' images which invite closer investigation and interpretation.
REMIDA DAY
Every year in May the city of Reggio Emilia is transformed by displays and events inspired by REMIDA. The squares and streets host events where children and adults showcase creative projects from schools, organisations or individuals. These have included a secondhand market, interactions between the performing arts and large-scale constructions and the making of a 500-metre long recycled chocolate cake. This year's project used children's creative representations of bicycles to decorate the underpass linking the new Loris Malaguzzi International Centre to the rest of the city.
'In Reggio we have the highest quality kinds of materials we can find, not so the children can become geniuses but so they and we have many opportunities to discover their learning processes and their abilities to think. I believe that when you give this to children when they are so young, when you empower them in their thinking, it stays with them forever - as Malaguzzi used to say, like an extra pocket. They understand the power of their intelligence.'
* Amelia Gambetti, executive director of Reggio Children Organisation
LEARNING FROM REMIDA
Visits to the UK of the 'Hundred Languages of Children' exhibition have given many people an opportunity to experience the stunning examples of children's creative use of recycled materials. Study tours to Reggio always include a visit to REMIDA, and individuals who have been moved and inspired by this experience have begun to develop creative recycling ventures in this country stirred by the same ideals of promoting environmental awareness through the medium of creative expression.
All professionals working with children and families have a responsibility to promote children's ability to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. The aims and objectives of 'Every Child Matters' provide the ideal framework to initiate and develop creative recycling ventures which enrich children's learning and extend their experience and understanding of the world in which they live.
References
* Bertoldi, A (2005) interview in Innovations in early education: the international reggio exchange. Merrill-Palmer Institute, USA
* Brighenti, G (2005) in Innovations in early education
* Gambetti, A (2003) in Bringing Learning to Life Cadwell LB. Teachers'
Press, USA
