The Hundred Languages of Children

The child is made of one hundred.
The child has a hundred languages
A hundred hands
A hundred thoughts
A hundred ways of thinking of playing a, of speaking
A hundred always a hundred ways of listening of marvelling of loving
A hundred joys for singing and understanding
A hundred worlds to discover, a hundred worlds
To discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream.
The child has a hundred languages ( and a hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture separate the head from the body.
The tell the child:to think without hands to do without head
to listen and not to speak to understand without joy
To love and to marvel only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child: to discover the world already there
and of the hundred they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child: that work and play reality and fantasy
Science and imagination sky and earth reason and dream are things
that do not belong together
And thus they tell the child that the hundred is not there
the child says no way. The hundred is there.

Loris Malaguzzi, translated by Lella Gandini
from "The Hundred Languages of Children, copyright pre-schools and infant-toddler centres-instituzone of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Published y Reggio Children, 1996. Reproduced by kind permission of Reggio Children.

I Have My Own Ideas

Active Learning in the Early Years

The Little Boy 
A poem by Helen Buckley this version has been adapted by unknown

Once a little boy went to school.

He was quite a little boy

And it was quite a big school

But when the little boy
Found that he could go to his room
By walking right from the door outside he was happy.
And the school did not seem quite so big any more


One morning,
When the little boy had been in school a while

The teacher said: “Today we are going to make a picture”

“Good!” Thought the little boy, he likes to make pictures.
He could make all kinds; lions and tigers, chickens and cows, trains and boats-
And he took out his box of crayons and began to draw.

But the teacher said: “Wait! It is not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now”, said the teacher, “We are going to make flowers.”

“Good!” thought the little boy, he liked to make flowers,
And he began to make beautiful ones

with his pink and orange and blue crayons

But the teacher said:“Wait!” And I will show you how”
And she drew a flower on the blackboard.

It was red, with a green stem.
“There,” said the teacher. “Now you may begin.”
The little boy looked at the teachers’ flower,
Then he looked at his own flower, he liked his flower better than the teacher’s
But he did not say this, he just turned his paper over
And made a flower like the teacher’s
It was red, with a green stem.


On another day, when the little boy had opened
The door from the outside all by himself,
The teacher said:“Today we are going to make something with clay”
"Good!” thought the little boy. He like clay.
He could make all kinds of things with clay:snakes and snowmen,
Elephants and mice, Cars and trucks- And he began to pull and pinch His ball of clay.

But the teacher said:“Wait! It is not time to begin!”
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
“Now,” said the teacher,“We are going to make a dish”,
Good thought the little boy. He liked to make dishes,

And he began to make some that were all shapes and sizes.

But the teacher said: “Wait!  I will show you how.”

And she showed everyone how to make

One deep dish. “There”, said the teacher,“Now you may begin"

The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish,then looked at his own.
He liked his dishes better than the teacher’s
But he did not say this. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again,
And made a dish like the teacher’s, it was a deep dish.


And pretty soon, the little boy learned to wait
And to watch and to make things just like the teacher.
And pretty soon, he didn’t make things of his own anymore..
Then it happened......................

The little boy and his family moved to another house, in another city,
And the little boy had to go to another school
This school was even bigger than the other one,
And there was no door from the outside into his room
He had to go up some big steps, and walk down a long hall to get to his room
And on the very first day he was there, the teacher said:
“Today we are going to make a picture.”


“Good!” though the little boy, and he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do
But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room.
When she came to the little boy, she said,
 “Don’t you want to make a picture?”
“Yes,” said the little boy

“What are we going to make?”

“I don’t know until you make I make it?” said the teacher.
"How shall I make it?" asked the little boy
“Why, any way you like,” said teacher.
“And any colour?” asked th little boy.
“Any colour,” said the teacher,

“If everyone made the same picture,

And used the same colours,
How would I know who made what
And which was which?”
“I don’t know,”said the little boy.
The little boy picked up his crayons and began to draw
He made a red flower with a green stem