This year we have a new program to Sabot, the Nest. A classroom designated for 2 years old and up, in a small cottage just outside the walls of our garden. It is different in that the youngest children on campus actually stay in the Nest all day— even if they come early and stay late. The staff changes halfway through the day— and this is different too. In some ways this mirrors the way things happen in Reggio a little more than in other Sabot classrooms.

Over last summer the space indoors and out was lovingly transformed by our facilities crew (mainly Pippin). We selected some basic furniture, rugs, and staples like a light table and a sensory table. Blackout curtains were installed for nap time. The bathroom was outfitted with a double toilet seat that fits both adults and children and an adult sink was put in along with a little fridge and countertop.

Filling a new classroom with materials was a bit daunting. We’d inherited many things from classrooms around the preschool but a reggio-inspired classroom often has the accumulation of years of natural and studio materials that can be used. Also we needed to consider licensing and two-year old likely behavior so we couldn’t use anything smaller than a ping pong ball to start (with the risk of children “mouthing” the items or choking on them).

As we unpacked the tables and cubbies and put them all together, we built up a pile of interesting packing pieces. Short cardboard tubes, corner stays, foam corner pieces, sheets of thin foam, and of course, boxes. Very quickly we both decided that we’d use these materials as the main “stuff” of the beginning of our year. The foam blocks stack with some thought and won’t hurt anyone when knocked down. The foam strips were a satisfying weight and length. What child doesn’t love a big box! We wondered what the children might do with all of these alluring yet pedestrian materials.

Six months later the Nest children are still using some of them. The short cardboard tubes prop up led candles and provide support in micro play with our little bird figurines. The long foam pieces wrap around people’s bodies or turn into lawnmowers, ramps, and things for tapping friends on their bodies with humor.

Our first box went from a box to climb into…

to a box to slide on..

to an outside slide.

We got two more boxes later, then a third, which were used in more architectural endeavors. And still, when there was that kind of moment, the children liked to climb inside and surprise each other, sometimes with eruptions of giggling that lasted all morning. What we witnessed at those moments was early relationship building, the moment of connection when two children’s eyes met as the box flaps opened. The boxes shortcut what could have been a more lengthy process of bonding and creating shared joy. Most importantly all of it was spontaneously prompted by the construct of the box itself.

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