Are you shelf-motivated? Today’s blog post looks at Playhood’s experiments in scaling back materials for more exploratory early years’ play and learning for all.

We’ve historically been running weeklong, and now more recently extended sessions, where our space is cleared of the usual carefully-curated Montessori materials and decor. Items are introduced as relevant, or as requested by the children during this time, but the idea is a fresh canvas for exploring and interpreting the space. The ways in which the children respond to their once-familiar environment (and to one another) have been highly creative and it seems to empower them to connect and play with more freedom. These experiences have asked of the staff to hesitate to scaffold; to question assumptions; to hang back even where their training guides them. All in order to truly co-create knowledge in creative collaboration with the children. Here’s the report from our guides:

Our context

Entering a Montessori nursery for the first time can be an intriguing, mystical experience. All the shelves are beautifully ordered and children are deep in concentration. They’re playing with carefully-selected materials to develop skills as they build their knowledge of the world. You might wonder if children are drawn or directed to one activity over another. Are they choosing freely?

A favourable environment (as the preparation of the setting is called in Montessori) should provide activities that support the child's innate nature; to explore opportunities for problem-solving and responsibility that nurture’s their independent learning. The idea of this space as the ‘children’s house’ captures the homely spirit, where the atmosphere is calm, everything is clean and orderly, and child-sized to allow them to move freely. Within the process of rotating materials according to individual skills and interests, the role of the guide is to support the children through the curriculum which serves the group as a whole.

Our challenge

We do often wonder to what degree we are influencing — determining? Dictating, even? — children’s interests in certain activities. When you work closely with parents, you often find out that what appeals to a child at home doesn’t always mirror what’s expressed at nursery, and vice versa. So, are their investigations of our space and materials here truly open and free or are they sensing expectation, perceiving norms? Is our expert sequencing leaving enough space for creativity, further, for co-creation, both peer-to-peer and child-with-adult? Might we scaffold fun learning experiences with fewer materials, perhaps?

Further questions we considered in planning included: what structure must we retain in the context of more open-ended exploration (daily rituals, matters of food and drink, weekly habits, roles and responsibilities for cleaning, for documenting)? And how long must we sustain this more open format to truly appreciate its impact?

Our compromise

Late in the summer term we removed all the materials from the environment and left the classroom empty for the weeks leading up to our break in August and subsequently upon our return in September, too. We wanted to observe the children’s reactions and explore their interests without prescription of activity or medium. Free us all up from planned curriculum. This let us build more on our integration of Reggio-Emilia, where the environment is considered a crucial third teacher. As noted in our introduction to the Reggio-Emilia approach, it’s originator sought to explore the “100 languages” (or more!) of children. Planning in such settings happens on a level plane of educators, children and parents. Lots of sharing ideas, documenting exploration, iterating.

Children are encouraged to pursue their own interests and curiosity and these lines of enquiry form the basis for long-term projects. Such projects often involve collaboration with peers and can span several weeks, or even months. Project-based and self-directed learning where the ‘teacher’ merely facilitates and learns alongside the child, empowers children to develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and a sense of ownership and pride.

We debated if sitting back to observe self-directed learning is ever ‘irresponsible’ by the adult, if we have a chance to intervene productively. What are our fears here about and informs our expert compass for doing the “right” thing by the child… Are we trying to save time, mess or frustration when we want to step-in? We will share in the sense of awe in discovery but ought we share our anxieties too?

The adult role in the setting now became about judging how much struggle is productive for empowering communication skills and resourcefulness; about finding the line between boredom or frustration, and wonderful possibility.

In the first week, one child announced, “I am happy that there are no activities on the shelves!”

The older children spent most of their time outdoors role-playing and making obstacle courses. They had lots of physical energy, as if openness, emptiness, a feeling of space activated their gross motor skills. They wanted to dance, sing, run, and climb. Their imaginations shone at the same time. Reasoning and teamwork characterised their interactions.

The younger children seem especially drawn to the leadership shown by the older ones in the first few days of our experience. More questions seemed to emerge about our natural environment. But then later, one of the children was agitated. What if for some learners, the empty environment was unnerving, dysregulating? Maybe it was something else that day, and it was not to be necessarily resolved by simply reintroducing familiar materials.

Our conclusions

Aside from that moment of hesitation about the impact of our experiment on a participant, it seemed that the greatest struggle with the clean slate lay with us educators. Could it be that when free imaginative play is encouraged, children seek less adult input as well as relying less on toys? One guide noted, “When I walk into the empty classroom in the morning during the set up time, I feel lost. I wander around not knowing what to do. Confused. Could it be the same for children? I am a bit nervous every time I look at the shelves”.

The increase in role-playing scenarios, with vocal negotiation and creative thinking galore, meant they did not request any familiar Montessori materials. So how did we feel about our Montessori training now? The environment we shape is favourable to us in our practice too. Looking around our precious classroom with empty shelves shifted focus to interpersonal and language skills for everyone present. Without our day structured around giving presentations, what behaviour could we role model? Alleviating the pressure of ‘teaching’ gave new space for reflecting and seeing each other, and of course, the children’s sparks of inspiration. We were more attuned to each others’ energies and needs, facing the unknown together.

Thinking about what the children and guides missed prompts questions about the material things which connote security. It might be good to discuss toys with parents. Do children need toys? We got curious about what the exploration in the setting means for their interactions with their home environments. Where do we see children’s awareness of their own interests take shape and how do they act upon inspiration in different spaces? Beyond physical ‘things’, what influence do we have exactly over the children’s most enjoyable and successful research and construction in the sparser space?

A guide captured the ambivalence: “The feeling that empty shelves invoked for me was a mixture of uncertainty and excitement at first. Maybe it’s my character, but something in me was pulled to either clean, decorate or fill it! Gradually though, there was something calming about the lack of materials. The focus naturally shifted to the human essence of the environment”.

Here’s a closing thought, reminding us that the process is more powerful than the content:

“Creativity supports neural connectivity. Nurturing your child’s interests, encouraging them to see things from different perspectives, and introducing them to new experiences allow for more than just fun; it is also building their brain in ways that will support their development and give them helpful skills for problem solving future challenges they may face.” — Monika Skuza, Music in Child Development Specialist & Neuro Brain Trust member, 2023.

Leap of Faith