A student of children’s folkways, Italian author and teacher Lella Gandini is best
known in the United States as the leading advocate for the Reggio Emilia approach
to early-childhood education, which emerged after the Second World War in
Northern Italy—in the town that gives this approach its name. Gandini’s many
publications in English and Italian include volumes on early-childhood education
and Italian folklore, and she is coauthor or coeditor of such works as Insights
and Inspirations from Reggio Emilia: Stories of Teachers and Children from North
America; The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early
Childhood Education; and Beautiful Stuff!: Learning with Found Materials. She holds
a doctorate in education and has taught at the University of Massachusetts, Lesley
College, and Smith College. In this interview, Gandini discusses how teachers and
children in Reggio schools make thinking visible as they draw, sculpt, tell stories,
construct theories, make maps, compose poetry, and explore their creativity in
dramatic play. Key words: Alliance for Childhood; bedtime ritual; cantilene, Eric
Carle; Bruno Ciari; filastrocche; Loris Malaguzzi; Don Milani; Montessori method;
National Association for the Education of Young Children; Reggio Emilia