During my visit to Bendigo, I went for a walk in a park near a lake. I walked slowly and looked carefully at everything around me. I also heard some sounds, such as birds singing in the trees, and the wind was blowing the leaves. As I walked, I heard the dry leaves crunching under my feet. Far away, I heard children laughing and playing at the playground. The sound that stayed in my mind the most was the lake. The water was shining in the sunlight, and ducks were swimming and playing in it.

For example, some children might play in the garden and pretend to be animals. One child might flap their arms like a bird. Another might growl like a monster. They could use leaves and rocks to build a house. Then, they make up a story about helping a lost animal. In this kind of play, children use sounds, actions, and their imagination to tell a story, even if they don’t have all the words yet.

The music&movement help children share their thoughts in different ways. When they play outside, they can do even more. As a future early childhood teacher, I want to make spaces where children feel free to explore and create. I want them to feel confident and happy, and to tell their own stories through movement, sound, and play — just like I did during my visit.

Gandini, L. (2012). The atelier: A conversation with Vea Vecchi. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation (3rd ed., pp. 303–316).

My creative response strongly reflects the ideas discussed by Gandini (2012), who explains how the atelier in the Reggio Emilia approach encourages children to express themselves through many different “languages” — such as sound, movement, storytelling, and play. In my case, nature became my atelier. I used natural sounds and imaginative thinking to create a story, just as a child might when playing outdoors with open-ended materials.