🌿 Environment as the Third Teacher
Back By Popular Demand
Four Online Reggio Inspired Environment Design Workshops
Time: 6:00–8:00 PM (2 hours each) PST
Format: Live online
Cost: $50 per session or $175 for all 4
Presenter: Patricia Hunter McGrath
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Designed for infant, toddler, and preschool educators seeking to create intentional, beautiful, and meaningful environments that support curiosity, creativity, responsibility, and deep engagement.
What Participants Will Gain From These Workshops
- Confidence choosing and introducing materials
- Clear strategies for the care and organization of materials
- Tools for building children’s responsibility and respect for materials
- Practical environment setups for immediate use
- A deeper understanding of the environment as a teacher
Workshop 1: Infant & Toddler Environments
Materials, Beauty, and Transformation for Our Youngest Learners
Date: July 2nd 6:00–8:00 PM $50
We Will Explore:
- What materials are appropriate and meaningful for infants and toddlers
- The role of natural materials in creating calm, nurturing, and aesthetically pleasing environments
- How materials are introduced intentionally to infants and toddlers
- How young children explore materials through sensory experiences, repetition, movement, and touch
- When materials are changed, rotated, or transformed
- How environments evolve in response to children’s development and interests
- How do we create magical, creative immersive environments for infants and toddlers
This workshop focuses on slowing down, simplifying, and creating environments that honor early relationships and exploration.
Workshop 2: Outdoor Classroom Environments
Designing Living, Creative, and Evolving Outdoor Spaces
Date: July 7th 6:00–8:00 PM $50
Topics Include:
- How to design innovative, enticing, and creative outdoor environments
- Outdoor paint setups: easels, ground and wall painting, natural paint tools, temporary and permanent setups
- How children are invited to design and co-create outdoor provocations
- How the teacher’s role shifts from supervisor to facilitator
- How outdoor provocations change over time, seasons, and children’s interests
- The role of gardening in children’s learning: observation, responsibility, patience, and inquiry
- How growing plants and gardens support children’s connection to the natural world
- How discoveries from the outside become indoor explorations
- What kinds of materials and mediums can be used outside.
This workshop reimagines the outdoors as a dynamic, creative, classroom that changes and transforms throughout the year.
Workshop 3: Preschool Classroom Environments
Dynamic, Creative, and Responsive Learning Spaces
Date: July 9th 6:00–8:00 PM $50
We Will Discuss:
- What makes a preschool classroom dynamic and creative
- What materials are intentionally integrated into the classroom and why
- How classrooms are organized to support independence, focus, and collaboration
- The role children play in organizing materials, caring for the environment, and classroom decision-making
- How teachers set clear boundaries around the care and use of materials
- How materials extend curiosity, creativity, attention span, and problem-solving
- When and why materials are changed, revisited, or expanded
- How is light used to define space and create irresistible provocations
- What kind of textural elements create warm and coziness in the classroom
- How do you design shelfs and environments to inspire childrens ideas
This session emphasizes balance—between freedom and structure, beauty and function.
Workshop 4: Ateliers Inside & Outside
Studios, Materials, and Shared Creative Spaces
Date: July 14th 6:00–8:00 PM $50
In This Workshop, We Explore:
- How different kinds of ateliers are integrated throughout a school
- Ateliers for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
- What are intelligent materials are and how they support thinking and expression
- How atelier materials are introduced, organized, stored, and revisited
- How ateliers can function as materials lending libraries
- Designing atelier spaces using shelves, rolling carts, studio rooms, and outdoor areas
- Supporting collaboration, creativity, and responsibility across shared spaces
- What are inspiration books and how are they used to inspire work throughout the school
- How can materials be used to support and develop resilience and social relationships.
This workshop supports schools in creating cohesive, connected creative, collaborative learning environments rather than isolated classrooms.
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We Still have space in our last 2 June workshops
OnLine via Zoom
Intro to Clay as a Language of Thinking.
Tuesday, June 23rd 2026 – 6pm to 8:30pm – $65
Understanding clay as a medium for transformation, expression, and sensory exploration
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Creating a World of Colors: Palettes that Connect us to our World
Saturday, June 27th, 2023 – 9am to 3pm – $145
includes breakfast and materials to take back to your classroom
Reggio Inspirations 