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In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson continues her exploration of play schemas with a closer look at transforming, the ways children investigate change through mixing, combining, pressing, and experimenting with materials. From adding water to sand and blending paint colours to making playdough and exploring different textures, children are discovering how materials change and respond to their actions. These repeated experiences offer opportunities for investigation, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. Through a Reggio-inspired lens, Heather explores how educators can recognize children's interests without rushing to label their play or direct them toward a finished product. She discusses the importance of thoughtful environments, accessible materials, respectful boundaries, and pedagogical documentation that makes children's thinking visible. This episode also explores how listening to children's ideas, observing their relationships with materials, and revisiting their experiences can help educators plan meaningful invitations that build on children's curiosity. The transforming schema reminds us that the learning is often found in the process of change, not the finished creation. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS Children's Books About TransformationThese books offer opportunities to extend children's interest in transforming materials, exploring change, and making connections between stories and their own play. Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle — Follows a young boy as he gathers ingredients and watches flour, milk, and eggs transform into a finished pancake. Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper — Explores mixing, blending, and changing ingredients as friends work together to make soup. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle — Illustrates growth and biological transformation as a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Apart, Together: A Book About Transformation by Linda Booth Sweeney — Explores how colours and everyday elements combine to create something new. Zachary Zormer: Shape Transformer by Joanne Anderson Reisberg — Follows a young boy as he transforms a piece of paper through folding, cutting, and measuring into different geometric shapes. SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In Part 3 of our Play Schemas series, Heather Jackson explores orientation and positioning, two patterns of play that offer insight into how children investigate space, direction, relationships, and perspective. Through a Reggio Emilia-inspired lens, Heather invites educators to look beyond what children are doing and become more curious about what they might be thinking. From arranging loose parts and building with blocks to experimenting with mirrors and moving through spaces, these everyday experiences offer opportunities for meaningful investigation. Heather also explores the educator's role in observing without interrupting, documenting children's thinking, and designing environments that encourage children to revisit and extend their ideas. This episode is a reminder that our role isn't to label children's play or rush them towards an outcome. It's to pay attention, remain curious, and create space for their thinking to become visible. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS Explore orientation, positioning, spatial relationships, and perspective with these children's books recommended by Heather: Up, Down, and Around — Katherine Ayres Rosie's Walk — Pat Hutchins Over, Under, & Through and Other Spatial Concepts — Tana Hoban Inside, Outside, Upside Down — Stan and Jan Berenstain The Secret Birthday Message — Eric Carle Big Bug — Henry Cole You Are (Not) Small — Anna Kang Follow That Map! A First Book of Mapping Skills — Scot Ritchie Henry's Map — David Elliot The Line Up Book — Marisabina Russo EDUCATOR RESOURCE Weaving Play Schemas into Actions of Play — Lisa Agogliati and Heather Jackson (2024) A practical reference exploring play schema definitions, action verbs, play experiences, and areas of child development. Use it to support observation, reflection, and intentional planning. SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson continues her exploration of play schemas with a closer look at trajectory, the repeated patterns of movement that reveal how children investigate the world around them. From rolling balls down ramps and dropping objects from different heights to throwing, jumping, and watching things move through space, trajectory play is so much more than repetition. It is an opportunity for children to explore gravity, force, speed, direction, and cause and effect. Through a Reggio-inspired lens, Heather invites educators to recognize children as capable researchers, using movement as one of their hundred languages. She explores how intentional environments can support these investigations, how educators can respond with curiosity rather than interruption, and how pedagogical documentation can make children's thinking visible. This episode is a reminder that when we slow down, observe, and trust children's play, we begin to see the extraordinary learning happening in everyday moments. BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS Books Actions of Play by Lisa Agogiliati and Heather Jackson Children’s books Love is a ball by Amy Novesky and Sara Gillingham From Head to Toe by Eric Carle Oscar and the Cricket by Geoff Waring Roll, Little Line Roll by Ella Bright The Roll Away Snowman by Julia Wonders and Daniela Volpari  SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this first episode of a new Actions of Play series exploring play schemas, Heather Jackson introduces the fascinating world of enclosing and enveloping. From building forts and surrounding objects with blocks to wrapping materials, hiding treasures, and covering creations, children are continually investigating the world around them through their play. Drawing on Reggio-inspired practice and the ideas explored in her book Actions of Play, Heather examines how these recurring patterns can offer educators a deeper understanding of children's thinking, curiosity, and developing theories. Throughout the episode, Heather shares practical examples, thoughtful material invitations, children's literature recommendations, and ways to use pedagogical documentation to follow children's investigations without taking over. She also explores how families can contribute valuable perspectives on the patterns of play that extend beyond early learning environments. This episode begins a weekly series dedicated to exploring play schemas, shifting how we interpret children's actions, and discovering the possibilities within everyday moments of play. This week's invitation: Observe a moment of enclosing or enveloping. Notice what children are doing, document their actions, and remain curious about the thinking behind their play. BOOKS MENTIONED  Not a Box  Not a Stick Not a Box City Forts A House Is a House for Me The Mitten Extra Yarn The Napping House Where's Spot? Dear Zoo Peekaboo Baby Where Is Baby's Belly Button? Who's Hiding on the Farm? Where's the Giraffe? Goodnight Moon Big Box, Little Box SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this special episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson is joined by Dory Kashin, daughter of beloved early childhood educator, professor, mentor, and advocate Dr. Diane Kashin. Dory shares the story behind The Good Mess Project, a family fundraiser created to honour Diane’s legacy while bringing together many of the things she valued: children, families, play, materials, community, connection, and, of course, a good mess. Heather also reflects on her friendship and professional journey with Diane, from their early travels to Reggio Emilia to years of collaborating, learning, laughing, and contributing to the early childhood community together. The Good Mess Project takes place November 1, 2026, from 12:00–3:30 p.m. at the Kortright Centre in Vaughan, Ontario. Families, educators, friends, and community members are invited to explore, create, connect, and help support an important cause while celebrating a legacy that continues to influence early childhood education. The Good Mess Project November 1, 2026 12:00–3:30 p.m. Kortright Centre, Vaughan, Ontario Instagram: @thegoodmessproject  Tickets and donations:https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/the-good-mess-project-a-family-fundraiser-in-honour-of-diane-kashin SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather explores the Reggio Emilia concept of the Hundred Languages of Children and what it can teach us about the many ways children communicate, investigate, build theories, and make meaning through play. From movement and construction to clay, storytelling, light, sound, gesture, and even silence, Heather invites educators to look more closely at what children may already be telling us. This episode explores the educator’s role in listening, documenting, responding, and creating environments where children have more than one way to explore an idea. Because sometimes the learning isn’t in the finished product. It’s in the tower that keeps falling, the repeated movement, the mark in the clay, or the idea a child returns to again and again. RESOURCES Book: 100 Languages of Children NO WAY. THE HUNDRED IS THERE- Reggio Children publication. Blog Post:  RobertapucciLab: The One Hundred Languages of Children  SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores the image of the child through a Reggio Emilia lens and what that belief looks like in everyday practice. Heather shares why children are not empty vessels waiting for adults to fill them with knowledge, but creative meaning-makers who learn through relationships, inquiry, play and many different forms of expression. Through stories from her own practice at The Sunflower School, Heather looks at what can happen when educators resist the urge to step in with the answer and instead observe, listen, offer materials and give children space to work through their own ideas. She also explores the idea of the “rich child,” the role of the educator as researcher and how the image we hold of children influences the environments we create, the questions we ask, the risks we allow and the possibilities we make available. This episode is an invitation to reflect on the image of the child you carry into your own practice and how that image shows up in the choices you make every day. RESOURCES Book: 100 Languages of Children Loris Malaguzzi — Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching BeginsAn exploration of how the image we hold of children influences the way we teach, interact and create learning environments. LINK Carla Rinaldi — The Teacher as a ResearcherA deeper look at the educator’s role as observer, listener and researcher within the Reggio Emilia Approach.- LINK Ontario Reggio AssociationResources, articles and professional learning related to the Reggio Emilia Approach.https://ontarioreggioassociation.ca/resources/ Reggio Children: Learn more about the Reggio Emilia Approach directly from Reggio Emilia, including the image of the child, the hundred languages, documentation and research.https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/ SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather is joined by Vicki and Emily from The Educator’s Table for a conversation about the relationship between early childhood educators and families. They explore why that relationship can sometimes feel disconnected, what families may not see about the work happening in early learning programs, and why educators also need to understand the realities families are navigating outside of child care. The conversation also touches on play, professional learning, educator burnout, and the importance of creating stronger connections around the children we all care about. LINKS Educator’s Table Podcast: https://educators-table.com/#podcast  Educator’s Website: https://educators-table.com/  Educator’s Table Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.educators.table/  SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores the role of the teacher as researcher in Reggio-inspired practice. She looks at how observation, documentation, relationships, and reflection can help educators move beyond simply planning what comes next and instead pay closer attention to the theories, questions, and ideas already emerging through children’s play. Heather also explores documentation as more than something we display on the wall and how it becomes a tool for revisiting learning, collaborating with colleagues, engaging families, and deciding how we might extend children’s thinking without taking over their play. This week’s Action of Play invites you to choose one moment of play and approach it with the curiosity of a researcher: What might the children be trying to understand? RESOURCES From Teaching to Thinking by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter Finding our way by Fiona Zinn and Anne Van Dam  Actions of Play SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather is joined by Christine Murray, a DECE with the Simcoe County District School Board and Vice President of her local DECE association, for a conversation about play-based learning in Ontario kindergarten classrooms. Christine shares how her own thinking about play has evolved over her 25-year career, why slowing down has changed the way she observes and supports children, and how educators can uncover rich learning without rushing to control or direct every experience. They also explore the role of the ECE within the kindergarten team, responding to children’s interests, helping families understand the value of play, and why relationships need to come before academics, especially at the beginning of the school year. A thoughtful conversation about seeing children as competent and capable and creating the conditions where meaningful learning can happen through play. LINKS Christina Murray- Simcoe County- https://www.simcoedeces.com/mobile/person.php?id=13  Peter Gray's Book: Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life https://link.amazon/B0j5xIRa3   New Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum (2026/2027): https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/kindergarten   SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

Why does a child keep dumping toys out of a basket? Carrying objects from one side of the playground to the other? Throwing things across the room? Wrapping, spinning, lining up or taking things apart again and again? What can look messy, repetitive, or even challenging may actually be telling us something important about how a child is learning. In this solo episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores play schemas and how understanding these repeated patterns can completely shift the way we observe and respond to children's play. Heather invites educators to move beyond asking, “Why does this child keep doing that?” and instead become curious about what the child may be investigating. Because when we change the way we see the play, we can change the way we respond to it. When we reframe our thinking to an investigative mindset, we can reframe the child's play.  This episode will have you looking at some of those everyday classroom moments with a very different lens. RESOURCES Books  Actions of Play by Heather Jackson and Lisa Agogliati Threads of Thinking by Kathy Nutbrown Children’s lively minds by Deb Curtis and Nadia Jaboneta SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Heather Instagram: @thesunflower_studio School Instagram: @thesunflowerschool LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here Book: Actions of Play

In this solo episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson explores how research questions can transform the way educators observe, document and plan alongside children. Rather than deciding in advance where learning should go, Heather invites educators to slow down, pay attention to the ideas already emerging through play, and consider how thoughtful questions can help us uncover what children may be trying to understand. She shares how this shift can move planning beyond weekly themes and predetermined outcomes toward curriculum that is responsive, intentional and genuinely co-constructed with children. If you've ever wondered how to take what you're observing in children's play and turn it into meaningful, longer-term planning, this episode offers a place to begin. 🎧 Listen to Planning with Research Questions in a Reggio-inspired School. RESOURCES The book of beautiful questions by Warren Berger Children’s books about questions Why by Nikolai Popov What colour is a kiss by Rocio Bonilla May I bring a friend by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers Why by Laura Vaccaro Seeger The three questions by Jon J Muth Any questions by Marie Louise Gay What can you do with a shoe? By Beatrice Scenk de Regniers/pictures by Maurice Sendak What do you do with an idea? By Kobi Yamada Are you my Mother? PD Eastman SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Instagram: @thesunflower_studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here

In this episode of Actions of Play, Heather Jackson is joined by Jeff Turner, Cassandra Keller and Megan James of Tree Top Academy and How We Reggio in Jupiter, Florida. Together, they explore what it looks like to move beyond trying to replicate Reggio Emilia and instead build a practice that reflects your own children, educators, community and context. They share the evolution of Tree Top Academy, their journey to Reggio Emilia, the creation of How We Reggio, and why professional learning, experimentation and permission to get it wrong have been so important along the way. The conversation explores slowing down enough to truly notice children's thinking, using Visible Thinking Routines to deepen investigations, and the idea of “research in everyday life.” Jeff also shares one word from their experience in Italy that beautifully captures the work: savour. How might we savour children's questions, ideas and everyday moments rather than rushing toward the next activity? This conversation is an invitation to notice more, listen longer, go deeper and find your own way of bringing Reggio-inspired principles to life. LINKS How We Reggio — their main website and hub for the Reggio-inspired community, learning resources and conference. Embracing the Reggio Emilia Approach: A Beginner’s Guide for Teachers — the book Heather discusses in the episode. Tree Top Academy — the Jupiter, Florida school behind How We Reggio. How We Reggio Study Tours — information about visiting Tree Top Academy and observing their Reggio-inspired practice. How We Reggio Conference & Learning Opportunities — current conferences, workshops and other professional learning opportunities. How We Reggio Instagram SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Instagram: @thesunflower_studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here

In this episode of Actions of Play, host Heather Jackson speaks with Cassie St. Amand, founder of Applejacks Preschool, about recognizing and responding to play schemas in early childhood environments. Together, they explore how repeated patterns of play offer educators a window into children’s thinking, why observation must come before intervention, and how the Reggio Emilia approach and schema-based play naturally complement one another. They also challenge product-focused programming, rigid planning boxes, and the pressure to prepare children for school rather than asking whether schools are prepared for children. This conversation is an invitation to slow down, look more closely, and create environments where children experience the safety, belonging, and freedom they need to learn. LINKS Applejacks Preschool Applejacks Preschool on Instagram Cassie St. Amand on LinkedIn Actions of Play by Lisa Agogliati and Heather Jackson How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Instagram: @thesunflower_studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here

In this solo episode of Actions of Play, host Heather Jackson reflects on The Sunflower School’s 2026 educator conference, The Uncertainty of an Idea. She explores why uncertainty is not a failure of planning but an essential part of meaningful learning. Heather shares how educators can resist the pressure to rush toward polished outcomes, make room for unfinished thinking, and use play as a form of inquiry. She also discusses the importance of slowing down, building children’s relationships with materials, and creating environments where questions, experimentation, reflection, and creative risk-taking are valued. Because sometimes the measure of success isn’t a finished answer—it’s a better question. SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW If you found this episode valuable, we invite you to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more educators who are committed to deepening their practice and creating meaningful learning experiences for children. CONNECT WITH HEATHER Instagram: @thesunflower_studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-jackson-17b0b455/  Take a Virtual Tour: Click Here